One Star Classics : Most Likely to Die

Most Likely to Die

Jan 11, 2017 / Slasher

With Scream and its descendants’s successes, there has been a surprising lack of rip-offs of the franchise. I suppose I Know What You Did Last Summer had some similarities, but that’s pretty much the only one I can think of.

Now, with the teen slasher genre enjoying a retro craze, we have Most Likely to Die. I doubt it made its way to theaters before getting dumped to the dustiest corners of Netflix, but hey, who am I to judge?

An all-star cast including Heather Morris (Glee), Perez Hilton (his blog), and Jake Busey (trying his darnedest to out-creep his father and earn the and credit), we follow a ten-year high-school reunion party. Shock and awe, members of the group start getting offed, and… Well, it’s all very predictable. However, I feel there are some clever little details here that makes Most Likely to Die a worthwhile watch.

First, I’m not one to be all up in giddy arms over clever kills in horror movies, but respect: Offing the victims based on their yearbook’s «most likely to…»-s is inspired.

Related, I thought the cap and gown was a bit of an overkill for The Graduate’s costume—and yes, that is the moniker of the killer—but the way the cap is used as a weapon… Bravo!

Visually, the movie does a good job mimicking Wes Craven’s nineties sensibilities, or at least most of the time. I’m guessing the budget must have put the kibosh on multiple takes, and the actors heads get cut off (in the filming sense) during a couple of jarring shots.

And while the cast isn’t actually all that starry, the actors do a decent job with a script that isn’t exactly Shakespearean.

All in all, Most Likely to Die is entertaining. It’s apparent who the killer is early on, but making your way to the conclusion is a fun-ish journey. Sure there are some technical shortcomings, and the dialogue is so-so, but come on… What can one really expect from a movie called Most Likely to Die?

Oh, and it all ends on a «cliff-hanger». Yes, the producers clearly had grand plans for a sequel, but I have my doubts that will happen.

A boy can dream, though.

By Remi, Jan 11, 2017

Letterboxd summary: A group of former classmates gather for a pre-party at one of their homes the night before their 10-year high school reunion, and one by one, they are brutally slain in a manner befitting each's senior yearbook superlative.