Thought-provoking tale of following others without knowing why. Interesting take at what others can make you do, but missing elements that would make the story feel more whole.

Ilan Mitchell-Smith does not agree to sell chocolate for his parochial school. Because this is something that is absolutely voluntary, the wrath of the teachers and the upper-class gang called the Vigilants descend on him.

There is something in every teen movie that strikes me as depressive; probably because most of the conflicts seem trivial in retrospect but earth-shaking at the moment. Add in the lack of girls at this school, and the mendacious way that teacher John Glover has of maintaining control, and you have something that smacks of Purgatory, with only graduation, transfer, or death offered as ways out.

The performances are good, even though most of the students seem to be in their 20s.

This is a textbook example of how NOT to adapt a book to the screen.

Teenager Jerry Renault in high school is having a terrible life. His mother just died, he has no connection with his father and has next to no friends. Then he has a run in with a secret group in the school called the Vigils. They tell him to do something and he refuses. Then his life becomes a nightmare...

At least that's how the book went. The book is harrowing. Strong, powerful and very bleak and desolate and Jerry is put through utter hell and is almost killed in the end in a truly horrifying sequence. A faithful adaptation of the novel was not going to happen--it was considered too extreme and doubtless it would get an X rating (for the violence). So...why bother with a movie version? Well...they did. The story was toned down and changed a LOT and VERY badly cast (especially the part of Janza). It was also shot with a wobbly camera which made me sea sick and (for some reason) Jerry has acne and nobody else does (?????) And, worst of all, they totally changed the ending which completely destroyed the point of the book! The ending is just hopeless--I'd love to know what they thought of when they dreamed it up.

The book is powerful, grim stuff and NOT for kids. It's not easy to read--it's very disturbing--but it has a point. This movie just tones down everything, casts it badly and destroys the book. This seems to have disappeared completely--that's a good thing. Don't bother. I give it a 1.