Screamfest Review: ‘Initiation’
John Berardo’s ‘Initiation’ is a complex and subversive take on the slasher movie with formidable lead performances from Lindsay LaVanchy and Froy Gutierrez.
Slasher films don’t usually have a lot on their minds. More concerned with thrilling viewers than engaging them in any meaningful conversation, they have largely focused on blood and gore rather than dissecting interesting themes and subjects. There have been a few exceptions to that, of course, most notably the 1974 classic ‘Black Christmas’, which addressed abortion, and Sophia Takal’s 2019 take on it, which directly tackled campus rape culture.
John Berardo’s feature length directorial debut ‘Initiation’ is another exception, tackling incredibly heavy themes such as toxic masculinity and sexual assault in a surprisingly nuanced and complex manner. ‘Initiation’ centers on university student Ellery Scott (Lindsay LaVanchy) and her brother Wes (Froy Gutierrez). Ellery is bright and headstrong, spending her days in the university’s lab processing samples and rejecting the advances of resident “nice guy” Tyler (Maxwell Hamilton). Wes is the definition of a “promising young man”, with better-than-average grades and impressive swimming skills his coach thinks will lead to an Olympic career in the future. A tumultuous and intense night at a frat party throws everyone’s lives in a loop and Wes is found a few days later, brutally murdered in his frat house.
For a bulk of its runtime, ‘Initiation’ engages its viewers in an unpredictable guessing game, throwing red herrings our way and keeping us questioning everything until the very end. Berardo throws us a few crumbs but he’s more content with keeping his audience in the dark rather than spelling it out for us so that when the big reveal finally hits, we can feel its devastating impact as deeply as the film’s characters do. Berardo also employs a creative technique in presenting the film’s technological aspects, using visual flourishes to present the constant text messages and tweets sent and received by the characters. The film does suffer a bit in terms of its score and cinematography, both too bland to leave much of an impact, especially compared to other similar films, most notably ‘Assassination Nation’, which managed to capture its audience’s attention with its bright neon aesthetic.
The film’s central plotline would have been enough to make it worth watching but its main performances take it to another level, elevating the slightly underwritten character development and ensuring the film becomes much more than just another slasher movie. Lindsay LaVanchy is a formidable presence as the determined Ellery, acting as an anchor for the audience against the film’s more grim proceedings. With his charming and disarming demeanor, Froy Gutierrez succeeds in making what could have been a reprehensible character into a likeable one, adding layers to the stereotypical “jock” role and turning it into an engaging study of toxic masculinity in the process. The rest of the cast, including Isabella Gomez as a traumatized young woman struggling to recall the events of a blurry night at the aforementioned frat party, all do a great job, but their characters aren’t as prominent or visible as LaVanchy’s and Gutierrez’s and thus fail to leave much of an impact.
Overall, John Berardo’s ‘Initiation’ is an engrossing and subversive take on the slasher movie that is worth watching for its complex exploration of toxic masculinity and its charismatic lead performances.
Rating: 3.5/5
‘Initiation’ screened at the 2020 Screamfest Horror Film Festival.