"One of Them" is a pretty mediocre film with a couple decent parts.
**SPOILERS**
While driving along the highway, Elizabeth, (Kelly Carmichael) and her friends Rick, (Paul Geffre) Trey, (John Patrick Jordan) Jeremy, (Chase Carpenter) and Jessica, (Jessica Stewart) go missing around Marquez Academy. Trina Robinson's, (Marianne Bennett) nephew, Daniel, (Richard Anthony Crenna) decides to go look after finding her gone and goes to the academy, which the local community has a strange suspicion about. As they spend more time at the academy, the more they realize that something doesn't quite mix there with the surroundings. As they start dying one by one, the group finds a dark secret at the academy that shouldn't have been uncovered.
The Good News: This wasn't as bad as it could've been. The film really knows how to make an entrance and an exit. It starts out with a girl headed back to her school on the outskirts of a small-town community. She knows that she's being followed. We never find out, and after the girl's boyfriend hangs himself despite her protests and warnings, a very nice stalk scene through a forest that is really creepy. It's a great example of what makes this movie so promising. Mystery and suspense are in great appearance here, as in the previous example and the ending chase through the castle. The mystery isn't fully revealed until very late in the picture, making it even more thrilling as it gets more and more solved as time goes on. A mysterious swarm of locusts also causes a feeling of uneasiness, as it comes from nowhere. It's not exactly clear who the villains are either. While a mysterious boy and girl all decked out in black clothing and a helper are pretty obviously up to no good, there are a couple others who don't make their allegiances too obvious early on. One thing is made clear, though, as it rolls on that there are forces who want to keep them at there for something, but what is never really given until later. There is also some brutal parts mixed in with the suspense. There's a knife through the hand and arm, a knife in the head, a sword through the neck, and several more. It's certainly bloody at the right time and suspenseful when it needs to be.
The Bad News: As much as there was stuff that was good, there was still a lot to not like. The most obvious one is the totally incoherent story. It makes no real sense at all, due to it's two main plots going on at the same time are very poorly done and are distracting at the same time. There was too many shifts between them that focusing on one then changing to another one is a challenge. There was also way too many scenes of just wandering around not doing anything and was basically inserted into it just to keep running time up. The voodoo subplot strung throughout might seem tiresome or overused, and with all the other clichés found in it, it basically builds up to the point where you focus more on finding all the clichés more than the plot. The character who was doing good things all throughout suddenly turns bad for no reason, the teens trapped in a place far away from danger, the initial road-trip that starts it off, the usual in-fighting among the teens, and the reluctance to accept the obvious until it's too late are just some of the few examples of the clichés to be found here. They all come together into making this appear to be something that we've seen before. That's the film's worst quality as it seems like any number of films you've seen before.
The Final Verdict: Far from being a bad film, this one just suffers from a constant feeling of seen-it-before syndrome. It's not the most original film out there, but if looked at on it's own, it's pretty decent. If that doesn't bother you, this isn't a bad film, but take caution if it doesn't appeal to you.
Rated R: Graphic Violence and Graphic Language
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