For non-nostalgic purposes only, Evil managed to unearth a series of repressed personal anxieties; particularly those involving stunted adolescence and institutional terrorism. Not that I was ever taken to with a fist or the end of a cigarette stub, but traditionalist schools like the one I "embraced" have always fallen back on their own patriarchal law and outdated protocol, which in turn cultivates an oppressive student environment built on hierarchy, privilege and rightousness. If you've ever attended the type of educational regime in question here, you'll also know that the cycle is unbreakable – or at least at a base level, because school is a revolving door, and only once (or, if) you've graduated from the "Wonder Years", are you entitled (or required in macho-sadistic-pride terms) to make the lives of those beneath you a living hell.

Here, the boarding school that is the film's corruptive antagonist serves as a quite exaggerated but nonetheless potent model for social totalitarianism. That, or just boys will be boys. Given this, Evil is one of two things: an XY-chromosome variation on Mean Girls, or a Euro-arthouse remake of Battle Royale (minus the satire and heavy weaponry). Direct violence or physical torture replaces psychological warfare and selective ostracism; fabricated rumour-milling and covert humiliation make way for macho scare-mongering and feces-tennis. The bullying and general misery-making is certainly outdated in device-terms (text-messaging a long way off; the wedgey probably not invented yet), but it's the power structures within the school framework that undoubtedly persist across all walks of life. My own personal experiences aren't nearly as cinematic, but the structures certainly continue to exist, manifesting as a shove in the corridor, a jump in the lunchtime queue, or an obligation to perform "rubbish duty" while seniors conveniently discard their waste in your path, all the while being subjected to the most archaic form of bootlicking regimentation and carrot-dangling (if the school is deemed spotless, you were granted last period off). Did I then exploit my position as a senior 4 years later? Yes, but then I'm not the lead character in a movie, either.—Tim Wong

» Mikael Håfström | Sweden | 2003