David Nutter directs James Marsden, Katie Holmes and Nick Stahl in this teen sci-fi horror where someone is reprogramming teenagers to be perfect students with violent side effects.

Not quite The Faculty or The X-Files but moves at a fair clip and has some salty, freaky moments. When the Blue Ribbons clique glitches it is excessively aggressive. And I’m there for that. More probably could be made of the fact that it is teen horniness which messes with their brain washing and turns them full tilt psycho. Katie Holmes is given a very uneven character. The unintentional upshot is you aren’t quite sure if she has been microchipped in the finale. And she does fully deck a fragile mental institution patient in the best all-out horror sequence.

6

Perfect Double Bill: The Skulls (2000)

I write regular features about live comedy for British Comedy Guide here https://www.comedy.co.uk/people/bobby_carroll/features/ and my own Substack https://substack.com/@edinburghlaughterbulletin