This was better than expected. It’s basically the usual expected deal from Kevin Williamson, stuck somewhere between Scream and “Dawson’s Creek”, but he’s also written a great grown-up character in the form of the titular teacher. Mrs. Tingle is one of those villains who’s so fully fleshed out that you could almost side with her by the end of the movie. There’s really no wonder they managed to get an actress with such integrity as Helen Mirren has to participate in what basically amounts to yet another teen horror movie. This one really has a lot to say. I was particularly moved by the “trapped in a small town” theme, scenes between Katie Holmes and her mother in her waitress uniform, the constant mentioning of the nametag as a threat, the idea that being stuck in such a life is a fate worse than death. It’s quite a brilliant screenplay, and I was even more pleasantly surprised by its ending. As it came closer and closer I got this horrible feeling that the ending would be somehow unsatisfying, I simply couldn’t see how the whole thing would wrap up – I think it was partly because, as I said, I was kind of with Mrs. Tingle a lot of the time, and I didn’t want some quick and easy exit that involved her demise (the original title was infamously Killing Mrs. Tingle). Thankfully, the ending is genuinely satisfying. A nice surprise of a movie.

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