Extracurricular – Toronto After Dark 2018

A group of high school friends spend their spare time planning a committing murders in Extracurricular. Brothers Ian (Spencer Macpherson) and Derek (Keenan Tracey), Derek’s girlfriend Jenny (Brittany Teo) and other friend Miriam (Brittany Raymond) are a group of high school seniors, who have essentially formed a serial killer club, where they plan and commit murders on random victims. The group begins to plan their next murder to happen on Halloween night, though the town’s sheriff Alan (Luke Goss), who happens to be Ian and Derek’s father, is quickly on their tail.

From director Ray Xue (Transcendent) comes a high school serial killer film somewhat reminiscent of last year’s Tragedy Girls, except that Extracurricular is trying to play things straight, instead of for laughs. This group of friends have been committing murders together for a few months now, with some like Derek and Jenny being really into the killing, while others like Miriam don’t want to rush into another murder. Ian meanwhile, just wants to make sure that the group sticks to the strict rules they set for each other, so they don’t end up in jail or worse.

I have to say that Extracurricular is a film that is both for and about people who watch slasher films just to cheer for the killer. It’s very hard to latch onto most of the characters in the film, save for perhaps Miriam, who is depicted as the most apprehensive of the group, with the film spending quite a bit of time building her character. However, without spoiling too much, all this character development is a bit of a bait and switch, as the film builds up to a much darker and blood soaked ending that will probably leave a bad taste for anyone who isn’t already a complete sociopath.