After making waves in the United Kingdom at Frightfest last year, Ruth Platt’s directorial debut The Lesson arrives in the states courtesy of the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. After getting off to a rather slow start (it takes about 30 minutes , The Lesson ramps up the tension dramatically and results in a solid horror coming-of-age film that features one of the scariest teachers ever put on screen.

Fin (Evan Bendall) and Joel (Rory Coltart) are juvenile delinquents who behave about as bad as you would expect a pair of juvenile delinquents would. From bullying underclassmen to keying “I am a wanker” into their teacher Mr. Gale’s (Robert Hands) car, they are some pretty despicable teenagers. Fin lives with his negligent brother Jake (Tom Cox) and his brother’s girlfriend Mia (Michaela Prchalová), whom he views as his surrogate mother. One day, Mr. Gale snaps and abducts Fin and Joel, strapping them to chairs at a desk containing two dictionaries. This desk will be their home for the majority of the film as Mr. Gale teaches them the titular lesson he has been trying to teach them in the classroom. 

The Lesson is quite possibly every teacher’s secret wet dream and provides a clever twist on the “teacher trains a bunch of hoodlums to act like normal human beings” sub-genre of film. Just imagine if Deloris van Cartier had whipped out a nail gun on the first day of class at St. Francis Academy (we probably would have had a different closing number).

Hands is the standout here, as the bulk of the film consists of monologues by Mr. Gale. Hands is clearly an expert at playing an unhinged character, and it shows. What makes Mr. Gale so terrifying is that it really does feel like this is a real person who has just snapped. He’s not an immortal killer. He’s just a teacher who’s had one too many bad days. Bendall and Prchalová are also impressive in their admittedly smaller roles, but they do the best with what they are given.

For a first-time director, Platt shows a significant amount of confidence behind the camera. All too frequently, the camera comes in and out of focus, mirroring Gale’s fractured mind. The only shoddy effect is one in which the camera is acting as Fin’s POV as Mr. Gale kicks him in the face (you’ll know it when you see it), but even that is a minor quibble.

The allegory here (and Mr. Gale is insistent that everyone know what an allegory is) is that much like how education liberates you from your parents to start a life all on your own, Fin and Joel will only be freed from Mr. Gale’s clutches if they learn all of the lessons he has to teach them. There is no intricate lesson here. Mr. Gale just wants the boys to learn basic information that most people learn in school (archetypes, totalitarianism, the aforementioned definition of allegory, etc.). His sole method of teaching is to have the boys look up a word in a dictionary within 10 seconds lest they have a nail driven into their hands either by hammer or nail gun.

The issue that gorehounds may have with this is that Mr. Gale doesn’t differentiate with his method, so those expecting a graphic torture-porn film are bound to be disappointed as the nails are the only toys that come out to play. For those looking for a disquieting abduction thriller though, The Lesson is the film for you.

One drawback to the film is that you really get to know Fin all that well. Brief flashes to his deceased mother are interspersed throughout the film in black-and-white segments, but he has such little meaningful dialogue in the film that it’s hard to care for him that much. Even less development is spent on Joel, who spends the majority of the second and third acts unconscious. The Lesson is more interested in social commentary than character development, which is unfortunate but understandable

The Lesson is an impressive debut feature for Ruth Platt, featuring solid performances and one or two cringe-inducing moments of violence. While it may not hit all the right beats you would like it to, it’s still a better-than-average torture film with a story to tell that doesn’t delve too far into “torture porn” territory.

The Lesson had its North American Premiere on January 23rd at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. An official release date has not yet been set.