History Film / TheFinal

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:All of the outcasts, sans one of the triplets, 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]].

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The five genuinely care for one another and think of themselves as a family of choice. The bullies meanwhile do have some level of sincere concern for their friends.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The five

%% ZeroContextExample * AssholeVictim: The bullies.

** The five make sure only to torture people who hurt them, although they force others to watch.

** 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 comes back to kill him]].

* BlackAndGrayMorality: There are no good guys, only varying levels of badness (except [[NiceGuy Kurtis]] and (to an extent) [[CrazySurvivalist Parker]]).

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Dane sees Bradley as the face of all that is wrong with the world, while Bradley sees Dane as just another faceless victim in the crowd. When Dane has Bradley at his mercy, he is shocked that Bradley honestly doesn't know his name.

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

%% ZeroContextExample * TheDogBitesBack: The entire premise of the film is founded on this trope.

* EvilVersusEvil: The five versus the bullies.

%% ZeroContextExample * MalevolentMaskedMen: The outcasts.

%% ZeroContextExample * ValleyGirl: Again, the GirlPosse.

* AlphaBitch[=/=]GirlPosse: Kelly, Bridget, and Heather.

* AssholeVictim: The bullies.
* BadassAdorable: Emily.

* BullyHunter: The five outcasts. [[BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil At first.]]

* ColdBloodedTorture: The outcasts' stock in trade.
* CrazySurvivalist: Parker, the ex-army guy.
* CruelMercy: The outcasts left their victims alive… but with many wishing that they weren't.
* DarkAndTroubledPast: The five have trouble both at home and at school.

* TheDogBitesBack: The entire premise of the film is founded on this trope.

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: The ending of the film sees the parents of the victims dramatically miss the point of the attacks. Instead of the victims being seen as getting their comeuppance for years of bullying, they're portrayed as saint-like who were attacked for no reason. Also, rather than become "a moment in history", as one of the attackers said it would be, [[ShaggyDogStory it's largely forgotten about after it's over]]. [[spoiler:Though Kelly, [[HeelRealization realizing just what her behavior has driven people to do]], eventually kills herself out of shame.]]

* DrivenToSuicide[=/=]RedemptionEqualsDeath: [[spoiler:Kelly. See SurvivorGuilt.]] Also, Dane hints at a SuicidePact and [[spoiler:Emily and Jack ultimately follow through on it]].

* ForTheEvulz: Bradley bullied Dane simply because he knew that Dane could not stop him. The same applies for most of the other bullies, who just enjoyed being sadists.

-->'''Andy:''' Do you think we'll go to hell?
--> '''Jack:''' No, we've suffered enough.
--> '''Dane:''' We're doing God's work as far as I'm concerned.
* HellBentForLeather: Emily's torture outfit includes [[ShoutOut a black]] [[Film/{{Audition}} leather smock]].

* ItsACostumePartyISwear: Well, [[NastyParty it started out as a costume party…]]
* JerkJock: Bradley and his friends Bernard and Miles.

* LaserGuidedKarma: [[PunctuatedForEmphasis The. Entire. Film.]]

* MalevolentMaskedMen: The outcasts.

* {{Revenge}}: The outcasts' plan and motives.

* SchoolBullyingIsHarmless: If there's a bigger subversion out there, good luck finding it.

* SlasherSmile: Emily. This is barely visible and only for a few seconds when [[spoiler:Bradley cuts off Bridget's fingers]].
* SlippingAMickey: The outcasts drug the punch at the party, knocking out all of their tormentors.
* SoundtrackDissonance: Jack plays upbeat banjo music while Bernard and Heather are being tortured.

* ValleyGirl: Again, the GirlPosse.
* VillainProtagonist: The five.

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Heather disappears after having her face smeared with Emiliy's chemicals. Apart from her being stashed in the room with the other injured teens, we never see exactly what it did to her face, nor do we learn what happened to her in the aftermath. Odds are [[FridgeHorror neither was very pleasant.]]
* WholeCostumeReference: Emily's torturer costume is lifted from Asami's outfit in a select scene from ''Film/{{Audition}}'' that she then proceeds to re-enact.
%%* WithUsOrAgainstUs

* BaitAndSwitch: At the end of the film, [[spoiler:Dane]] has shot [[spoiler:Kurtis]] and is standing over him, preparing to finish him off. There is a gunshot and [[spoiler:Dane]] falls over, revealing that [[spoiler:Emily]] has shot him.

After being continuously bullied throughout high school, and having all attempts at peace-making being met with further abuse, a group of teens -- Dane and his friends Emily, Jack, Ravi and Andy -- concoct a plan for the ultimate revenge, using knowledge from their classes (namely the torture methods of cultures past) and inspiration from [[MurderSimulators their vast collection of horror films]].

The teens set up a party at a ranch house, inviting all of their bullies to attend, and they pour in like clockwork. After drugging them with spiked punch, Dane informs them that, for the years they spent abusing students that they saw as weak and helpless, they will pay for their sins.

** Just as the GirlPosse are getting ready for the party, Bridget remarks "Red meat is for people who don't care how they look." [[spoiler:In the opening scene, which takes place [[HowWeGotHere after her face was disfigured]], she orders a burger.]] Most likely deliberate, [[spoiler:considering what [[BreakTheHaughty she goes through]]]].

* BlackAndGrayMorality: There are no good guys, only varying levels of badness (except [[NiceGuy Kurtis]] and (to an extent) [[OldSoldier Parker]]).

* BlackAndGrayMorality: There are no good guys, only varying levels of badness (except [[NiceGuy Kurtis]]).

* GiveMeASign: Before enacting their plan, the five pray to God to give them a sign that they should stop. The fact that nothing happens afterwards is taken as proof that they're on a [[MissionFromGod divinely approved mission]], with Dane telling the hostages that God won't save them because He didn't tell them to stop.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Despite the film taking place in [[EverythingIsBigInTexas Texas]], Marc Donato makes little effort to hide his [[CanadaEh Canadian accent]]. It's most noticeable when he tries to pronounce "about" , where he alternates between the standard American pronunciation and the stereotypical Canadian one (i.e. "aboot"), and in the scene when he's mocking Bradley's attempts to apologize to him, repeating "sorry" with a distinctly Canadian long O.

* BecauseYouWereNiceToMe: The five make sure only to torture people who hurt them, although they force others to watch.

* BlackDudeDiesFirst: [[spoiler:Averted. Kurtis not only survives the entire movie, but also saves the day by calling the cops.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: The goal of the outcasts. The [[TheBeautifulElite vain]] AlphaBitch and a member of her GirlPosse [[spoiler:have flesh-eating chemicals slathered onto their faces to destroy their good looks and make them as ugly on the outside as they are inside]], while a womanizing JerkJock [[spoiler:is left paralyzed so that he will never play football or have sex again]].
** It's worse in Bridget's case in that she already was genuinely sorry for bullying Emily and got acid-creamed because she refused to prove it by torturing Bradley. And that's ''after'' Bradley did the same to her when offered the chance. Being at the mercy of both your tormentors ''and'' a supposed friend would mess up anyone's self-esteem.
* BrokenAesop: The obvious moral of the story is that bullying and tormenting others is bad, yet the outcasts spend a good two-thirds of the movie doing this out of the need for revenge, although Dane states that he also wants [[{{Hypocrite}} to send an anti-bullying message to the nation]]. Said message is further rendered moot as when the incident does make the news, it's described as being an unprovoked attack carried out by angry social deviants as opposed to long-time bullying victims.
** 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.]]

* GenreDeconstruction: Of the "unpopular kids get revenge on the bullies" and "psycho classmate" plots. Instead of [[HumiliationConga the comical revenge]] that so many teen movie protagonists desire, the outcasts wish to [[PayEvilUntoEvil make their bullies suffer the way that they made the outcasts suffer]] for so many years. It's also implied that the outcasts were (and, to a degree, still are) genuinely nice people whose crappy home lives, combined with years of bullying, made them so twisted, as seen with the way they treat [[NiceGuy Kurtis]]. In addition, the popular kids (especially Bridget) are shown to have shades of gray, rather than portraying them as the total {{jerkass}}es so commonly seen in teen movies.

* MoralMyopia: Emily and the other outcasts see Bridget's refusal to help torture Bradley as hypocrisy, considering the years of psychological abuse she'd heaped upon Emily.

** Emily and the outcasts themselves fall into this, as the entire reason they have their TortureCellar set up was because none of their tormentors showed any mercy to them, but they themselves refuse to show mercy to Bridget.

* CorruptHick: The DirtyCop who seizes the jocks' weed for his own personal use. Later, Kurtis gets the police to head to the ranch where the outcasts are carrying out their torture by telling the police that the ranch was being robbed by black people.

* 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]].

* FacelessGoons: There are actually eight outcasts, but only five are of any importance to the plot, are named, and actually shown planning their revenge. The other three only exist [[spoiler:[[CannonFodder to get killed by Parker]]]]. They were initially seen on the school steps, and their presence was meant to prevent the victims from leaving and to confuse police officers when the plan was over, but time constraints forced this subplot to be mostly removed bar a few lines of dialogue.

* ToThePain: Dane loves telling his tormentors how much they will hurt.

* AbortedArc: When the outcasts are setting up their torture chamber, they mention how they are rigging the place with webcams in order to send a message to high school students all across the country. This is never brought up again. The filmmakers planned on following up on this in the sequel, but it's since fallen into DevelopmentHell.

* ButForMeItWasTuesday: Dane sees Bradley as the face of all that is wrong with the world, while Bradley sees Dane as just another faceless victim in the crowd.

* GiveMeASign: Before enacting their plan, 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 mission from Him]], with Dane telling the hostages that God won't save them because He didn't tell them to stop.

* TheGrotesque: [[spoiler:Bridget and Heather]] get turned into this by Emily.
* HeelFaceDoorSlam: Bridget seems genuinely sorry for bullying Emily, but when she refuses to go as far as harming the other bullies in order to prove her remorse, Emily calls her a {{Hypocrite}} and makes her [[FacialHorror pay dearly for it.]]

* HowWeGotHere: The film opens with one of the victims [[spoiler:(Bridget)]] in a diner, her face horribly disfigured, with her fellow patrons all staring at her like a freak. The remaining 85 or so minutes explain how she ended up like that.

* 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.]]

After being continuously bullied throughout high school, and having all attempts at peace-making being met with further abuse, Dane and his friends Emily, Jack, Ravi and Andy concoct a plan for the ultimate revenge, using knowledge from their classes (namely the torture methods of cultures past) and inspiration from [[MurderSimulators their vast collection of horror films]].

The teens set up a party at a ranch house, inviting all of their bullies to attend, and they pour in like clockwork. After drugging them with spiked punch, Dane informs them that, for the years they spent abusing students that they saw as weak and helpless, they would pay for their sins.

They would not die, but by the end of the night, they will wish that they had.

* AndIMustScream: In a ShoutOut to ''Film/{{Audition}}'', Bernard is forced to consume a drug so that he cannot move but can feel everything, and Emily then sticks his body with needle after needle, despite the desperate cries of his friends to stop.
** She even says "deeper, deeper" as she does it, which is one way Audition's "kiri kiri kiri" can be translated.

* FreudianExcuse: Crappy home lives combined with years of abuse have left the five broken and cruel.

* GenreDeconstruction: Of the "unpopular kids get revenge on the bullies" plot, and the "psycho classmate" plot. Instead of [[HumiliationConga the comical revenge]] that so many teen movie protagonists desire, the outcasts wish to [[PayEvilUntoEvil make their bullies suffer the way that they made the outcasts suffer]] for so many years. It's also implied that the outcasts were (and, to a degree, still are) genuinely nice people whose crappy home lives, combined with years of bullying, turned them into such dark characters, as seen with the way they treat [[NiceGuy Kurtis]]. In addition, the popular kids (especially Bridget) are shown to have shades of gray, rather than portraying them as the total {{jerkass}}es so commonly seen in teen movies.

** One of the [[AlphaBitch alpha bitches]] is named [[Film/{{Heathers}} Heather]].
** 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".

* WholeCostumeReference: Emily's torturer costume is this to ''Film/{{Audition}}''. The homage doesn't stop there, either.
* WithUsOrAgainstUs

-->--'''Dane'''

''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.