This was a strange one, but in a good way.

The film starts at a frequent event in slasher films: the college fraternity party. Beautiful, barely clothed young people are acting stupid, getting wasted, and hooking up. I instantly hate all of them and can’t wait for them to die. (I will add that I never went to college so never had the fraternity/sorority experience, but it looks stupefying and miserable.)

But then the film subtly changes course. These characters, initially portrayed as stereotypes, start to humanize and gain my sympathy. How uncalled for!

A possible rape occurs, and the frat bros who may have been involved are targeted by a serial killer wearing a silver mask. (He looked uncomfortably similar to the main antagonist in my novel, “The Mirror Man” available on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited!) The killer uses a drill as his weapon of choice and leaves his victims’ bodies presented as art.

Part of me wants to say this film didn’t know whether it was a slasher or a police procedural, but part of me wonders if that’s really a bad thing.

The acting was credible and occasionally outstanding. A scene where a student finds out a relative has been killed gave me “the feels” in a way a film hasn’t done in years.

One interesting twist is that most of the victims are men. “Initiation” is a slasher for the MeToo era.

The score—often sedate synthesizer plodding you might expect from a Steven Sodenberg film—was a curious choice.

It did start to lag towards the end, but I was honestly surprised who the killer turned out to be.

The film is well-shot and looks great. The colors pop.

Ultimately, “Initiation” is that rarest of breeds—a college slasher that takes its themes seriously and mostly pulls it off.