EDITORIALS

Help Save Assassination of a High School President from DVD Doom!

by Alex Billington
March 13, 2009

Assassination of a High School President needs your help! Due to the collapse of Yari Film Group last December, one of the very best indie films of the last few years may end up going to straight-to-DVD unless it gets picked up by another distributor! Peter from SlashFilm called me last night to alert me that he's trying to build some buzz and prevent this disaster. While I never actually posted my top 10 films of 2008, I can tell you that Assassination of a High School President was on it. This brilliant indie film first premiered at Sundance last year and played at fests throughout 2008, gaining more supporters everywhere it went.

I hope you've heard about Assassination of a High School President, but if you haven't, start doing some research now. The film stars Reece Thompson in his greatest role to date, as a sophomore high school newspaper reporter named Bobby Funke, on an assignment to track down a set of stolen SATs. I gave it a 9 out of 10 in my review at Sundance, although it really deserves a higher grade. The film itself is probably described best in that review: "Assassination of a High School President is Brick + Rocket Science (thanks to Reece Thompson) + a hotter lead female (Mischa Barton) + better comedy + a stronger script."

Peter at SlashFilm says that, "studios are still deciding whether or not they want to take a financial risk by buying the theatrical rights, spending cash on P&A and distributing the movie theatrically." And how can we prove to them that they should take that risk? Well, become a fan on Facebook, show your support in the comments below, and start talking about it. Tell everyone you know, your parents, your friends, and especially the manager at your local movie theater, that you really want to see it in theaters. Trust me on this, Assassination of a High School President is one of those films you'll want to see in theaters!

I really wish we had a trailer to show you, but we don't yet. And if you need a second opinion, I've got six of them. Not only did SlashFilm write about this rather worrisome news, but so did Ain't It Cool News, Film School Rejects, Collider, Cinematical, and MTV. Everyone, and I mean everyone, that I know who has sat down to watch this has walked out completely in love with it (even Ken did). It's such a great film for so many reasons. It's incredibly funny, very well-written, smart, superbly well-acted, and just one of those indies that you want to show all your friends the moment you see it. It really is that good!

So please, I hope there is some studio out there like Fox Searchlight, that is willing to pick up this brilliant little indie sensation and put it out in theaters where it belongs. It deserves a real theatrical release. Last year, Warner Brothers was about ready to dump Slumdog Millionaire, but then Fox Searchlight picked it up, gave it a little studio love, and look what happened to that. If a studio passes on this now, they're going to be kicking themselves later realizing that they missed an opportunity to support a potentially huge hit. This is one of few films that I will truly go to bat for. I've seen it multiples times over last year and have loved it more each time. So please, don't let Assassination of a High School President go straight-to-DVD!

Tweet Pin It

Related categories: Editorials, Hype, Indies