by Anthony O'Connor
Worth: $17.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Kue Lawrence, Christina Brucato, Oscar Nuñez, Jamad Mays, Michael Sean Tighe, Eugenie Bondurant
Intro:
… extremely stylish and compelling …
Guns are the leading cause of death in children in the United States. This has been the case since 2022 and though most Americans seem to agree it’s a problem, the solution appears to elude all 340-odd million of them. The issue is easy access to guns, some claim. Others point the finger at the poor state of mental health care. And while both sides continue to bicker endlessly, more and more children die. It’s a bloody awful situation that provides meaty themes to be explored in dystopian cinema. The School Duel, the theatrical debut from director Todd Wiseman Jr., suggests a potential solution for the ongoing issue and it’s about as grim as you can imagine: let the little bastards shoot one another!
Set in a near future Florida where gun control is illegal, The School Duel tells the story of 13-year-old Sammy (Kue Lawrence), a young tacker who is having a hard time at school. It’s bad enough that Sam’s dad passed away, but he’s also dealing with heavy bullying issues and is frankly starting to scare his mum, Beth (Christina Brucato). As Sam becomes more and more obsessed with guns and violence, he begins to think that the School Duel – an event where a group of boys judged to be potential school shooters battle one another until only one is left – is a potential way out of his troubles. Encouraged by the skeletal, creepy Captain Stegmann (Michael Sean Tighe), Sammy prepares to fix his problems, one body at a time.
Shot in grimy black and white, The School Duel is every bit as bleak and uncompromising as you might expect given the subject matter. It’s also extremely stylish and compelling, with a superb lead performance from young Kue Lawrence who brings vulnerability and pathos to a role that could have been deeply unsympathetic. Kudos also to Christina Brucato’s heartbreaking performance, Michael Sean Tighe’s genuinely skin-crawling turn and Oscar Nuñez (from The Office!) who plays very much against type as a deeply cynical politician in a small but pivotal role.
The School Duel is the second death sport film of 2025 to deal with the theme of young men destroying themselves, the other being The Long Walk, and arguably this is the more effective of the two. Somehow the world portrayed by Wiseman feels more relatable, or perhaps believable, and the result is a movie that grips you by the throat and refuses to let go. It’s shockingly effective, and paints the violence as brutal, unglamorous and ultimately empty.
The School Duel is the closing night film for the Dark Nights Film Festival 2025, and it’s a hell of a finisher. Paired with Wiseman’s similarly themed (but very differently executed) short, ***** (five stars), it’s the kind of double bill that will fill you with dread, anger and sorrow. It will also likely make you thank the deity of your choice that we live in a country that actually did something when our children started dying.
