I would not say the notion was perpetuated in my small part of the world, but I did not see much encouragement to reach out either. It became apparent at a young age for me; in particular, it was one of the first classes I had ever attended. Within the small group of kids I sat with I was the only left-handed student; I was different. The teacher spent no time teaching me how to hold a pencil or a pair of scissors. From there my awarenesses expanded to race and religion. I do not want to say prejudices went unchecked, but it seemed the differences between the students were something that did not get embraced. Instead, they were sort of pushed to the side like guardrails on our growth path. I have seen a change in attitudes where being different has less negative connotations to it. Not enough in my opinion, but I see the younger generation being more receptive to each other’s differences. Some may disagree with me but I have seen how a school’s sports team rivalry grows out of control and permeates the students’ mindset. Sure one team wins and one loses but some carry that rivalry through their neighborhood, claiming theirs is better than a competing school’s area and on and on it goes. I remember how the elementary schools where I grew up were each given a negative nickname by the students in my school. The mentality of us vs. them was always present.    WAKING up to find his parents dead, the only option Coyden Richards, played by Lucas Till (X-Men franchise, Walk the Line), could come up with was to leave and try to find people who wee similar to him, who could explain why it happened. This action horror movie’s story seemed familiar to me, as if I had seen it before in a couple of other films. I thought the teenage angst angle was one the writers should have carried further throughout the story. Soon into the picture I realized the budget must have been created with very little money. The reason being the directing was poor, the script was substandard and the acting was sad. For example actors Jason Momoa (Game of Thrones-TV, Bullet to the Head) as Connor and Merritt Patterson (The Hole, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief) as Angelina Timmins could have done a better performance than what they did here. There really was not much in this movie to keep my interest; my mind kept trying to wander (maybe run) away. If the studio would have pushed to create a different take on the genre, I would have been better able to embrace this film. Several scenes had blood and violence in them.

1 1/2 stars