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| Winner of two Independent Spirit Awards in 2005, director Jason Aaron Estes' debut feature MEAN CREEK is a gripping thriller featuring an exceptional ensemble cast of young actors, all of whom deliver remarkable performances that make this one of the must-see movies of the year.
Inspired by several classic cinematic tales of modern adolescence – from "The Outsiders" to "River's Edge" and "Stand By Me" – and with more than a hint of the atmospheric terror of "Deliverance", MEAN CREEK is the story of a group of youths who embark on a boating trip that goes horribly wrong.
When the taunting, overweight George (Josh Peck) beats up 12-year-old Sam (Rory Culkin) at school, Sam's brother and his friends decide it's time to teach the bully a lesson. They invite him along on a boat trip through a local but fairly remote area to celebrate Sam's birthday. Their plans for revenge involve stripping George and leaving him naked and alone in the middle of nowhere. But as the day unfolds, George's true character begins to emerge and the scheming buddies realize that, rather than being a bully, he is just a misunderstood kid desperate to be accepted as part of the gang. This revelation leads most of the group to agree to abandon their plan, but one of their number is determined to take some form of retribution. When an innocent game of "Truth or Dare" triggers a moment of tragic misjudgement, the result is one that leads those involved into the very heart of darkness itself.
A chilling and deeply effecting story of friendship, responsibility and morality, MEAN CREEK stars Rory Culkin (Signs; Igby Goes Down), Josh Peck, Trevor Morgan (Jurassic Park III), Scott Mechlowicz (EuroTrip; Neverland), Carly Schroeder (The Lizzie McGuire Movie) and Ryan Kelley (Stray Dogs; Stolen Summer).
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Here's what our members thought of this title. 5 stars = very good, 1 star = poor.
 |  | "If you could snap your fingers right now and he would drop dead in his tracks, would you do it?"
Mean Creek is probably the best and most grown-up DVD release of the month, a teenage revenge drama in which a bunch of young Oregon hicks plot to teach the local bully a lesson. A small, independent movie with a thoughtful screenplay and talented cast, there's nothing Hollywood about it. Nothing glossy or sensational. Instead, it's brutally honest and believable, amusing at times but on the whole an emotionally challenging and thought-provoking piece of work. It's clear from the start that things are going to end in tears, and helpless to intervene, all you can do is sit back and let the dread within you rise until this already dark movie turns pitch black. It's a complex but extremely watchable film that involves you from the start and packs a serious punch. If that's what you're after, this is the horse to back.
Teenage bullying is a subject close to writer/director Jacob Aaron Estes's heart, having experienced a little unpleasantness of his own when, as a young lad on the basketball court, he continually faced an aggressive opponent who mocked him and tried to injure him at every opportunity. "This guy would come to the court drunk and verbally abuse me," says Estes. "He was a hateful guy who inspired a lot of anger in me."
Estes' anger soon gave way to elaborate and escalating vengeance fantasies. "Of course the only revenge plots I acted on were of a creative, non-violent nature, but the more I sought my revenge, the worse things got," he recalls. "It was getting out of hand, and then suddenly I started to wonder about the guy who was the bully: Who was he? Why was he doing this? And why had I let him affect me in such a profound way? These were really interesting questions to me – and they became more interesting than just getting back at this guy.
"At that same time," continues Estes, "I had been trying to write a screenplay about kids' lives in today's world – about how they cope with making the tough decisions they have to make, how they develop a real sense of morality in a world filled with moral ambiguity – and I realized that this was a great match with the theme of the bully. That's when I got the idea of a revenge plot that goes very wrong."
Further inspired by classic cinematic tales of modern adolescence, from The Outsiders to River's Edge to Stand By Me – Estes also wanted the story to expose the complexity, intimacy and intelligence of the teenage world. Estes notes: "Teenagers are so often underestimated and misrepresented in media as simpletons and know-nothings with no sense of responsibility to the world they live in. I wanted to explore a world inhabited by the kind of kids I remember from my teenage years – intelligent kids, troubled but sensitive beings, people who knew that their actions might count for something. I wanted to see how kids like these would behave under intensely difficult conditions – how their sense of duty, their relationships and loyalties to one another could be tested in an extremely stressful, dramatic situation. I think these kinds of moral questions are something that teens, as well as parents, really want to see in stories right now."
Of his largely unknown cast, Estes beams with pride at their achievements. "We not only put together a group of people with real chemistry," he concludes, "but a group that each brought their own memorable and distinctive colors to the whole. I felt extremely lucky to work with such an extraordinary group of actors all of whom proved themselves to be willing to go into very difficult and dark places with a great deal of trust and respect for each other as people and as actors. Everyone was a complete joy to work with, totally committed to the project."
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