History Film / TheFinal

** On the flip[=/=]FridgeLogic side, one could argue that the message is that tormenting/torturing someone will not end well for the tormentor(s), regardless of whether or not they were initially tormented themselves. Short version: [[KarmicDeath karma]] is a bitch.

* CruelMercy: The outcasts left their victims alive... but with many wishing that they weren't.

** [[spoiler:Parker, the Vietnam veteran]], gets hit by a double-dose of this. First, earlier in the film, [[spoiler:he'd given tips to Dane on how to improve the traps he was laying around the ranch to catch runaways]]. Second, he winds up getting snagged by [[spoiler:a punji stake trap -- exactly the kind once used by the Vietcong. (However, he manages to crawl away from it and kill two of the guards, and his ultimate fate is uncertain.)]]

* DirtyCop: The police officer lets the jocks go in exchange for them handing over all their weed... which he is later seen smoking. A deleted scene reveals that he does the same thing for any good-looking women he pulls over, in exchange for sex. Hard to feel sorry for him when he gets killed by the triplets later on.

** Bradley. He acts tough early in the movie, and he goes to the party dressed as a [[UsefulNotes/TheGloryThatWasRome Roman centurion]], but once the "party" gets going, he whines constantly, and rather pathetically. [[spoiler:When given the chance to save himself pain by cutting off Bridget's fingers, he accepts pretty quickly... right after Bridget refused to do the same to him.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All of the outcasts die, but not before mutilating several victims, leaving the whole town in mourning and leaving the victims with lifelong trauma, which drives one of them (Kelly) to suicide.]] And to make it worse, [[spoiler:everyone in the town more or less missed the point of the whole thing, painting the entire affair as being completely unprovoked and portraying the victims as saint-like.]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: The five outright state they don't plan to kill their tormentors, but will make them wish they did. They go on to mutilate, torture, and disfigure them that leaves severe mentally scarring.

* IGaveMyWord: Dane promised that he would not kill a single one of the bullies, although they will wish he had. [[spoiler:He keeps his promise, and given how [[ExactWords he does everything short of killing them]], many probably do wish he hadn't.]]

* ItsACostumePartyISwear: Well, [[NastyParty it started out as a costume party...]]

* KarmicTransformation: Bridget and Heather are the most popular and gorgeous girls in the school who are also incredibly vain and [[AlphaBitch like to pick on less attractive and popular girls]]. By the end of the movie [[spoiler:they are horribly disfigured outcasts after flesh-eating chemicals [[BeautyToBeast permanently destroy their beauty]].]]

* MakeWayForThePrincess: When Heather, Bridget and Kelli walk down the school corridor, all the students get out of their way while [[spoiler:Dane and three nameless outcasts are making their plans about them...]]

* SlasherSmile: Emily. This is barely visible and only for a few seconds when [[spoiler:Bradley cuts off Bridget's fingers.]]

** Emily's outfit, and the scene where she tortures the JerkJock Bernard, are lifted from a famous scene in ''Film/{{Audition}}''. If one listens closely, she even says "deeper" multiple times as she drives the first needle into Bernard's neck -- the English equivalent of "kiri", used to similar effect in ''Audition''.

* SuicidePact: [[spoiler:Dane claims that the five of them had never intended to live past the night, and while he, Ravi and Andy end up killed, Kelly and Jack fulfill the pact in the end.]]

* ThouShaltNotKill: Dane makes it clear that they have no intention of killing any of the bullies though they will make them wish that they had. They live up to both parts of the promise.

-->'''Dane:''' (''about Tommy'') Pathetic, isn't it? So sweet, and [[SarcasmMode so much love]]. Not when you consider he was cheating on you, Nadia. With [[EtTuBrute Heather]]. Yep. Yeah, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop everybody knew about it]], but they decided to ''[[FalseFriend laugh at you behind your back]]''. Taking joy in your ignorance... [[DeadpanSnarker Interesting friends.]]

-->'''Dane:''' (''about Tommy'') Pathetic, isn't it? So sweet, and [[SarcasmMode so much love.]] Not when you consider he was cheating on you, Nadia. With [[EtTuBrute Heather.]] Yep. Yeah, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop everybody knew about it]], but they decided to ''[[FalseFriend laugh at you behind your back.]]'' Taking joy in your ignorance... [[DeadpanSnarker Interesting friends.]]

--> '''Dane''': (about Tommy) "Pathetic, isn't it? So sweet, and [[SarcasmMode so much love.]] Not when you consider he was cheating on you, Nadia. With [[EtTuBrute Heather.]] Yep. Yeah, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop everybody knew about it]], but they decided to ''[[FalseFriend laugh at you behind your back.]]'' Taking joy in your ignorance.... [[DeadpanSnarker Interesting friends.]]''

{{Very loosely based on|ATrueStory}} [[UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} actual events,]] ''The Final'' is a 2010 horror film about a group of {{high school}} outcasts who lure their tormentors to a party, drug them, and exact their vengeance upon them. The film was part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorfest film festival.

* EvilMakeover: The outcasts all switch into macabre versions of their costumes after they drug the partygoers. Ravi's clown costume becomes a MonsterClown, Andy switches from a SWAT uniform to [[PuttingOnTheReich an SS uniform]], Jack switches from a Raggedy Andy doll to a [[ScaryScarecrows scarecrow]], Emily drops her butterfly costume in favor of a black leather smock and gloves ([[ShoutOut reminiscent of]] Asami from ''Film/{{Audition}}''), and finally, Dane changes out of his welder's costume and into a gas mask and a BadassLongcoat.

* GiveMeASign: The five pray to God to give them a sign that they should stop. The fact that He doesn't is taken as proof that they're on a MissionFromGod, with Dane telling the hostages that God won't save them because He didn't tell them to stop.

** Emily's outfit, and the scene where she tortures the JerkJock Bernard, are almost wholly lifted from a famous torture scene in ''Film/{{Audition}}''. If one listens closely, she even says "deeper" multiple times as she drives the first needle into Bernard's neck -- the English equivalent of "kiri", used to similar effect in ''Audition''.

** When Ravi walks over to the popular kids’ lunch table to return a milk carton that Bernard threw, the latter replies in an Indian accent: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons “Thank you, come again.”]] In another scene, he calls him "Film/SlumdogMillionaire".
* SuicidePact: [[spoiler:Dane claims that the five of them had never intended to live past the night.]]

* TitleDrop: "Think of this as.... ''the final.'' And there's only one question: '[[AssholeVictim What did I do to deserve this?]]'"

->"Ask yourself one question: 'What did I do to get here?'"\\
"Consequences. None of us are free from them."

->"This lesson, you will not learn in school."
-->--'''Emily'''

{{Very loosely based on|ATrueStory}} [[UsefulNotes/{{Columbine}} actual events,]] ''The Final'' is a 2010 horror film about a group of high school outcasts who lure their tormentors to a party, drug them, and exact their vengeance upon them.

After being continuously bullied throughout HighSchool, and having all attempts at peace-making being met with laughs, Dane and his friends (Emily, Jack, Ravi and Andy) concoct a plan to not only get revenge, but to also send a message to the entire country. After learning in class about deadly chemicals and the torture methods of cultures past, and gaining inspiration from their vast collection of horror films, the desperate teens set up the Workley ranch house with webcams and create a party, inviting all of their bullies to attend. The five then pray to God to give them a sign to stop them, and when none comes, they carry out their plan.

At the party, the five outcasts dress up in funny costumes that mask their identity, and serve spiked punch to their victims, knocking them unconscious. The five then change costume, creating a darker visage to wear as their persona. The guests awaken in chains, and Dane tells them that, for the years they spent abusing students that they saw as weak and helpless, they would pay for their sins: the bullies would not die, but by the end of the night, they will wish that they had.

The film was part of the Creator/AfterDarkHorrorfest film festival.

* AndIMustScream: Bernard is drugged so that he cannot move but can feel everything. Then, Emily sticks him in the throat with needle after needle, despite the desperate cries of his friends to stop. All the while, she remains completely silent... except when she says, [[ShoutOut "Deeper, deeper"]].

* TheBadGuyWins: Yet it's debatable who is the real bad guy.

* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Viciously averted.

** Near the end, Dane tells Riggs that he wasn't tortured because, back in sophomore year, Riggs had offered to drive Dane home on a rainy night. However, Dane changes his mind when Riggs insults him to his face, [[spoiler:only stopping because Kurtis just came back to kill him]].

-->'''Emily:''' "I wanted to be your friend. But now I'm going to be your enemy."
* BlackAndGrayMorality: There are no good guys. Only varying levels of badness. (Except [[NiceGuy Kurtis]].)

* BookEnds: The film begins and ends with a horribly disfigured girl (who we later learn is [[spoiler:Bridget]]) entering a BBQ restaurant and having to endure the patrons' reactions to her appearance.

--->'''Bradley:''' Please don't cut off my fingers! Please don't cut off my fingers! Please don't cut off my fingers!

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All of the outcasts die, but not before mutilating several victims, leaving the whole town in mourning.]] And to make it worse, [[spoiler:everyone in the town more or less missed the point of the whole thing, painting the entire affair as being completely unprovoked and portraying the victims as saint-like.]]

** It also shows how devastatingly traumatic surviving an elaborate torture would be, as seen by the victims' fates. One is even driven to suicide over her guilt in making people do what they did.

* GoryDiscretionShot: Surprisingly for a film of this nature, there is little to no blood, with most of the violence being off-screen and suggested. However, it works.

--> '''Dane:''' We're doing god's work as far as I'm concerned.

** Emily's outfit, and the scene where she tortures the JerkJock Bernard, are big ones for ''Film/{{Audition}}''. If one listens closely, she even says "deeper, deeper" as she drives the first needle into Bernard's neck.

** When Ravi walks over to the popular kids’ lunch table to return a milk carton that Bernard threw, the latter replies in an Indian accent: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons “Thank you, come again.”]] In another scene, he calls him Film/SlumdogMillionaire.

* SurvivorGuilt: At the end, Kelly, having escaped torture and feeling that [[AlphaBitch her behavior]] was at least partly responsible for what happened, [[spoiler:is seen [[DrivenToSuicide taking a bunch of pills in order to kill herself]]]].

* TitleDrop: "Think of this as.... [[Film/TheFinal the final.]] And there's only one question: [[AssholeVictim What did I do to deserve this?]]"

* EverythingIsBigInTexas: While it's not lingered on, numerous background details highlight the fact that the film is set in Texas, from the country-themed restaurant in the opening to the fact that the TortureCellar was set up on a ranch to the use of a cattle gun as a torture device.

* FateWorseThanDeath: The five mutilate and torture their tormentors, disfiguring them and causing them unspeakable harm.

--> '''Dane''': (about Tommy) "Pathetic, isn't it? So sweet, and [[SarcasmMode so much love.]] Not when you consider [[YourCheatingHeart he was cheating on you, Nadia.]] With [[EtTuBrute Heather.]] Yep. Yeah, [[LockedOutOfTheLoop everybody knew about it]], but they decided to ''[[FalseFriend laugh at you behind your back.]]'' Taking joy in your ignorance.... [[DeadpanSnarker Interesting friends.]]''

* YourCheatingHeart: [[AlphaBitch Heather]] is asked about her having sex with Tommy, the boyfriend of a girl named Nadia, after an illicit text is read from her phone by one of the other members of the GirlPosse. While she is called out on it later in front of Nadia, it doesn't have any real importance to the plot. It mainly [[DevelopingDoomedCharacters exists to show her as being]] [[AssholeVictim just another asshole.]]

** On the flip[=/=]FridgeLogic side, one could argue that the message is that tormenting/torturing someone will not end well for the tormentor(s), regardless of whether or not they were initially tormented themselves. Short version: karma is a bitch.

* AbusiveParents: It's shown that the five kids all have pretty lousy home lives in addition to being bullied.

* InsultBackfire:
—->'''Bradley''': Go to Hell!
—->'''Dane''': I’m already there.

** When Ravi walks over to the popular kids’ lunch table to return a milk carton that Bernard threw, the latter replies in an Indian accent: [[WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons “Thank you, come again.”]]

* ShoutOut: Emily's outfit, and the scene where she tortures the JerkJock Bernard, are big ones for ''Film/{{Audition}}''. If one listens closely, she even says "deeper, deeper" as she drives the first needle into Bernard's neck.

-->'''Bradley:''' Please don't cut off my fingers! Please don't cut off my fingers! Please don't cut off my fingers!

* CruelTwistEnding: Bradley and his friends narrowly avoid getting busted for drugs, only to arrive at a party where they will be horribly mutilated. It's actually a moment of horror when the cop says he will let them go, as the audience know what awaits them.
** Additionally, the ultimate ending shows the "message" the kids wanted to send falling on deaf ears, [[spoiler:with a reporter describing the bullied kids as "disgruntled students" who tortured their fellow students "without cause".]]

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: The five become worse than their tormentors on their quest for vengeance. Though they don't see it that way, Andy questions whether or not they weill go to hell, but Jack reassures him that they've suffered enough. Dane saying that as far as he's concerned they're doing god's work.

* DirtyCop: The police officer lets the jocks go in exchange for them handing over all their weed... which he is later seen smoking. A deleted scene reveals that he does the same thing for any good-looking women he pulls over, in exchange for sex.

->"This lesson, you will not learn in school."\\

->"Ask yourself one question: 'What did I do to get here?'"
->"Consequences. None of us are free from them."
-->'''Dane'''

->"This lesson, you will not learn in school."
-->'''Emily'''

* TrueCompanions: The five are a rather creepy version of this as, with the exception of Dane, They all seem to care about each other, even if they were brought together by revenge. Jack and Emily even share a very sincere hug before [[spoiler:committing suicide]].

** [[ScareEmStraight But the kids who survived, maimed or otherwise,]] [[spoiler:[[HeelRealization know why it happened.]]]] People talk -- especially in high school. It might not have had a [[spoiler:national effect or became the "moment in history" Dane believed it would be,]] but if the victims change their behavior and their children's behavior, that's a significant amount right there, not taking into account the UrbanLegend effect and the open secret environment of many small to medium size towns -- when everyone knows why something really happened [[spoiler:despite what outsiders and the media may report]]. A perfect example is to remember how the movie starts [[spoiler:and ends]] -- with the mother telling her curious son about the disfigured girl's "accident".
*** FridgeBrilliance: [[spoiler:The parents of bullies never know that their little angels are putting other kids through hell. The teachers frequently only catch the reaction, not what the bully did first.]]