Why not take notes from Horror movie classics and bring them into a teenage world, with teenage angst and terror - aka school. And if you do that, why not have a cast that will be looked back to as stellar to say the least? I don't know how much luck one can have with the casting or how Robert Rodriguez essembled such a great group of people. Be it on the teacher side or on the pupils side of things.
This may have classic horror and science fiction elements to it, but it also is clearly a 90s movie too. This throws as many twists your way as you can handle. Not to mention enough jump scares to get a dead heart beating again ... and I'm saying this not in a bad way. Other movies have issues with those tropes, but they work with this one quite well. And it's the script on the one hand, the direction on the other ... and of course that cast. Have I mentioned the actors yet? Kidding aside, the effects may have aged badly in some respects, but they are still ok all things considering.
This may have classic horror and science fiction elements to it, but it also is clearly a 90s movie too. This throws as many twists your way as you can handle. Not to mention enough jump scares to get a dead heart beating again ... and I'm saying this not in a bad way. Other movies have issues with those tropes, but they work with this one quite well. And it's the script on the one hand, the direction on the other ... and of course that cast. Have I mentioned the actors yet? Kidding aside, the effects may have aged badly in some respects, but they are still ok all things considering.