Bad Kids Of Crestview Academy (2017) Review

If you want a fun teen action movie full of betrayal, violence, blood, mystery, laughs, and an excessive use of the word “bitch,” then the Ben Browder-directed Bad Kids of Crestview Academy is the movie for you.

As the sequel to Bad Kids Go to Hell, the movie does a great job of catching up audiences with what previously happened… and they do it with style. Bad Kids is based on the comics of the same name by Matt Spradlin, and the opening sequence of Bad Kids of Crestview is cut and split between live action and animation resembling the comic book art, which looks fantastic.

What we have here is a bunch of shitty rich kids, except one “undercrust,” attending a Saturday detention. At least one kid has ulterior motives… or the school has a curse. Although a series of terrible things have happened with regard to the students of Crestview, as we see through a string of flashbacks, the idea of a curse is too underdeveloped to be plausible and feels like it was simply thrown in to mix things up.

Aside from some congruency issues, such as what seems to be the movie’s working title dropped in and the fact that it features the class of 2015 in a movie slated for release in 2017, the filming and the cast were incredible. Sean Astin was hilarious in this unconventional role for him, Sammi Hanratty (as the protagonist) was adorable, and Colby Arps played his dickish role to perfection, even if he tried to gangster it up a little too much.

One other fault that should be mentioned is the use of CG blood. Yes, we all know that sometimes it can’t be helped, and that it can enhance a shot, but using it in place of prosthetic make-up just seems wrong to me — especially when it looks totally fake, which was the case in many of the scenes in this flick.

Bad Kids of Crestview Academy will be released on January 13, 2017.

The Verdict:

The gripes I’ve expressed here are relatively minor and in no way detracted from my enjoyment of the movie. Bad Kids of Crestview Academy is just a fun popcorn movie that should be watched with that in mind. So go out and enjoy it.