This movie goes from high school drama to murder-thriller in the blink of an eye. It’s been influential for everything from Mean Girls to Jojo Rabbit, though its successors have generally improved on the formula. It’s campy by modern standards, but even at its time it was a black sheep in the genre because of the bait-and-switch plot and tone. The main disconnect between the tone and the events of the film is handled a bit clumsily, and despite all its clever plotting it leaves the audience with almost nothing to take away from the film above the level of ‘don’t murder’.

Content warnings: language

Closest comparison: It goes from Sixteen Candles to a tamer version of Scream.

Setting: High School Drama
Plot: Teen Angst / Thriller
Tone: Teen Comedy / Dark Comedy