F (AKA The Expelled)
Dir: Johannes Roberts
2010
****
I'm always hearing people complain about horror films being moronic but as soon as a clever horror film surfaces people complain that it isn't as formulaic as all the rest. F is a slasher film with brains. It raises a social question but also leaves much to interpretation which is not to be misinterpreted as badly written or unimaginative which I believe it has been. Do bad teachers make bad pupils or do bad pupils make bad teachers, the fear of the 'Hoodie' is very real in today's society also, knife crimes are on the up and so on. The film taps in to a fear, whether or not it's built on misunderstandings or not but a very real fear and that is always key to a good horror. Not knowing why or who is also important as it is very rarely the point, evil just exists, it's up to the viewer to decide if and why and even who, either way it works. On a technical angle it's brilliantly directed and mostly well acted. It does crawl a bit in places but I think the lack of gore and cliched scenes adds to the realism. With a budget of £15000 I can only applaud it, it's such a shame people didn't give it the support it deserved when it was realised, I fear the British public are just too used to being spoon fed garbage.