It's both a supremely controlled exercise in form and tone and an intriguing exploration of the ways new technology intersects with age-old questions of dominance, control and individuality, particularly in the school setting.
– Andrew O'Hehir,
Salon.com,
9 Oct 2009
fresh:
Anthony Campos (who was 24 when he made this jolting pic) captures the numbing psychic scramble that just might cause the YouTube generation to go morally haywire. Or become filmmakers.
– Lisa Schwarzbaum,
Entertainment Weekly,
7 Oct 2009
fresh:
Though thin on story, the film shows poise and vision, using bleak cinema-realite techniques with chilling effect. Campos promises to be heard from again.
– Kyle Smith,
New York Post,
2 Oct 2009
rotten:
Those with the patience to wait out Mr. Campos's overindulgences will definitely leave Afterschool unnerved, which is probably exactly what he had in mind.
– Neil Genzlinger,
New York Times,
2 Oct 2009
fresh:
The passing of time and the evolution of technology may give it an expiration date, but more likely, Campos' film stands to be an essential document of what it was like to be a young person in the late '00s.