Memorable and gripping, but suffers from inherent romance.

Rating: 8/10 (7 June 2013)

Given my typical disdain to horror movies in general, I was little dissuaded to view the film with my family when, upon gathering minimal research on it, I was informed that it was a "slasher" production. However, when watching the trailer intrigued me enough to drop my former protestations (the biggest pull-factor was Shia Labeouf, whom I had gained a liking toward from his performance in Transformers), I found that two hours later it was a good decision on my part.
Kale, a teenager who's become a recluse after witnessing the death of his father, has come to a climactic run with the law when he punches a teacher who strikes a nerve by unsympathetically referencing the deceased parent. From there, little about the movie warrants a genuinely considerable complaint; everything from the acting to the pacing to the sets were brilliantly executed. The characters, even the gawdy love interest, were fun and memorable, particularly Kale himself, and the movie was well-casted with actors that sure knew how to portray their characters. Mr. Turner, per example, was a perfectly creepy villain to be suspected.
As the film progresses, the audience sympathizes and experiences similar ebbs and flows along with the characters when their investigation evolves from fun game to dangerous business. Building gradual suspense with slow (but still entertaining) build-up, the suspense and curiosity towards the endurance of the characters in this perverse situation is pent up to allow a very well presented atmosphere.
Likewise, the horror of the film succeeds without the overwhelming amounts of gorn and/or scary CGI monsters.
That's not to say, however, that the movie still doesn't suffer from flaws, one of which is particularly critical and warrants a score below ten stars. With an allegedly young target audience, the movie's quality is deterred by a romantic subplot that feels very out of place and is, in this situation, simple unneeded. While the romance isn't pushed to the point that it's overly ridiculous, its presence nonetheless is distracting and adds little to any of the characters or the plot itself. Inasmuch, there are painfully obvious indicators that any of the teenage lust in the film is present solely for marketing purposes only and act as more as a segue between otherwise awesome pacing.
It's not too much to completely render the film free of its quality, nonetheless. With great plot progression, acting, dialog, settings, characters, and choosing to showcase the horror genre with psychology over visuals, I would recommend this movie to anybody.