Taglines: Only the smartest will survive.
The Thinning is set in a not so distant future where Earth is becoming overpopulated and in order to control the population, students have to take a test and the ones that fail are euthanized. When two students Laina Michaels (Peyton List) and Blake Redding (Logan Paul) discover that the tests were rigged, they need to work together to fight the system so as to expose it and take it down.
The Thinning is a 2016 American social science fiction thriller web film directed by Michael Gallagher and starring Logan Paul, Peyton List, Lia Marie Johnson, Calum Worthy, Matthew Glave, Michael Traynor, and Stacey Dash. The film is set in a dystopian future in which population control is enforced through a school aptitude test; those who fail it are executed.
Film Review for Thinning
In 2039, due to Earth’s human overpopulation, the United Nations instructs all nations to annually cut their populations by 5%. The United States implements the 10-241 or “the Thinning”, a standardized test in which those who fail will be executed.
Blake Redding, son of Texas governor Dean Redding, is dating a girl named Ellie Harper, neither of whom study for the exam. Blake passes the exams, while Ellie fails. Blake calls his father in an attempt to free Ellie, but he refuses.
On the day of his last exam a year later, Blake makes a video saying that he will purposefully fail his exam to test his father’s loyalty. Redding takes notice of this announcement, and test manager Mason King, also head of the Department of Population Control, is ordered to pass Blake regardless of his score.
Mason switches his score with genius classmate Laina Michaels, passing Blake at her expense. Suspicious, a teacher named Ms. Birch secretly hands Laina a keycard so she can unlock the doors and escape. Blake cuts the school’s power, allowing Laina to escape. That, however, is hindered by the school initiating lockdown. After using the keycard, Laina meets up with Blake.
After a series of escapades with the guards, Laina goes to the server room to check the scores, learning that test scores are shuffled, resulting in the wrongful deaths of many students with passing scores. Laina gives it to her friend Kellan, who is acquainted with a news anchor. The power is turned on, and Laina is caught on camera, thus taken to the Thinning.
Blake, still in the disguise, attempts to release all the failed students, but is caught by the guards. After photos of the system’s misconduct are leaked, Redding reluctantly executes all of those who actually failed, including Blake, by injection. As the lockdown ends, Laina is reunited with her younger sister Corrine as well as Ms. Birch, who has been taking care of Corrine since their mother’s death.
Blake and the rest are taken underground, where many people are working for tech company Assuru Global. As Blake slowly wakes up from what was actually a sleep drug, he sees a blonde girl working: Ellie.
The Thinning (2016)
Directed by: Michael J. Gallagher
Starring: Logan Paul, Peyton List, Lia Marie Johnson, Calum Worthy, Ryan Newman, Michael Traynor, Matthew Glave, Robert Gant, Kiersten Warren, Jana Winternitz, Amy Paffrath, Laura Harring
Aria Leabu as Corrine Michaels
Marcel Nahapetian as Joey Michaels
Screenplay by: Michael Gallagher, Steve Greene
Production Design by: Alec Contestabile
Cinematography by: Greg Cotten
Film Editing by: Brian Ufberg
Costume Design by: Pheobe Boynton
Set Decoration by: Haley Contestabile
Art Direction by: Chelsea Turner
Music by: Brandon Campbell
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: YouTube Red
Release Date: October 12, 2016
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