In this screen adaptation of the graphic novel BAD KIDS GO TO HELL, six Crestview Academy students - queen bee Tricia (Ali Faulkner, HUMANS VERSUS ZOMBIES), arrogant jock Craig (Roger Edwards, STOP-LOSS), overachiever Meghan (Amanda Alch, THIS LIFE), nerd-with-a-rich-father Tarek (Marc Donato, THE FINAL), as well as goth outsider Veronica (Augie Duke, EXTRACTED) and strangely unpopular "bad boy" Matt (Cameron Deane Stewart, PITCH PERFECT - are sentenced to serve detention on a stormy Saturday in the school's new state-of-the-art library. Despite the presence of Judd Nelson as the headmaster, Tricia makes it clear that this isn't going to be a BREAKFAST CLUB-type bonding session; and it does turn out that what ties them together isn't their mutual dysfunctions (some, though not all stemming from their relationships with their corrupt parents) but the erection of the library on the stolen land of elderly Native American Jacob Rainwater who then committed suicide. If the school's Apache mascot and all of the Native American-fetish artifacts in the library and throughout the school (including a giant bronze sculpture of a snake coiled around an Indian) were not enough to irk some long dead (and some more recent) spirits, then the kids' decision to conduct a seance to contact Rainwater seems to be the final straw as the kids begin dropping dead in a series of bizarre "accidents". As the survivors try to find a way out of the library - whose titanium alloy doors have been locked by stuffy guidance counselor Dr. Day (Jeffrey Schmidt) just before he took ill by way of his coffee being drugged by Veronica - they also have to figure out whether their enemy is a ghost or one of there own. Ben Browder (TV's FARSCAPE) also stars.

The feature debut of director Matthew Spradlin - who wrote the text of the graphic novel (illustrated by Anthony Vargas) - BAD KIDS GO TO HELL is attractively-lensed, well-scored, and has a strong setup but will offer very little of novelty to seasoned horror fans (although it may indeed be a breath of fresh air to younger fans or more casual viewers sick of the more mainstream PG-13 horror efforts of late). Most viewers will be so far ahead of the obvious plot revelations, although they may be thrown off easily guessing the identity of Rainwater's surviving heir (also cheated out of inheriting the land) for the other big plot revelation that is more blatantly telegraphed early on and even more ridiculously contrived than the flashbacks to teh intentionally entertainingly-absurd plot mechanisms that explain how each of the characters wound up in detention. Cardboard characterization may be more at fault for the false notes of the mostly good lead performances. Donato's performance is hindered just as much by the affected halting accent as it is by a lack of much to say; indeed, for a movie that wants to be edgy and whip-smart, the writers have not provided much in the way of variety in the barbs traded between characters who are deliberately sketched as rotten from the start (although their are some choice bits like "Careful lighting the fuse on her tampon"). Kudos to the film though for not expecting us to identify with them (unlike so many teen-oriented slasher and horror films of late that often make their protagonists only slightly less vile as the supporting victims), as well as a reliance more on practical effects with CGI integrated mostly where it's needed rather than simply "because they can".