‘The School Duel’ Movie Review [Fantasia 2025]: A Scrappy, Unsubtle Dystopia With Real-World Bite
Photo from Fantasia Film Festival
From Jeff Nelson
Todd Wiseman Jr.’s The School Duel is in direct conversation with dystopian thrillers Battle Royale, The Hunger Games, and The Purge. What sets it apart is its focus on the American school system and its fear of the “other.” Life is for the chosen, and death is politicized in this disturbing, scrappy thriller. But, the question is: who determines the “chosen” one?"
Set in the near future, the free state of Florida has outlawed gun control, and school shootings are at an all-time high. Governor Ramiro’s (Oscar Nuñez) solution? A nationwide competition called “School Duel,” which pits children against one another in a fight to the death. The losers are called “martyrs,” and the winning sole survivor is a “king.”
Thirteen-year-old Sam (Kue Lawrence) lives a miserable existence. He hates his cruel, God-loving classmates and grieves his late father, whom he idolizes. Living with his mother (Christina Brucato), he channels his rage into mature media, reassuring his mom that it’s only violence (“at least it isn’t sex,” as he puts it). Feeling increasingly alienated, he volunteers to join School Duel as his school’s applicant.
Some kids train their entire lives to get selected to represent their school, but Captain Stegmann (Michael Sean Tighe) sees a festering hatred inside Sam that no amount of training can replicate. The young boy looks up to Stegmann and P.E. Coach Williams (Jamad Mays), desperate to fill the void left by his father. However, he believes that winning the School Duel is his only way to validate his existence.
Wiseman’s approach to American politics doesn’t have a subtle bone in its body, and it shouldn’t. This near-future dystopia doesn’t feel far removed from the country’s current politics. The School Duel is unsurprisingly broadcast nationwide with a small in-person audience, transforming children’s brutal deaths into a spectacle. Kings are put on a pedestal as cultural symbols for America’s future.
Traditional values are the core of Florida’s society. School lessons are littered with homophobia, gender stereotypes are enforced (there are no girls allowed in the School Duel), and religion is used as a tool for manipulation. It’s infuriating to watch, and that’s the point.
The death match is filmed, perhaps a little too gleefully. It’s shot with the same black-and-white photography as the rest of the film, accompanied by some hyper-stylized sequences. Like in our media, Wiseman desensitizes the child violence, but this undermines the story’s messaging. The tone finally corrects course in the final act, introducing a poignant accent that was missing from the beginning of the movie.
The School Duel borrows similar themes from other dystopian social death matches, but its application to shootings in the American school system, where the country grows more desensitized to the gut-wrenching loss of life, is potent. However, Wiseman doesn’t spend enough time with Sam and his mother early on to fully land the emotional triumph he’s aiming for. In this society, children are the “other,” sacrificed as part of a fear-mongering propaganda machine. It’s a terrifying and compelling portrait of America’s numbness to violence against our youth, even if its inspirations are a little too plainly worn.
Rating: 3/5
The School Duel played at Fantasia 2025 on July 31st.