Director: Yiuwing Lam
MPAA Rating: NR
Film Pulse Score: 5/10
Prank started as a relatively good idea based on the horrible action of bullying. It could actually be considered a horror revenge movie. Perhaps the film’s biggest failing is that anyone who has seen as many movies as I have and perhaps our fellow readers could tell what was happening most of the time. In that sense, the film failed to prank its most necessary target – the audience. But I do give it points for trying to do just that; it simply did not have the execution necessary to do that but perhaps for a moment or two. It is also of the “found footage” variety which, after more than a decade, has long lost its general appeal. A film in that genre has a much bigger hurdle to overcome in the last several years because we have seen so many films of this type.
Prank tells the story of three misfits who have been bullied throughout school – Connor (Nick Renaud), Jordan (Henry Monfries), and Chunk (Gemmenne de la Peña). Now that they are high school seniors, their ringleader, Connor, decides that they must do something about their bullying at the hands of the primary culprit Dax (Alastair Ferrie). Connor wants revenge; he wants to pull an ultimate prank on Dax, film it with Jordan’s digital camcorder, and post it online for all to see. Jordan just wants to leave high school a non-virgin and he has his eyes set on someone Dax has apparently been with but whom Jordan adores – Eve (Hannah Kasulka).
Connor’s prank is fairly lame. However, when he goes to Dax’s house to do so egg’ing and toilet-papering, he catches Dax in a compromising position with Dax’s best friend – an African-American male named Omar (Rene Cadet). Dax sees the videographers and thus goes after them, at which point the film takes a very dark turn as Connor beats Dax with a skateboard and then ties him up in the garage and plays Russian Roulette with Dax using a gun gotten from Chunk’s aunt’s pawn shop. What ultimately happens, however, is that Jordan ends up alone with Dax and apparently kills him. Jordan will ultimately kill Omar as well. Both will be chainsawed into pieces and put into trash bags by Jordan – the rather sweet soul who never wanted to be part of Connor’s scheme in the first place. The scenes with Jordan and Connor after this happens are among the film’s best as Connor believes Jordan has lost his mind in killing the two boys and seems to fear Jordan himself.
What is the title “prank” in Prank? Is it the killing of Dax and Omar? I’ll never tell. But Jordan’s actions seem quite real. I must not talk about what transpires after the two are cut up and put into garbage bags; that would require me to get into spoiler territory. I will simply say that director Lam ramps up the suspense and action and this is where the film is perhaps at its best (I also liked the named references to The Deer Hunter and Benny and Joon).
If the audience lets itself go and buys into film as well as Renaud and Monfries’ work, it is possible that they will quite enjoy the film as a whole and particularly the film after Dax has been kidnapped. The right audience that overlooks the script’s numerous plot holes or character inconsistencies may very well enjoy this film. I think there was some untapped potential here, even with the hurdle that is the “found-footage” genre. I liked Renaud and Monfries’ performances throughout and they truly anchor an otherwise all-over-the-place story and script. I applaud its originality and the fact that this is a truly small-budget, independent film that was finished with the help of Kickstarter. It is an admirable effort.
