Protraph Lack of good storyline.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Derry Herrera Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Matho The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

kosmasp Passing on a somewhat decent idea, the movie unfortunately does not take full advantage of its potential. If you like your torture movie and don't mind or rather cherish low budget movies that look better than the money that has been spent on it, than you are in for a treat. Unfortunately that is a very low bar.And while I do salute any movie that makes the most of a very tiny and small budget, that does not take away the fact, that it has to be just judged by those merits. Especially if you have so many clichés thrown into the mix. There is gore and there is offensive material aplenty. Don't confuse trying to shock with wit though. Does it try to be witty? Yes. Does it succeed? No. I reckon someone did not do their homework properly ...

lavatch With the gratuitous violence, it is difficult to understand what is the message of "The Lesson." The film began as a realistic domestic drama about family dysfunction and juvenile delinquency. It then lapsed into the horror genre with grotesque and virtually nauseating violence.Each of the male characters in this film was unsympathetic. Only the women's roles tended to refute the thesis of William Golding's novel "Lord of the Flies," which seems at the heart of the filmmaker's concept. In that novel, the bestial nature of a group of young British schoolboys emerges when they must co-exist on a deserted island.In "The Lesson," a formerly idealistic English teacher takes revenge on his recalcitrant and foul-mouthed students through the long scene that comprises his lesson on Enlightenment thinkers like Rousseau, Milton's epic "Paradise Lost," the Romantic critics, and Charlotte Brönte's "Jane Eyre."The most interesting character in the film was not the teacher, but Mia, who becomes the heroine when she shows compassion for her young step brother who did not return home. But the odd final scene compromises her strong character with a surprising plot twist.It was obvious that the screenwriter had a good handle on modern literature. The most clever moment occurs when Mia determines to keep in her possession one of the demented teacher's books, the 1966 novel "Wild Saragossa Sea" by Dominican author Jean Rhys. This is a postmodernist sequel to Brönte's "Jane Eyre" built around the secondary character of the Bertha Mason, the "madwoman in the attic" of the home of Rochester. Of course, the name Berta Mason was the correct answer given to the mad instructor's question, and her response was what saved Mia's life while she was a hostage.It is tempting to borrow one of the terms of the English teacher and suggest that "The Lesson" is filled with irony. But that would be far too great praise for this muddled and overly violent film.

troublesometasha13 OK, for the record I HATE giving bad reviews, I appreciate the fact that real life people have put their all into a film and I feel very cruel when I can find nothing decent to say about it..... however this is possibly one of the worst movies I have ever sat through and I would like to help someone, somewhere from wasting their time watching it too. It's the kind of movie that if you happened to be one of the cast you wouldn't even tell your mates, you wouldn't want anyone to know you were in it! The start is so slow! It follows two "naughty" lads around for an age that I almost forgot we were watching a movie about a physio teacher plotting revenge! The acting from the bad boys was absolutely tragic! The second they started speaking I knew it wasn't going to be a great movie, but as the boys were already ticking me off at that point I persevered watching as I wanted to see them reach a grizzly end! Lol. Getting to that was painful though... why is it these bad movies are always filled with bad sexual humour?! Shouting "skank... have you been to a STD clinic recently" is something a bottom feeder would think up to put into a film! Clearly whoever thought up lines like that has the experience themselves to be "skanky"!! Anyway **yawnnnnn** several hours later (or so it felt) the teacher eventually gets the boys locked in a torture area, he's got them tied up, ducked taped, all the boxes are starting to be ticked.... then it turns out all he wants to do is teach them a lesson... like an English lesson?! umm what, why?! Who thought watching a teacher teach children would make a good horror movie?! Basically all the teacher does is hit them with a hammer a few times if they answer wrong, one guy does get shot with a nail gun but it's hardly gripping scenes and again the acting is tragic!! To sum up one of the worst films of all time! Don't quit your day jobs guys and please don't attempt to make a sequel, occasionally English films throw up something spectacular and its movies like this that give English films a bad name!!

susanby The first feature film written and directed by Ruth Platt; The Lesson, has been described as an; '..astonishingly bravura art-house horror..'*. In addition Platt's film is; 'A dark claustrophobic and bloody coming of age love story..'*. Although I don't disagree with either of these comments, I consider that Platt achieves far more than just the sum of these two observations.The Lesson takes place in an area which reminded me of a new town, or city suburb. The school children depicted aren't from the gutter; they're from a reasonable neighbourhood with neat houses, where public parks have long sweeping pathways and their school uniforms appear clean, tidy and pressed. In perceiving how this neat urban area would function, the viewer can be forgiven for expecting caring family units to reside there. Yet, the suburb is revealed as soulless; empty of love and affection, bland and unstimulating to the youth that reside there. Somehow, this is an almost subliminal message held close to the films core. The emptiness of the streets and the park we see the youngsters in, gradually seeps into the viewer's subconscious. I felt this message led the viewer to a certain level of understanding, concerning the teenager's behaviour towards authoritative figures. An important perspective perhaps, for a film that can be described as morally ambiguous.After a slow start, which does serve to impress upon the viewer aspects of how the youngsters, at the centre of the films narrative, live and are cared for, attention is switched to an incident at the school they attend. After the teenagers disrespect one of their teachers, The Lesson switches tone and presents the viewer with a tale of repercussive revenge, whereby a very harsh lesson is taught. The scene presented here is no holds barred, violent and will be regarded by some as torture porn. Certain aspects are deliberately stylised, for example the way blood is displayed upon the neck of Fin's friend Joel (Rory Coltart). However, what I found interesting was how this tale of soullessness and revenge, resulted in epiphany and redemption. Also, although the 'lesson' section is, at times, hard to watch, the empty realism of life in the suburbs, also at school, juxtaposes nicely with the painful awakening to the vastness of intellectual information contained within the lesson the boys are subjected to.Dialogue in The Lesson is well written and confidently handled by all members of the cast. Robert Hands excels at imparting the 'lesson' and his performance, as a teacher who is pushed over the edge, is believable. Other performances of note are that of Fin (Evan Bendall) who manages to portray how isolated and self-involved the world of a teenager can be; also Michaela Prchalova. Her carefully judged portrayal of care and attraction is well realised. As director Ruth Platt is no stranger to acting and being filmed by a camera, I have no doubt her own experiences assisted in getting terrific performances out of her young cast, all of whom are newcomers to film acting.The black and white scenes which recall Fin's memories of time spent with his mother and father are nicely edited into the brightness of day. The obvious dichotomy between light and dark are used to illustrate irresponsibility and the manner in which Fin is almost sleepwalking through life, against the horror and awakening which occurs when his teacher takes control.As The Lesson unfolded, I became aware that, rather than containing social commentary about the difficulties faced by teachers in a particular classroom environment, the films integral message concerns the absence of love and security in the home; the lack of a parental figurehead and the repercussions such a lack could enable. Consequently, there is a real sense of cause and effect generated by events in Fin's life during the course of the film. Arguably, the primary cause of his dislocation, from intellectual discourse and personal responsibility, is the sense of being unloved.If social commentary in horror films is of interest to you, The Lesson is a must see. If you enjoy a taut coming of age drama and like horror films where the camera doesn't always turn away, you'll enjoy this. Personally, I found The Lesson to be a powerful, well-acted and tautly directed film, where social commentary was the icing on the cake. But, be prepared for moral ambiguity, as this appears to be a sizeable portion of the cake on offer.* Both comments taken from the Frightfest Festival guide 2015