Students in a totalitarian school-like setting are forced to take medication and vaccines against their will, and are deemed ‘unclean’ if they don’t. Sound familiar? Level 16 is more relevant now than its creators ever would have imagined a few short years ago.
All the students in this boarding school are young women and girls, apparently having been brought up since infancy by the increasingly diabolical Miss Brixil (Sara Canning) and Dr. Miro (Peter Outerbridge). The girls are instructed to be obedient and repeatedly stressed on the importance of cleanliness. We, as viewers, assume we’re seeing some dystopian future, and the strict regiment the girls are put through is preparing them for adoption into a family.
But it’s a little more sinister than that.
Despite not having any notable actors, Level 16 is teeming with great performances. Sometimes you hate certain girls, sometimes you love others. The script is smart, and even though there is very little action or violence, you feel on edge the entire time. You know something bad is going on; you’re just not sure what it is.
I couldn’t find an exact budget for Level 16, though one site estimated it cost between $1-3 million to make. Honestly, I doubt it was even that much. And it’s made less than $20k in sales, according to the data I found. But this is a film that needs to go a little viral. It’s well made and relevant for the times. I could see it becoming a cult classic of sorts.
PC3’s Horror and Exploitation Movie Scale of Awesomeness
Gore – 2
Special Effects – 2
Nudity/Sexuality – 0
Wow Factor – 5
Acting – 8
Fear Factor – 6
Story/Plot/Originality – 9
Cinematography/Atmosphere – 6
Sound/Music – 5
Fun Factor – 5
Level 16 scores a respectable 48 on the PHEMSA scale, with high marks for acting and story. Check it out on Netflix or Amazon.