Some Kind of Hate (2015)
Starring Ronen Rubinstein, Sierra McCormick, Grace Phipps, Spencer Breslin, Lexi Atkins, Noah Segan, Michael Polish
Directed by Adam Egypt Mortimer
Debuting at this year’s Fantasia International Film Fest, Adam Egypt Mortimer’s Some Kind of Hate is instantly relatable to horror fans who may have grown up as outcasts or tormented in the hallways just for wearing black nail polish and a Suspiria T-shirt. It’s not a story about feeling sorry for the victims of bullying; it’s a supernatural tale where the ones who start out inflicting pain end up being the ones receiving it back tenfold. With a strong, resilient central performance and a well executed team-up with a besmirched spirit ready to avenge the weak, Some Kind of Hate effectively combines a teenage melodrama with a graphic ghost story.
Playing a disenfranchised youth that looks exactly like a cross between Michael Pare and Glenn Danzig, Lincoln Taggert (Rubinstein) doesn’t seem like the poster child for the stereotypical victim getting bullied by the popular jocks at school. Sure, he’s different and brooding, but he’s stocky and dangerously quiet – a perfect recipe to cause an explosion. That’s exactly what Lincoln does when he viciously lashes out at his attackers, only to be thrown out of school and placed in a remote, desert retreat for troubled teens. New dynamic, same results…
Lincoln is even an outcast among the outcasts, keeping to himself until he unknowingly summons the spirit of an abused girl who was bullied to a much greater extent during her pathetic life that was sadly cut short. Essentially, she’s the horror equivalent of Moaning Myrtle, but she has her own, unique spell ready to inflict indiscriminate pain upon the punk kids who are about to find out just what kind of reform school this really is.
Played by Sierra McCormick, the teen spirit introduces a clever, effective way of inflicting harm which makes the latter half of Some Kind of Hate work better than it would have if the deaths were executed in a more traditional way. If she wants to cut the offender turned victim, she must cut herself first. Then, that cut instantly appears on the body of whatever deserving teen happens to be between her sights. The wounds and ways to inflict pain get worse, of course, allowing for graphic scenes that are imaginative and inventive instead of typical and lackadaisical. It also keeps her own agony front and center because she has to be a masochist in order to dominate her victims. Lincoln was just a conduit that channeled her rage, regardless of whether he ever wanted revenge in the first place.
The smart thing about Some Kind of Hate is that it never becomes pedantic in any way. There is never a feeling of a filmmaker trying to raise awareness on the plight of bullying. This is not a statement film. Instead, it reflects how bullying is a constant dynamic that helps us decide if we want to conform or stay different – an example of the herding instinct being played out in high school. It’s really just a fun, effective horror movie that proves karma really is a bitch.
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Film
Categorized:Reviews
