Initiation Review: A Bloody Good Party Slasher

Release date: May 7, 2021
Running time: 97 minutes
Directed By: John Berardo
Written By: John Berardo, Brian Frager, and Lindsay LaVanchy
Starring: Lindsay LaVanchy, Jon Huertas (“This Is Us”), Isabella Gomez (“Head of the Class,” “One Day at a Time”), Froy Gutierrez (“Teen Wolf”), Gattlin Griffith (Green Lantern), Patrick Walker (“The Resident”), Bart Johnson (“High School Musical 3: Senior Year”), Shireen Lai, Kent Faulcon (Selma) with Yancy Butler (Kick-Ass 2) and Lochlyn Munro (“Riverdale”)

During a university’s pledge week, the carefree partying turns deadly serious when a star athlete is found impaled in his dorm. The murder ignites a spree of sinister social-media messages, sweeping the students and police into a race against time to uncover the truth behind the school’s dark secrets…and the horrifying meaning of a recurring symbol: a single exclamation mark.

Initiation takes the college environment and cranks it up to eleven with a crazy party that leads a strange and disturbing situation.  The party and fraternity scenes are well done, with good lighting, over the top bro characters, and plenty of college craziness.  And once the murders start to happen, you get a different kind of craziness.  It wouldn't be a good slasher film without some deaths, and Initiation has some brutal ones.  You can tell that the killer enjoys this aspect as the kills take some time and are turned into brutal messages.  The film uses good practical effects for these deaths, which makes them all the more brutal.  Some of the blood looks fake but overall this slasher does a great job with the essential part of a slasher film.

Initiation tries to tell a story influenced by social media, and the movie does a good job with this aspect.  It has an interesting use of social media throughout, with events happening on people's phones projected on the film so you know what is going on.  It is a nice touch that lets you see what social media is talking about whiteout having the film cut away from the action.  It has been done before in films but it is still a good use of the screen.  The story has a good arc but overall I felt like it didn't develop enough.  The movie had a really long build up before the first kill, which was a nice touch as it let you get to know these characters and their situation.  But once the murders happened the movie seemed to have a bloodbath of deaths, only to then conclude.  It feels like this film could have had a few more story elements and maybe a reprieve form the murders, and it makes this story seem to be over shortly after it gets exciting.  But Initiation does a lot right; it's a good indie horror film with strong female characters and important social media messages.  

Initiation's college slasher party is amplified with great practical effects, brutal deaths, a good amount of tension, and a social media message.

Watch it.

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Initiation is available in theaters, digitally, and on demand on May 7, 2021. For showtimes, click here.

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