{"id":42499,"date":"2024-01-31T18:32:38","date_gmt":"2024-01-31T23:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=42499"},"modified":"2024-01-31T18:32:38","modified_gmt":"2024-01-31T23:32:38","slug":"departing-seniors-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/01\/31\/departing-seniors-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Departing Seniors (2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>In Select Theaters & VOD\/Digital on February 2nd<\/sup>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Director Clare Cooney\u2019s \u201cDeparting Seniors\u201d is an ode to the classic giallo pictures of the seventies where someone is having psychic visions of a lurking masked killer. This masked killer though is lurking inside and around a high school, while the protagonist is a young man who is grappling with his own trauma involving his sexuality. While I give big respect to Joe Nateras for writing a movie that evokes the giallo pictures of the seventies, \u201cDeparting Seniors\u201d misses on every other front. It\u2019s a horror comedy that completely fails to keep its eye on the ball, centering so much more around teen drama and forgetting that it\u2019s also supposed to be a horror movie.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Mexican-American and queer, high school student Javier doesn\u2019t exactly fit in with the popular kids. But he might be the only one who can save them. After an act of bullying sends Javier to the hospital, he begins experiencing visions that foresee glimpses of shocking murders at his school right before they happen. Now, Javier and his best friend Bianca must try to unmask a serial killer before he strikes again.<\/p>\n

What constitutes comedy is the generally light hearted approach where main character Javier tackles every twist with a sarcastic remark or comedic quip. Even when it\u2019s apparent that someone in a mask is viciously murdering students, Javier can never seem to stop cracking wise. While I thought Ignacio Diaz-Silverio was good in last year\u2019s \u201cPrimo,\u201d here he\u2019s an awfully bland protagonist, all the while the scripts destroys any potential that the gimmick has. What\u2019s the point of Javier having these powers to predict and see events if he literally has zero effect on their outcomes? What is the point of Javier predicting and seeing these events ahead of time if he can\u2019t change their course?<\/p>\n

It all comes off like a waste of time after he fails to realize the potential of his powers mid-way, all the while there\u2019s absolutely no back story on his aunt, who was also said to possess the same powers. I\u2019d have loved for more back story on Javier\u2019s aunt, and what the powers can afford him in terms of helping people. Do they predict the future? Can they actually help anyone? Are they curse or a gift? \u201cDeparting Seniors\u201d gets too bogged down in teen melodrama and heavy themes about homophobia and hate to ever really stage a tense, and creepy horror story. The killer looks neat, but they\u2019re often nothing more than a back drop for a lot of the emotional turmoil happening in the forefront.<\/p>\n

When the script does remember to put them in to the narrative, their stint is abrupt. The ultimate motivation for the killer is foggy at best and a tad far fetched, and writer Nateras never convincingly justifies their actions. \u201cDeparting Seniors\u201d has a lot of interesting social themes it confronts as well as a solid cast of talented young performers, but it fails as a horror film, a slasher, and a decent murder mystery.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Select Theaters & VOD\/Digital on February 2nd. Director Clare Cooney\u2019s \u201cDeparting Seniors\u201d is an ode to the classic giallo pictures of the seventies where someone is having psychic visions of a lurking masked killer. This masked killer though is lurking inside and around a high school, while the protagonist is a young man who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[219,477,1401,2123,703,950,1008],"class_list":["post-42499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-comedy","tag-horror","tag-lgbt","tag-lgbtq","tag-mystery","tag-slasher","tag-supernatural"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42499","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42499"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42501,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42499\/revisions\/42501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}