''The Thinning'' is a 2016 American
social science fiction
Social science fiction is a subgenre of science fiction, usually (but not necessarily) soft science fiction, concerned less with technology/space opera and more with speculation about society. In other words, it "absorbs and discusses anthropol ...
thriller web film A web film is a film made with the medium of the Internet and its distribution constraints in mind.Kronschnabl, A & Rawlings, T, "Plug In & Turn On: A Filmmakers Guide to the Internet''. London:Marion Boyars. 2004. http://www.plugincinema.com/plugin ...
directed by Michael Gallagher and starring
Logan Paul
Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American media personality, podcaster, actor, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, but is inactive due to a knee injury. He has over 23 m ...
,
Peyton List,
Lia Marie Johnson
Lia Marie Johnson (born November 23, 1996) is an American actress, singer, and Internet personality, who in 2014 was profiled by ''Adweek'' as one of the "10 biggest young stars on YouTube". She first received recognition for her work on her You ...
,
Calum Worthy
Calum Worthy (born January 28, 1991) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer, known for his roles as Dez on the Disney Channel series ''Austin & Ally'', Alex Trimboli in the Netflix series '' American Vandal'', Nicholas Godejohn in the Hulu ser ...
,
Matthew Glave
Matthew Glave (born August 19, 1963) is an American actor best known for his roles in ''The Wedding Singer'', '' Picket Fences'', '' Baby's Day Out'', '' ER'', '' Stargate SG-1'', ''Army Wives'', '' Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce'', and '' Angie ...
,
Michael Traynor
Michael Traynor (Irish: ; 1917 – fl. 1970) was a leading member of Sinn Féin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in Belfast in an area with a mix of Protestants and Catholics, at an early age, Traynor saw the dead bodies of three Irish Republican A ...
, and
Stacey Dash
Stacey Lauretta Dash (born January 20, 1967) is an American actress. Dash played Dionne Marie Davenport in the 1995 feature film '' Clueless'' and its television series of the same name. She has also appeared in the films '' Moving'', '' Mo' Mo ...
. The film is set in a
dystopian future in which
population control
Population control is the practice of artificially maintaining the size of any population. It simply refers to the act of limiting the size of an animal population so that it remains manageable, as opposed to the act of protecting a species from ...
is enforced through a school
aptitude test
An examination (exam or evaluation) or test is an educational assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs). A test may be administered verba ...
; those who fail it are executed.
The film received a lukewarm reception from critics, though audience reception was more positive. Praise focused on the performances of Paul and List, concept and interesting themes but was criticized for not taking full advantage of its premise.
Plot
In 2039, due to Earth's
human overpopulation
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedality, bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex Human brain, brain. This has enabled the development of ad ...
, the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...
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
The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...
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. 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
A server room is a room, usually air-conditioned, devoted to the continuous operation of computer servers. An entire building or station devoted to this purpose is a data center.
The computers in server rooms are usually headless systems that ca ...
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
A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...
. 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.
Cast
*
Logan Paul
Logan Alexander Paul (born April 1, 1995) is an American media personality, podcaster, actor, and professional wrestler. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand, but is inactive due to a knee injury. He has over 23 m ...
as Blake Redding
*
Peyton List as Laina Michaels
*
Lia Marie Johnson
Lia Marie Johnson (born November 23, 1996) is an American actress, singer, and Internet personality, who in 2014 was profiled by ''Adweek'' as one of the "10 biggest young stars on YouTube". She first received recognition for her work on her You ...
as Ellie Harper
*
Calum Worthy
Calum Worthy (born January 28, 1991) is a Canadian actor, writer, and producer, known for his roles as Dez on the Disney Channel series ''Austin & Ally'', Alex Trimboli in the Netflix series '' American Vandal'', Nicholas Godejohn in the Hulu ser ...
as Kellan Woods
*
Ryan Newman as Sarah Foster
*
Michael Traynor
Michael Traynor (Irish: ; 1917 – fl. 1970) was a leading member of Sinn Féin in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in Belfast in an area with a mix of Protestants and Catholics, at an early age, Traynor saw the dead bodies of three Irish Republican A ...
as Mason King
*
Stacey Dash
Stacey Lauretta Dash (born January 20, 1967) is an American actress. Dash played Dionne Marie Davenport in the 1995 feature film '' Clueless'' and its television series of the same name. She has also appeared in the films '' Moving'', '' Mo' Mo ...
as Kendra Birch
*
Matthew Glave
Matthew Glave (born August 19, 1963) is an American actor best known for his roles in ''The Wedding Singer'', '' Picket Fences'', '' Baby's Day Out'', '' ER'', '' Stargate SG-1'', ''Army Wives'', '' Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce'', and '' Angie ...
as Gov. Dean Redding
*
Robert Gant as Vince Davi
*
Kiersten Warren
Kiersten Nicolla Dale Warren is an American actress. Her best known roles include Alex Tabor on '' Saved by the Bell: The College Years'' and Nora Huntington on ''Desperate Housewives''.
Life and career
Warren is the mother of actress Misti Tra ...
as Barbara Michaels
*Jana Winternitz as Ms. Cole
*Patrick O’Sullivan as Mr. P. Glass
*
Amy Paffrath as Wendy Banks
*Jeff Corbett as Victor Woods
*Laura Harring as Georgina Preston
*Aria Leabu as Corrine Michaels
*Marcel Nahapetian as Joey Michaels
Reception
Adi Robertson of ''
The Verge
''The Verge'' is an American technology news website operated by Vox Media, publishing news, feature stories, guidebooks, product reviews, consumer electronics news, and podcasts.
The website launched on November 1, 2011, and uses Vox Media ...
'' gave a negative review of the film, describing it, in comparison to other films about teenagers forced into a deadly competition, as "remarkable simply for being such a bad take on the formula."
Sequel
On November 17, 2017, Logan Paul announced on his YouTube channel that a sequel, titled ''The Thinning: New World Order'' was starting production.
On January 10, 2018,
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
announced that production of ''New World Order'' was put on hold, as part of repercussions instated upon Paul for posting a controversial video in which he visited
Aokigahara, a Japanese forest known for being a common place for suicides to occur, and filmed a dead body. This sparked outrage across social media against Paul, forcing an apology from himself and repercussions from YouTube, including delaying ''The Thinning: New World Order'' and his appearance in the upcoming season of YouTube Red series ''
Foursome'', but the criticism still continues.
On October 16, 2018, Logan Paul released the trailer for ''The Thinning: New World Order''. On October 17, Paul premiered ''The Thinning: New World Order'' to the public.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thinning, The
2010s science fiction films
2010s thriller films
American science fiction thriller films
American dystopian films
Films set in 2041
Films set in the future
Overpopulation fiction
YouTube Premium films
Films set in Austin, Texas
2010s English-language films
Films directed by Michael J. Gallagher
2010s American films
Logan Paul