A run of the mill slasher with some scenes of campus violence that wouldn't see the light of day with today's modern sensitivities. The killer is an average guy with no attempt made to explain his motivations (which bothers some people, but not me).

The shooting scene is great. It's interesting that Final Exam shows more violence in that prank, intended to be fake, than it does with many of the slashings.
I love the mysterious stranger approach with this one. Sometimes it makes sense to have a 'whodunit' with a familiar character being revealed to be the killer but that's gotten so routine it's near Scooby Doo level silly. The temptation to justify the extremes of violence in some slasher movies is near unintentionally comedic - well yes he killed everyone but only because he was horribly burned as a youth, or because he was alienated from parental affection, her son drowned in the lake when no one was looking, astrology divined that he was evil, or he was secretly a boy all along, sexual repression, revenge, etc, etc. The need to explain backstory is one of my biggest pet peeves with the horror genre and it often comes across as goofy rather than menacing most of the time and rarely equates to the on screen carnage.

I agree Undeadcow. Too much backstory can ruin the mystery, which is my fundamental problem with Rob Zombie's Halloween.

I have this marked as having viewed this before, but I don't remember anything about it. I probably won't after this viewing, except maybe "Wildman", who I somewhat enjoyed because of his douchiness. There were some things that didn't make sense. I can't see a guy tied to a tree with NO ONE untying him all day and into the night. There'd always be at least one person who would help that guy out. But, overall, this was pretty forgettable and not a favorite. But, it wasn't terrible, either, so it was what it was...

Being an big 80's slasher fan, i accept this movie for what it is. I still see it as one of the better ones depending on what that person's mood and tastes are.

For a minute I thought I was watching a lost Halloween sequel after hearing the ripoff piano score. It's a bit talky for a slasher and lagged for at least half the movie, up until the (real) killings started. Characters were borderline annoying, especially the "good 'ol boy" crowd of the sheriff, coach and security guard. Once things finally got going I did enjoy the mysterious killer with no backstory. It's mid-grade at best.

Yeah, I liked the mysterious no-explanation killer, but everything else about the film was ho-hum. Nothing stands out to me as excellent or particularly memorable or worth owning. It was an ok film and enjoyable enough watch though.

At the end I expected some kind of ultimate prank reveal but nope... it was just a nondescript killer on the loose.

"That was stupid kid. I can't believe you said that!"

Nothing special. Couple of fun scenes but outside the prank killing and the prank at the tree, nothing truly memorable or sticks out. And those things are supposed to be memorable for a comedy film, not a horror film.

I watched this with a friend. I'll admit that we were a bit distracted because we were doing some organizing and talking while we were watching it. Because of that, I got really confused by the killer. I kept wondering where his connection to the other characters was and what scene I had missed to explain things. I guess I had paid more attention than I had thought. Regardless, this didn't do much to draw me in. The moments that got your attention the most, as others have said, were the pranks. On a separate but somewhat related note (given one of the pranks), speaking from the perspective of a gay man and also speaking as much about this movie as I am about real life, I've never understood the overt homosexual overtones of the pranks and hazing rituals conducted by some straight males. It just seems ... weird.