The filmic DNA of aged ensemble shocks Scream (1996) and I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) is interwoven within the bloody veins of Sam Hamilton’s What Goes Around. Blatantly hinting at the on-going cyclical nature of slasher movies, this silly but incredibly entertaining re-do of tired shop & stab stalker clichés will enjoy rough critical cuts but also benefit terribly for the audience who considers the 90s the time when their parents got married.
Not too knowingly ironic to dismiss the film or smart enough to get the horror references, today’s 20-somethings seem to be the sweet spot Hamilton hits with his cast. His debut feature is surely tailored to the younger generation as the characters are seen drinking coffee and milkshakes, texting non-stop, and dancing while having awkward conversations at parties. In front of the screen: Erin Macneil (The terrific Catherine Morvell, who at the moment recalls Emily Blunt aided by Kerry Armstrong) who is one of the socially reclusive film-school students that keep in touch with Rachel (Gabrielle Pearson) her bff.
These sorts of movies never end particularly well for some support players Jake (Taylor Pearce) and Tom (Maximilian Johnson). They, along with Cameron (Charles Jazz Terrier), who is portrayed as an upwardly mobile jerk, doormat girlfriend sent packing by him, Cara (Hitomi Fuji), and stir mouth Marnie (Ace Whitman) who is sharping his sentence as the last in a long line.
Erin’s documentary class crush is Alex Harrison (Jesse Bouma; above), the narrative’s ‘Skeet Ulrich’-type, who suspiciously leaves his laptop in a place where Erin has easy access to it. She does find it and soon enough, starts getting a peek into his private emails. Things suddenly become nasty for Erin when she opens an email qui quire titled “Snuff Boy.” A brutal killing video starts unfolding before Erin’s disbelieving eyes. Like best of this genre (Urban Legend, Halloween H20, The Faculty, all the Scream and Summer sequels), the plot moves forward with a one or more characters making bad choices. In this case, Erin ignores the Snuff footage and lets herself get charmed by Alex.
As the group’s backstory is revealed and more bodies pile up, Hamilton’s ability to tell the story in such a pace (the pic is a grateful 78 minutes in length), begins to get noticed. In all the implausibility’s, the cool stuff that slasher fans want takes stage at the center. The kills are executed and performed so they effectively and gradually intensifying; by the last few frames, nail-guns and hacksaws start to feel entirely appropriate.
Take a few grains of salt. The chilling murders occur in a middle-class Australian suburb where there appears to be no police presence whatsoever. There is a bloody murder count among their core group that consists of a cyber-crime element which brings this case under federal jurisdiction, yet no one ever gets interrogated nor seeks therapy. Things shoot ahead in slasher films, which usually don’t leave enough room for things like therapy sessions or law enforcement overlap to happen.
Not that the absence of these nuances validates an anchor for What Goes Around. Hamilton is aware of what keeps the genre alive. A clash of charming actors with gory deaths, coupled with the occasional goofy nod to the audience in favor of the mediocre mystery plot, is what gave life to the slice and dice beat fifteen years ago, and just might do so again.
To watch more movies like WHAT GOES AROUND (2020) visit hurawatch.