The Hacker's Source - Issue 21

Bad Reputation
review by Josh Haney

I loved this film! Plain and simple loved it. Bad Reputation is a frightening frolic dealing with something that all of us can relate to…high school gossip. All of us experienced the utter horrors of popular assholes talking shit and spreading rumors, but very few of us ever actually took revenge for the lies that were spread. This film makes up for all of that by providing a strong female character that decides to get even once and for all.

Michelle (Angelique Hennessy) spends most of her time alone, hiding in the school bathroom reading, or sitting alone at lunch. Until one day when Aaron (Jerad Anderson) invites her to a party at his house. He’s rich and popular, two things Michelle has never been, and she absolutely beams at the prospect of Aaron liking her. Dressing to impress, she shows up ready to revel, and catches the eye of all of Aaron’s buddies Steve (Chris Basler) and Jake (Mark Kunzman), as well as all of their girlfriends Debbie (Dakota Ferreiro), Wendy (Danielle Noble), and Heather (Kristina Lauren). But Aaron and his pals have a little trick up their sleeves, a roofie colada with Michelle’s name on it. When she is too drunk to complain, Aaron and Jake rape her while Steve holds her down. And when the girls find out what happened, they label Michelle a slut, tie her to a tree, and humiliate her in front of everybody.
Days go by and now everyone at school thinks Michelle is a whore, even the guidance counselor, who offers Michelle the wise tidbit ‘Take responsibility and stop acting like a victim’. And believe me Michelle takes this advice to heart, and begins a rampage on the popular clique that rivals any revenge genre film.

Steve is the first victim, getting the John Bobbitt treatment, after which Michelle leaves gay porn magazines in his car, leading everyone to believe that he was hustling and picked up the wrong guy. Jake is next, in a bit of bondage that goes horribly awry. On and on the bloodbath goes, culminating in a visit to Aaron’s Halloween costume party, where Michelle gets to bury the hatchet with everyone that has wronged her. And this isn’t one of those let down finales; everybody gets a taste of her retribution.

This film has everything, humor, gore, horror and hilarity. The direction and acting are really above par for an independent fear flick, and you can’t help but get sucked into the fantastic plot. Sure you may have seen something like this before, but Bad Reputation takes cues from lots of different retribution films of the past and carves its own niche into the genre. If you’re an outcast who has been picked on, put down, or pestered by the popular people in your town, Bad Reputation is just the movie to make your daydreams of payback seem a little less severe.