During the four months I have been on The Central Trend staff, I have sparked an interest in reviewing the new MarVista Entertainment movies that are released onto Netflix each month—these mediocre movies have become my go-to pieces to construct reviews on.

From Only Mine to Driven to Dance, MarVista Entertainment movies have shared a common characteristic: an intriguing plot accompanied by emotionless acting. In one of the company’s newest releases on Netflix, Deadly Scholars, the same characteristic was present.  

Deadly Scholars covers the life of Samantha Hodges, a passionate journalist for both her school newspaper and yearbook. Samantha is new to her school and city and has gathered three best friends within a relatively short time: Nate, Gillian, and Rudy. Both Nate and Gillian assist Samantha with the newspaper by providing photography to be utilized on the website, and Rudy is a longtime friend of Nate’s. The plot initiates when their peer, Jordan Reynolds, suddenly dies while performing a scene of Romeo and Juliet. The school harshly argues that the death was an accident; however, Samantha and Nate later find that the death was caused by an allergic reaction that Jordan experienced.

Likewise, Samantha and Nate recalled that Jordan was first on the list for a respectable scholarship that many seniors in their school were fighting to obtain. When the student who was second on the list suddenly dies within a month of Jordan’s death, Samantha and Nate decide to attempt to discover a link between the deaths and conclude whether or not a killer is among those in their class.

The caliber of acting in Deadly Scholars was higher than that of previous movies produced by MarVista Entertainment that I have viewed; however, the being said, the quality of the acting was still rather low. With serious topics being covered such as suicide, an authentic, obvious show of emotion was necessary. However, more times than not, it was awkwardly obvious that the actors struggled to cry, and their contorted, upset faces were not believable.

The unfortunate circumstance present in movies produced by MarVista Entertainment is that their plots contain a large amount of promise and opportunity for success, but the actors are never able to reach the appropriate level of acting that the advanced plots require. Again, the idea behind Deadly Scholars was intriguing and interesting, but the actors were unable to successfully aid in the portrayal of the plot.

However, Deadly Scholars did have a few strengths that temporarily distracted me from the poor acting. The aspect of the movie that I enjoyed the most was the relatability. The conflict revolved around students who were struggling to be perfect enough to receive a scholarship to college. Also, the parents who received lines did accurately voice the pressures that most high-school students hear from their parents about getting into college and receiving scholarships. Overall, the constant pressure present with being good enough to receive scholarships and the life-or-death situation that getting into college seems to be both aided me in relating to the characters and their lives.

Whether or not it was because I could relate to the pressures that are associated with graduating high school and moving onto college that the characters in Deadly Scholars voiced, Deadly Scholars is easily among the better movies by MarVista Entertainment that I have watched.