Initiation

 Initiation, or to use its proper name, initiexclamationmarktiation is a fairly cool American slasher movie from a couple of years back.

 I almost checked out at first, as the movie tracks some idiots at a university frat house and a sorority and all the stupid shit they get up to. I mean, it's a good way to get me to look forward to some asshats getting butchered, but it still means that we need to endure watching such hallmarks of university culture like hazings and pledges and all that shit. It's a subject that holds negative interest to me.

 Thankfully it's not long before the movie mostly drops that aspect and gets to be at its most harrowing: When well-liked sorority member Ellery (Lindsay LaVanchy) is alerted that one of the her girls went upstairs and hasn't come back, she goes up running to find a frat douche standing guard in front of a locked door. After much knocking, she finds the girl, Kylie (Isabella Gomez) completely passed out on a bed, and two frat brothers -one of them Ellery's brother (Froy Gutierrez)- nonchalantly milling about.

 It's a really intense, extremely unsettling scene. Ellery and a friend carry Kylie off, and the way everyone tamps down on what they're obviously thinking to maintain appearances adds another nasty layer to the whole shitshow.

 Ellery is torn between protecting her brother (who already had some nasty allegations filed against him, mostly covered up by the university) and trying to find out what really happened, so she starts investigating on her own. Kylie is convinced that she was assaulted, but is terrified of reporting it. Meanwhile the frat douchebags carry on as they would...

 ...until the murders start. First up: Ellery's brother and likely rapist Wes, who gets pinned to a wall by a killer with a metallic mask and a power drill. And then we're off to the races; The police arrive, headed by a detective played by Yancy Butler, and start butting heads with the powers-that-be at the university (mostly Lochlyn Munro as the principal). Both are powerless to stop further murders.

 It's one of those slasher movies that tries to function as a whodunnit, though the mystery aspects are (as usual) completely botched; Don't even bother trying to figure things out, as it's one of those where all the clues are withheld from the audience until after the killer is revealed. The film even does one of those recaps pointing out how it seeded hints as to the slasher's identity, to which my reaction was way closer to "seriously?" than the "oh, right" it was trying to elicit.

 So that's a pretty big strike against the script (by director John Bernardo plus Lindsay LaVanchy and Brian Frager). There are also a few weak points on the plotting department, some pacing issues, and the ending doesn't make any damn sense, but I guess those are things you'll inevitably run into with an attempt to make a (slightly more) realistic slasher movie.
 On the positive side, it successfully humanizes its characters - a tall order after we've seen them willingly subject themselves to some of the stupidest power structures in existence (some spotty acting doesn't help). The story it tells is also mostly enjoyable, and there are a couple decently suspenseful scenes. Technically it looks professional enough, and not much else - there's a couple of scenes backlit with a lurid, giallo-esque red light, but they seem more of a happy accident than any sort of attempt at an aesthetic; The kills themselves are bloody but unimaginative, a fairly minor component of the movie.

 The script is not subtle or particularly deep about its themes; Social media plays a role, with overlays detailing what people are doing on their phones or how others are reacting, but it doesn't really impact the plot a huge amount - even a dumb subthread that explains the exclamation sign in the movie's title comes off as an afterthought. It's also disappointing that the victim of the sexual assault ends up being a minor footnote in the events that follow, overshadowed by someone who is part of the problem. Well, ok, that last part is kind of cool, if intentional.

 It's all right. Slightly meatheaded, but also a little more mature and nuanced than I expected. Another non-standard, likeable slasher.