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A 12A rating on a horror movie is usually a bad sign, and sure enough Cry Wolf is a timid beastie by slasher standards. Set in one of those Dead Poets Society prep schools where even the janitors drive Porsches, the movie follows a group of students who invent a psychopathic killer for giggles, only to discover that a real murderer with the same MO is on the loose.

Or is he? It might just be the kids dressing up as the madman, since that's exactly the kind of prank that these snotty-nosed little brats seem to enjoy. Our nominal hero in a cast full of relative newcomers is English exchange student Julian Morris, but the movie is stolen from him by Lindy Booth's flame haired mini-femme fatale. Neither of these actors looks anywhere near young enough for their roles, but in light of Booth's indiscernable hemlines, this is probably a good thing. Jon Bon Jovi, meanwhile, is actually rather good as the kids' journalism tutor.

"INVENTIVE PLOTTING"

The scare quota is very low and mostly restricted to the odd jumpy noise, but there is some inventive plotting to make up for it, and while the many twists become implausible, the film does keep you guessing for most of its trim length. Director Jeff Wadlow has fun with instant messaging systems and stages one classy suspense scene in a cavernous library, where the lights only come on if you're moving. It's arguably not worth the trouble of a cinema trip, but you could do worse when this hits video.