Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation

Bad Reputation

Terrible filming and acting in this movie. Not at all what I heard it would be and disappointed. Another rape revenge film but this might the worst revenge plot movie I've ever seen.

A shy girl gets invited to party by a jock, just to get raped by him and his friends. The jock's girlfriends are too dumb to accept that she's a victim and start branding her as a * at the school. There's gonna be hell to pay. Basically, this is Carrie on a budget. It would be quite good, were it not for the unsubtle interpretation of the lead actress, whose character development is too extreme and rushed to help with her already limited acting abilities. She's never believable and as a result, it's impossible to root for her and relish her murderous ploy for vengeance. The supporting players, though, are almost all uniformly good, and help carry the movie to completion. A curiosity.

and then takes a bad turn. This is a "high-school revenge movie" that more or less follows the template established by "Carrie" and "Christine," although without the supernatural business. Still, the idea is the same: a harmless nerdy wallflower gets used and abused by the popular kids, turns the tables and wreaks vengeance on her persecutors, and then becomes so power-mad that she destroys herself. The idea has been used so many times that its become almost mythic, and a number of movies know how to use it. In the first half of the movie, writer-director Hemphill (despite the obvious limitations with acting talent) gets it mostly right: he makes you identify with sweet Michelle, the Henry Miller-reading outcast who gets raped and humiliated at a party and so badly slandered at school that even the guidance counselor hits her up. Hemphill doesn't exploit her rape the way a lot of movies in the 1970s and 1980s might have, with a lot of boob and butt shots, where the rape becomes a kind of vicarious thrill for the audience. Instead, he makes it ugly, and then further ratchets up the collective audience hatred for the perps by adding insult to injury, as both the rapists and their snotty, viciously cliquish girlfriends conspire to trash Michelle's rep at school. All fine and good, because you know there is going to be a payoff, that these jerks and bitches will pay for this sins. Unfortunately for the audience, Michelle goes overnight from being sympathetic victim to inhuman monster. Sure, you want the bad guys painfully punished, but what we get is just prolonged torture -- which is torture is sit through. It's unpleasant, disgusting, ugly, and a lot less fun than it sounds. (Although it was kinda funny to watch her bash one guy with a textbook so badly that blood spattered the walls. Was this one of those switchblade-wielding history books?) "Heathers" (from which it borrows freely) got away with a lot of the same material because it was more capably written and wickedly funny. Here you just have the increasingly unlikable Michelle wearily rampaging her bloody way through the student body, all but leaving aside any question of how she manages to get away with it. I guess part of the reason is that her town has, by my count, only two police officers, who only appear for a couple minutes and ask maybe one question. Also, Michelle is apparently an expert at cutting up and disposing of the body of a guy she kills in her own bedroom. No, I guess you shouldn't demand that much of movies as low-budget as this one. Writer-director Hemphill certainly didn't.

The plot strives for shock value over the kind of brilliant sum of subtle intellectual thrills that make great movies. The sexual assault scene felt appropriately long; this is the sort of thing that should make everyone in the audience feel disgusting. The compounding events after said scene were unnecessary, and made it feel as if I were being hit over the head with the horror of the female lead's experience (the writer seems to be telling us that if we didn't think rape and being blamed for it were bad, we should feel sorry for the lead's having to ask for her purse, not being able to start her car right away, and having an utterly stupid mother-character). The lead's embrace of her reputation trivializes her horrifying experience at the hands of three evil young men. The murder-as-revenge thoroughly disrespects the lead's purported intelligence. I could go on. The acting, editing, and directing is amateurish. The script feels forced and unrealistic. If you like the more ridiculous slasher movies out there or read supermarket paperbacks, go for it. If not, please don't waste your time. -Sean

BAD REPUTATION is nothing more than a shot-on-video copy of CARRIE, made without an ounce of that film's style or direction. Instead this is badness through and through, limited in execution from beginning to end due to budgetary constraints. It's your usual story of high school angst and violence with a little bit of murder added to the mix; it's generally very poor and the almost entire lack of content makes it a chore to watch.

A shy, introverted nerd girl, Rikki Moore (Angelique Hennessy in her first leading role) gets invited to a party by a popular high school football player, whom promptly rapes her. His jealous ex-girlfriend than has poor Rikki's image tarnished within the halls of the school. But undeterred Miss Moore chooses to get even with all involved in this low-budget horror film homage to I spit on your Grave and Carrie. Well acted, good characterization, and nice effective kills put this ahead of the pack for films of the same budget. It's a slow-burner for sure, but well worth sticking around for the film's duration. My Grade: B DVD Extras: Trailers for "Distortion", "Death by Engagement", "Tweek City", "The Brink", "the Champagne Gang", & "Cult" (the first 2 trailers ONLY play upon putting the DVD in)

Do not waste your time. Anyone who gave this film more than one star was a friend of, or paid by, the makers of the film. The girls were cute but that was the only thing this film had going for it. The dialog was horrible, the acting sucked and the casting was laughable. The "Cop" and "Guidance counselor" were the same age as the rest of the "High School" cast and could have easily played those roles. This movie doesn't even have the elements that make a good "B" movie. No nudity, no gore and no suspense. I had to watch all of this movie in order to write a fair review so that you don't have to. Do not watch this film, but if you do, don't say you weren't warned.

Another movie to be avoided. Probably shot on DV, the sound and picture is pretty low quality, along with the unrealistic dialogue, the horrible "effects", plus the amateurish directing, acting and cinematography. Maybe they were going for some kind of "realism", but it just doesn't work. The script is tedious and boring, the scenes go on forever, the editing (and everything else really) is just so predictable that you'll end up getting thoroughly annoyed and wanting to turn it off. I know I did. I'm sure they had great fun making this movie, but it's just not worth anyone's time actually watching it. It's not kitch, it's not camp - and if you want to see a good movie about revenge, check out "May" instead.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I really wanted to be in California this weekend to meet the director and cast and see this on the big screen. But, I have to be satisfied with my video autographed by the director Jim Hemphill in his first effort at a horror film. The story was basic high school revenge after a rape by Aaron (Jared Anderson) after he drugs Michelle (Angelique Hennessy). She gets blamed and duct taped to a tree by Debbie (Dakota Ferreiro and her friend, while Wendy (Danielle Noble) just watches. The whole school is ragging her the next day as a *, and the school counselor (T.W. Porrill) is more interested in getting in her pants than helping her. Well, that takes care of all the great people who also autographed my copy of this movie. Revenge is sweet, as she systematically does them one by one. I won't tell you whether or not she gets away. You'll have to watch it yourself for that. What I will say is that the acting was good for a Grade B film, the dialog was superb and the direction was great. What impressed me the most was the quality of the tape. The lighting and sour were superb, and that is rare in this type of movie. My only complaint: It is really a PG, not an R rated horror. They missed the boat there.