A bunch of high school students have detention. A storm comes, and they wind up getting locked in the classroom without the supervisor. They have to contend with the ghost of a student who died about 30 years prior. From there, it gets weirder.
I think this review is going to have spoilers. I usually avoid giving away plot points or key scenes, but this is so strange, and so badly written that I need to get more specific.
We are introduced to a new teacher at the school, Ms. Cipher. It is strongly implied that she is connected to the kid who died 30 years ago. Honestly, this is the best twist in the movie - it turns out that despite the misleading age problem, she actually is the mother of the student. The reason she hasn't aged is because she's actually a ghost as well.
So a ghost got hired to be a teacher.
The first thing that is established in this movie is the low budget. The effects are bad. Close to Birdemic bad, but not quite there. Since the movie opens with a flashback, I assumed that most of the style was altered to make it clear it wasn't taking place in the present. The picture was sort of dreamy looking: a very soft image.
Then once the story moves into the present, it becomes clear that this weird, soft focus picture is the style for the entire movie. I have no idea why they did this. Part of this style includes some weird choices about the exposure. The whites in the movie, every bit of sunlight, white shirts, all of those bright patches bleed white. A truly bizarre choice.
Once everything is set up, the script problems come to the forefront. I'm not talking about the dialogue, although that's pretty dumb. This movie has script problems that I've never seen anywhere else. Characters jump to conclusions, then seem to forget that they are trying to escape being killed.
At one point, two people jump to the conclusion that the ghost of the kid who died must be preventing them from leaving.
"How do you know this?"
"I don't know… I just do."
This exchange sums up the movie perfectly.
There's also a dumb kid. I think he's supposed to be a surfer/stoner sort, but it's hard to tell. No one is very well developed. Despite that he knows he's in danger, he decides to go to a science lab, and mix a bunch of stuff to drink. He says something to the effect that he would rather die on his own terms.
I came out of this movie wondering how it came to be. The story isn't too bad, it's a standard ghost/revenge/sins of the father sort of story. But the dialogue feels awkward, and the characters don't seem to make much sense. It's almost as if the story was outlined by someone, who assigned a bunch of different people to write separate sequences. As a result, they cover the same ground in many different ways. With a tighter script, I'd probably feel much better about this one. As it is, it's a disappointment, but for reasons beyond the cheapness of the production.
IMDB claims that the budget for this movie was 2.15M. And that it grossed $190 at the theaters.
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