Bad Reputation (2005)

Do not waste your time. Anyone who gave this film more than one star was a friend of, or paid by, the makers of the film. The girls were cute but that was the only thing this film had going for it. The dialog was horrible, the acting sucked and the casting was laughable. The "Cop" and "Guidance counselor" were the same age as the rest of the "High School" cast and could have easily played those roles. This movie doesn't even have the elements that make a good "B" movie. No nudity, no gore and no suspense. I had to watch all of this movie in order to write a fair review so that you don't have to. Do not watch this film, but if you do, don't say you weren't warned.

This is a low budget B movie, so one has to make allowances, but as a high school revenge movie it may fall short of "Heathers" but would fit in well with "Massacre at Central High" and "Teeth." High school is hell, and this movie gets it. Glad I caught it.That's really all I have to say. I'm a professional movie critic and think IMDb is being obnoxious in insisting I have to add additional lines. You want a full length you review, you can pay me. I'm just offering this as a brief comment on a movie I caught online at HULU and though enough to recommend.If that's not enough for IMDb, tough.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I really wanted to be in California this weekend to meet the director and cast and see this on the big screen. But, I have to be satisfied with my video autographed by the director Jim Hemphill in his first effort at a horror film.The story was basic high school revenge after a rape by Aaron (Jared Anderson) after he drugs Michelle (Angelique Hennessy). She gets blamed and duct taped to a tree by Debbie (Dakota Ferreiro and her friend, while Wendy (Danielle Noble) just watches. The whole school is ragging her the next day as a slut, and the school counselor (T.W. Porrill) is more interested in getting in her pants than helping her.Well, that takes care of all the great people who also autographed my copy of this movie.Revenge is sweet, as she systematically does them one by one. I won't tell you whether or not she gets away. You'll have to watch it yourself for that.What I will say is that the acting was good for a Grade B film, the dialog was superb and the direction was great. What impressed me the most was the quality of the tape. The lighting and sour were superb, and that is rare in this type of movie.My only complaint: It is really a PG, not an R rated horror. They missed the boat there.

High school can be really hard times because a lot of changes occur. It is the transformation from childhood to adulthood which is the biggest challenge of all. There are different groups that everyone hangs out with such as jocks, skaters, goth, emo kids, stoners, nerds, etc. Guys can be cruel during this period where sex is everything along with reputation. Teens usually begin drinking,smoking,drugs,and of course have more sexual intercourse. To have a bad reputation is worse than being sent to Hell because everyone wants to be accepted by people and when they aren't then they try to do whatever it takes to fit in. The film Bad Reputation took me back to those crazy four years of my life where I cared more about what other people thought about me rather than what I saw within myself.Bad Reputation tells the story of a high school outcast named Michelle Rosen who spends her lunch breaks under a tree reading than hanging out with her classmates. One day the captain of the football team starts talking to her and invites her to his house for a kick ass party since his family is going to be out of town. She decides to attend unaware that Aaron and his friends plan to gang rape her. They give her a lot of alcohol then slip a date rape drug into her drink. Aaron acts like he is going to take her to lay down but then begins to get very rough with her as his friends come in for some of the action. Afterwards Debbi and Heather( girlfriends of Aaron & his buddy) duct tape Michelle to a tree in the backyard with the word SLUT written on her forehead to publicly humiliate her. Michelle returns to school finding posters advertising her as the school slut.She tries to tell everyone the truth by nobody believes her including her alcoholic mother is sex crazed guidance counselor. Michelle then decides it's time to get even so she returns dressed as the school slut and luring the kids that branded her to a bloody end. This film reminded me of several movies basically Cruel Intentions meets She's All That meets I Spit on Your Grave but never ripping these films off. Debbi and Aaron remind me a lot of Katherine and Sabastian from Cruel Intentions the way they ruin Michelle's life. The rape scene was not very explicit but you knew what was going on, which made it that more effective. The murders were insane such as a guy being stabbed and the word FAG written on his head, guy getting chopped up and placed in a suit case, girl getting decapitated,and Aaron's death was the best one yet. Jim Hemphill has written a fantastic story that really makes you feel for the characters and is more realistic than anything. The actors also did a incredible job at making these characters very believable as well.Michelle is the kinda girl that guys should watch out for because she may be sweet but she can be very deadly. I actually knew a girl who was gang raped by guys like this so it made it that much more effective to watch this film. I truly recommend this film to every horror/revenger slasher fan. Also there were a lot of other great reviews for this film and believe them folks because they know what they are talking about. I'm so glad that I've added Bad Reputation to my DVD collection and you should too! Definitely looking forward to seeing what Director/Writer Jim Hemphill comes up with next!