President's Day (film)

President's Day is a 2010 comedy horror film directed by Chris LaMartina.^[1] The film follows a group of high school students being hunted by a madman in an Abraham Lincoln disguise. The film had a limited release on President's Day in 2010 and was released to DVD on April 9 of the same year.^[2]

Plot

At Lincoln High, it is election season, and the president of the student body must be elected. The three candidates, Chloe, Daniel and Vanessa, are locked in fierce competition. Chloe enjoys support from the sports teams, Daniel is most popular with the students who are in the math and science clubs, and Vanessa is backed by the other popular girls, most notably Chelsea, Alexa and Karol. Vanessa breaks up with her boyfriend Max after he tells her that he supports Daniel. Within a few weeks, Max is dating Lucy, a friend of Daniel.

Chloe holds a rally in which Jack, the football captain, Jay, the soccer captain, and Jessica, the basketball captain, show their support for her. Karol and her boyfriend Sammy sneak into the school to have sex. However, a killer dressed in an Abraham Lincoln mask beheads Sammy with an axe and chases Karol through the school. Karol narrowly manages to escape, and reports the crime to the police. The school becomes abuzz with rumors about the murder. Suddenly, all of the candidates must make statements about it. Karol eventually returns to school, but on her first day back, the killer stabs her to death in the restroom.

Vanessa develops a crush on a boy named Larry, but he is already dating Sharon. She is accompanied by Chelsea and Alexa to a debate. Max, Lucy, and Daniel's other friends Charlie and Kennedy hang up posters in support of him. While Larry is talking to his friend Deke, the killer slams his axe into Sharon's head. He then hacks Jay and his girlfriend Deanne to death before murdering Kennedy. Daniel, already knowing about Vanessa's crush on Larry, decides to accuse Vanessa of being the killer with the help of Lucy and Charlie. Max is doubtful, but Lucy forces him to go along by threatening to break up with him.

Vanessa is questioned by Detective Sam Reed and Detective Jen Carl. Principal Joanna Castor then closes the school down until the killer is caught. Chelsea and Alexa confront Daniel and get into a fistfight with Lucy and Charlie. Meanwhile, Paul is elected the new captain of the soccer team, but Shane, Tom, and Roy, bitter over this, corner Paul and beat him up. The killer impales Shane, decapitates Tom, and hacks Roy to death. He then splits Paul's head and beats his girlfriend Salli to death. The killer then moves on to slaughtering the entire football team by shooting most of them to death, bludgeoning new player Corey, and crushing Jack's head with a car tire. Chloe, anxious over the murders, resigns from the race. However, this does not save her life, as the killer murders her by running her over at night.

Jessica and her girlfriend Ellie decide to throw a rally to condemn the actions of the killer and help the police get information. However, Daniel attempts to use the rally to advertise his campaign. This results in Vanessa punching Daniel in the face. During the rally, the killer dismembers Charlie, stabs Lucy before crushing her with a desk, slams his axe into Max's back, and scalps Daniel.

Larry and Deke, convinced that Vanessa is the killer, tie her up, despite her pleas to be let go. However, the real killer crushes Deke with a barrel and stakes Larry's head while Vanessa frees herself. She then meets up with Chelsea and Alexa. The killer bashes Jessica's head with a basketball before throwing Alexa off a balcony, causing her to be impaled on a fence. He is then finally revealed as Castor, who is actually a serial killer who only became principal at the school to kill the students. It is also revealed that Ellie is Castor's daughter and accomplice. Joanna and Ellie kill Chelsea by mutilating her face before chasing Vanessa through the school, eventually culminating in a final showdown on the roof.

Vanessa manages to take away Joanna's axe and slam it into her chest. She then throws Ellie down a ventilation shaft. Joanna gets back up and charges toward Vanessa, but Vanessa dives out of the way and Joanna runs off the roof, landing in the pool. Vanessa flees the school, but when the detectives enter, Joanna tortures Carl and cuts off her head while Reed finds Ellie with the dead body of Jessica in the basement. Reed kills Ellie and leaves the basement. Joanna finds her daughter's body and in a fury, disembowels Reed. Joanna is then seen leaving the school.

Vanessa is then seen in her hospital room at night as Joanna enters. Joanna prepares to kill Vanessa with a scalpel, but Vanessa wakes up and injects fluid into Joanna's brain before stabbing her to death, finally ending her rampage.

Cast

• Lizzy Denning as Vanessa
• Nicolette le Faye as Joanna
• Ashley Connor as Ellie
• Ryan Thomas as Detective Sam Reed
• Jane Truman as Detective Jen Carl
• Lisa Armstrong as Jessica
• Jill Rye as Chelsea
• Kelly Fish as Alexa
• Shawn C. Phillips as Larry
• Bennie Mack McCoy IV as Deke
• Ryan Faulk as Daniel
• Trevor Shaun as Max
• Ally Riley as Lucy
• Kevin Kostner as Charlie
• Beth Greg as Chloe
• Terrence Reed as Jack
• Lloyd Sumner as Corey
• Phil Bose as Jerry
• Beckett Williams as Simon
• Jace Folk as Paul
• Bryley Tomlin as Salli
• Breckin Weerd as Roy
• Brett Chain as Tom
• Garret Seymour as Shane
• Emily Wicker as Kennedy
• Ben Shane as Jay
• Elizabeth Mirror as Deanne
• Collie Simpson as Sharon
• Jennifer Carmen as Karol
• Evan Shear as Sammy
• Dylan Cable as John
• Bradley Simmons as Alex
• Stacy Stanley as Carrie

Reception

Bloody Disgusting gave President's Day four skulls and wrote that it was "a quantum leap forward for a fledgling filmmaker who has proven over the last 4-years that he’s more than capable making quality films for less."^[3] The Baltimore City Paper also praised the movie, which they called "a fun, wickedly entertaining slasher romp".^[4]

References

External links

• President's Day at the Internet Movie Database