I discovered this on Netflix two days ago, and realised that I had watched only a part of it, so I decided to give it a rewatch and finish the film.

So far I can say that the movie does have potential in several areas - while the plot ideas may not be wholy original in concept, the way the film introduced those ideas could've been developed into something that may have potentially gotten some really good praise. A similar thing can be said for the casting; The actors and actresses I'd say are pretty good for a film like Innocence, and I think that that in itself opens up for more potential. Unfortunately though, the film is pretty flawed and has many aspects of it that hold it back from succession.

The plot progression felt extremely tacky and skittish - Bare in mind, there was some decently average (which average isn't bad, by the way) progression at the first 35 minutes of the movie, but then further on it was like as if the writer and director decided to rely the movie's storyline on being just filler (meaning material that has no value, that adds nothing worthwhile to the story) which unfortunately made the final sequence feel off and awkward. Furthermore, the structuring of the plot + transitioning between scenes and sequences also felt strange and poorly executed - There were a few scenes that were nicely paced and shot, but it was like as if those scenes were in an unnatural clash between the film's faster and weirdly shot moments. And then comes the character development: There were so many opportunities that the film missed out on when it came to character development (especially Pamela and Beckett), which made me so sad because Pamela and Beckett were two interesting characters that I thought the movie would develop on. Overall, the film left many gaps within it that made it feel unfufilling, which is heartbreaking because the film had so much potential that it carelessly left behind :(

I found this DVD at the dollar store, and thought it might be entertaining. I wasn't expecting great cinema, but I figured at worst it might be hilariously bad and thus still somewhat enjoyable. Sadly, it wasn't trashily bad enough to be much fun. If you want to watch it unspoiled, you can stream it free on Tubi, if not here's a rundown of the plot. Beckett's mom dies in the first scene and she and her author dad move to Manhattan hoping a change of scenery will help ease their grief. Beckett's promptly enrolled in a fancy private school which has a faculty made up of only gorgeous women. She befriends Toby, the son of her dad's editor who is clearly there to be her romantic interest, and Jen, a bit of a misfit with an alcoholic mom. Beckett has visions of blood and hears mysterious whispers on her first day of school. Then one of her new classmates commits suicide. Her dad wants to pull her out of school, but Beckett decides to tough it out. The very pretty school nurse takes a sympathetic interest in Beckett and sets up counselling with the school shrink. She then takes a romantic interest in Beckett's dad, and moves in with them. She tries to win over Beckett by giving her an expensive dress and warning her against premarital sex. Beckett starts to suspect something weird is going on, especially when more students turn up dead. Beckett is proven right when it turns out that all the pretty faculty, and one snotty student, are incarnations of Lamia, who must kill and drink the blood of virgins to stay young and beautiful forever. Which has been going on for more than a century, though apparently nobody has noticed that the school's staff doesn't age. Or that a lot of the virginal students end up dead. However Beckett ends up not being killed because she ignored the nurse's warning and had sex with Toby. She kills the nurse, which conveniently kills the rest of the pretty faculty too. And Jen's mom, who was a neglectful alcoholic because she felt guilty that she was planning to sacrifice her virgin daughter. Most of the acting was pretty good, and it was well shot. Technically speaking it's a well made movie. Yet it dragged a lot in places, despite only being about 90 minutes long. Frankly, despite a few eerie moments and a few deaths it was a bit dull. I appreciated that there wasn't really any gore, but a few more scary moments would have helped. Also, it's kind of odd that one of the messages of the film seems to be that teen sex is necessary for survival.

This film passed a rainy Sunday afternoon. I have to admit my attention wavered a few times resulting in having to rewind on a couple of occasions. I've seen worse films but the horror was woefully lacking. Some great actors in this who were a bit wasted on the story. If you want to see Kelly Reilly at her best I recommend you ditch this film and watch Eden Lake. Reilly's sometimes breathless over acting is so much more appropriate to the film Eden Lake and she puts in an "Edge of your seat" performance. Innocence? An ok film but distinctly lacking in something.