Main cast: Annie Q (Erica Yang), Corey Fogelmanis (Brett Callaway), Jessi Case (Lizzy Whitmore), Julian Works (Vic Castro), Jordan Austin Smith (Jason), Philip Labes (Russ Jones), Graham Taylor (Todd), Rickey Alexander Wilson (Chester), and Hugo Armstrong (Mr Armstrong)
Director: Mike Gan

Helbrook High student president Erica Yang has weekend detention. Oh my god, really! Well, her ex-boyfriend Jason is most bemused because she is the model straight A high school student. What could she have done to warrant getting a detention on a Saturday? Her fellow detention-mates are most amused and ready to heap on some “Hey, it’s Princess Miss Perfect!” ragging, but petty high school drama is going to be the least of their worries.

You see, in the opening segment, two idiot kids go missing. Todd and Chester plan to install a camera in the ladies’ locker room and stream the whole thing for maximum LOL, only to be interrupted and killed by what looks like either the school mascot came to life and gone all homicidal, or someone in the suit.

So yes, kids in detention on a Saturday, all alone with that…. thing… did someone say a horror version of The Breakfast Club? The comparison is actually pretty apt, because these kids do bond after realizing that they are all on the same boat of admittedly stereotypical teen angst. There is also a nice nod of sorts in Julian Works’s character saying that he wants to be a firefighter after he graduates, considering that he’s in that 9-1-1 show, heh.

Now, School Spirit gets a lot of love solely because it is an unpretentious slasher flick. After all the past few eye-rolling “Look at me! I am so smart! And arty too!” episodes, I am relieved to see an old-fashioned kids getting killed in school film,,, well, until 20 minutes in and I am starting to feel my eyeballs rolling up in my sockets.

This episode has a serious balance issue, as for way too long, it focuses on teen angst opera, which ends up being pointless because everyone that has watched shows like this before knows that they are all mostly going to die anyway, so there is no reason why this episode is structured so much like a high school drama so much of its run time. Sure, there are some nice kills, although those kills are nowhere innovative or interesting to warrant even a squeak of excitement, but these are few and far apart. It’s all teen drama, an uninteresting one to boot because the characters are all stereotypes… well, except for Erica, although honestly, once she talks about her own angst, the “twist” about her can be seen coming from a mile away.

Still, the last ten minutes or so are interesting, and the villain is actually cute and hilarious in a way, given their motivations for the killing. That is perhaps the only thing noteworthy about this otherwise slow and draggy episode. There are far better takes on the high school slasher tropes out there. Try Tragedy Girls.