A while back, I was flipping through the premium channels and I happened across an interesting film called
Home Room (2002).
The movie opens just moments after a student has killed nine classmates and then been killed himself by a police officer. Of the students who didn't escape from the room in time, there are two survivors; Deanna (Erika Christensen) who was grazed in the head by a bullet, and Alicia (Busy Philipps), a tough girl/outcast who may or may not have known about or even been involved with the shooting.
Alicia is upset that school has been temporarily cancelled as she has nothing else to do with her time, so the principal pretty much forces her to go visit Deanna in the hospital. Deanna is glad to have company, but Alicia, being the tough loner type doesn't want to be there and can't stand Deanna's cheerful attitude. Since she has nothing better to do, and because the hospital has a library that she can use, she agrees to come back. Eventually the two girls become friends and learn that neither is exactly what they appear to be.
At the same time, the detective in charge of the case (Victor Garber, Sydney's father on Alias) is being pressured to find a scapegoat for the shootings and Alicia is pretty much the only suspect.
Unlike most movies that deal with similar subjects, this one doesn't try to deliver a message about violence in today's culture. It's just something that happens and the survivors have to try and deal with the aftermath.
In the end, most of the questions have been answered and a couple surpises pop up, although most viewers (at least the ones on this site) can probably figure out the biggest one halfway through the movie.
Personally, I liked it.
Any Showtime subscribers interested in checking it out can do so at the following times;
January 22 12:50 PM Saturday, Showtime Next, Home Room - Two teenagers are thrust together after a gunman kills nine fellow students at their high school.
January 28 11:30 PM Friday, Showtime Next, Home Room - Two teenagers are thrust together after a gunman kills nine fellow students at their high school.
