Debut feature director Clare Cooney and writer Jose Nateras put a modern spin on the teen slasher with Departing Seniors, which kicks off with a brutal poolside murder just days before summer break. It’s everything a teen horror movie should be—messy, bloody and even steamy at times—but doesn’t add much to the slasher clichés we’ve seen before.
Departing Seniors follows a group of high school seniors in the week leading up to their graduation. When Javier (Ignacio Diaz-Silverio) lands in the hospital after a brutal fight with his bullies, he unlocks psychic abilities allowing him to see future murders before they occur. Alongside his unconditionally supportive best friend Bianca (Ireon Roach), Javier taps into his newfound power to uncover the killer’s identity, and save his classmates before the masked assailant takes his next victim.
Maybe it’s the cliquey high school setting or the close-up stabs, but as Javier and Bianca try to sleuth out “who’s playing Billy Loomis,” Departing Seniors feels like a highly referential descendant of Scream. Even the killer, camouflaged behind a black hoodie and drooping drama mask, bears a striking resemblance to Ghostface. One plus: Departing Seniors is more blatantly queer than Wes Craven’s 1996 slasher, which has amassed a huge following for its queer inspirations and subtext. Javier, a gay teen confident in his identity, shakes off the homophobic comments of his classmates with sharp-tongued comebacks that generate a lot of the movie’s witty comedy. Diaz-Silverio’s hilarious performance as the charming, awkwardly lovable protagonist contributes emotional appeal to the slasher story. Following his performance in Zach Braff’s A Good Person, Diaz-Silverio shows budding star power in this central role, expressing a relatable coming-of-age character with ease.
The film’s ensemble cast plays off the idea of many high school archetypes revolving around Javier, such as the love interest (Ryan Foreman), homophobic jock (Cameron Scott Robert), ruthless student body president (Maisie Merlock) and pushover English teacher (Yani Gellman). The array of characters and cliques form various dynamics throughout the movie, leading to multiple red herrings as we join Javier in finding the killer. However, many characters feel like inaccurate caricatures of Gen Z high schoolers. Javier attempting vape tricks, calling his bully “basic” and even flirting with his crush over a (purposely) cringeworthy Starbucks joke—some of the scenes felt overdone for a teen movie, and most of the dialogue was not punchy enough to live up to its campy concept.
Part of Departing Seniors’ fun is letting its characters completely delve into the supernatural without hesitation. Javier experiences multiple psychic visions throughout the film, played out through strobing colors, distorted camerawork and dizzying high-speed montages that give Javier’s visions a signature, titillating look. These sequences spiral quickly before snapping back to reality, sprinkling in plot twists and foreshadowing deaths in a more jarring, sinister That’s So Raven fashion.
Most of the kills are predictable; maybe this is because we see many of the deaths unfold in Javier’s visions, but the masked killer also moves without dexterity or guile. The murder sequences are slowly paced and underscored by ill-fitting music, failing to conjure the thrill needed to pull off a memorable slasher death. Even the film’s opening scene—the slaying of a swim team bully—doesn’t build enough suspense to set the movie into motion.
The unmasking at the end of the film is not quite successful, either. The final faceoff takes place in the school auditorium—reminiscent of Scream 2’s final act—on the night of the highly anticipated senior lock-in. Once revealed, the killer monologues about the weakly-tied motivations behind executing victims, souring the stakes laid out leading up to this moment. The final sequence utilizes the empty auditorium well, however, ending with an array of climactic shots—one of Javier’s own blood-stained hands—that satisfy the bloodthirst of its subgenre.
Departing Seniors is very similar to many other teen slashers, yet it doesn’t quite have strong enough writing or direction to stand out among its contemporaries. It’s supernatural, but not quite as campy as Freaky; it’s a well-acted whodunnit, but doesn’t offer Scream’s dynamic ensemble; it’s bloody, but doesn’t unleash the shock of Final Destination. Still, the many teen tropes that the movie falls back never seem to get too old, hooking us with chaotic love triangles and melodramatic one-liners, leaving us entertained until the sirens sound in the final act.
Director: Clare Cooney
Writers: Jose Nateras
Starring: Ignacio Diaz-Silverio, Yani Gellman, Ireon Roach, Maisie Merlock
Release Date: February 2, 2024
Sage Dunlap is a journalist based in Austin, TX. She currently contributes to Paste as a movies section intern, covering the latest in film news.