What would you do for a letter of recommendation to a made up Ivy? Such is the question at the heart of "You're Killing Me"

You're Killing Me - Beth Hanna, Jerren Lauder - 2023

★★★-Sort of up and down but an overall enjoyable movie. Available on Paramount+. It's a pretty effective trapped in a room with people trying to get in movie. Also, a decent if obvious social commentary. Can't we just start eating the rich already?

Follows high school senior Eden, who goes to a 'Heaven and Hell' party at the rich, senator kid's house in the hopes of getting a letter of recommendation to an elite university from the dad. Once at the party, though, things quickly turn to shit, and she's gotta fight for her life. The usual teen party stuff. 

Horror thriller directed by Beth Hanna and Jerren Lauder. Stars McKaley Miller who plays lead character Eden, Dermot Mulroney as the senator, and Anne Heche in her last role as the senator's wife. Great one to go out on. She's pretty stellar. 

Brice Anthony Heller plays the senator's son. Don't really recognize the other kids. They are played by Wil Deusner, Keyara Milliner, and Morgana Van Peebles (she's the daughter of Mario Van Peebles and Chittra Sukhu, and the granddaughter of Melvin Van Peebles).

Some notes... Can sort of relate to the storyline of a scholarship kid looking for a recommendation from a powerful parent of a kid who is a fucking asshole. The school I went to was a lot like that, but being an asshole was more or less socially unacceptable. I was one of those scholarship kids, but I didn't exactly have Ivy ambitions. Those kids were a different breed.

Also, everyone knows about game-theorying admissions. There was a girl in my class that went to Princeton with like a 1300 SAT, as opposed to 1600, because she played an obscure instrument. Knew a guy that got into Northwestern with below average for Northwestern grades by applying on a gym teacher track. Killed it and transferred into a better school within the university. He's an attorney now with his own law firm. All kinds of people do things like this. Applying for nursing at Duke, for example. Hell, I went to Wake Forest for grad school doing this shit. You still have to be smart as fuck generally though, but this sort of thing is the only way it's possible unless you are a perfect student sort of shit (they were the ones most likely to be super fucked up, by the by). And even then, you better be offering something. I figured this out, and I was a first generation college student. 

Main girl's dad is a small business owner, but the film treats her like she is completely destitute. She looks like she could be Billie Lourd's younger sister, but isn't. Locking phones up is a good idea in this day and age for high school kids. Fucking kids pulling out knives and other shit that have puncture wounds. Not recommended. 

There is a weird turn a little past the halfway point that makes no sense. A conflict that is just dumb and unnecessary that takes the movie off the rails. With all the violence and shit that these people cause, the phone with evidence on it is sort of beside the point. Then the obvious, inevitable thing happens. They go down a certain road that if you've ever seen a movie, you'll see coming a mile away. Everyone should have known better. But whatever. 

Just write a girl a fucking recommendation. Jesus fuck. Especially if you and the fam have skeletons in the closet. Senator getting me into an elite school and paying me off. Bitch, do you know how much college costs and how hard those schools are to get into? Quire the moral conundrum... I'd say as I had the guy calling up the admissions office. Otherwise, people like this are gonna fuck your world up. That's how the world works, probably. Didn't have to watch the video even. But they did. And then you can't unsee that shit. And shit is back on like Michelle Kwan. 

Overall, it treads in familiar territory, but boasts stellar performances and is an engaging teen horror/survival thriller that is worth a watch. The film is extremely predictable, as the beats are telegraphed from miles away. But, it makes effective use of its mostly single-location setting by creating a claustrophobic, tension-fueled storyline that never lets up. It's taut, suspenseful, and boasts a high body count with some decent gore. Lastly, I can hardly get over Heche's totally badass performance. She really kills it.