In Future, If You Fail a School Exam You Get Executed

In the near future, overpopulation has depleted  the world’s resources, so the U. N. decides that countries must cut their population by 5% every  year.

In the USA, all students take a standardized test once a year and those with the lowest scores  are executed. The test is called the 10-241 but people have nicknamed it The Thinning. In Texas,  students are studying for the test, which will start in eighteen hours.

High-schooler Laina  is mentoring Simon while her younger siblings play behind them. Simon is frustrated because he  doesn’t understand enough and pays Laina a good amount of cash, which gets him special contact  lenses that give him all the answers. Laina reminds him to destroy them after the test.

At  that moment she receives a call from the hospital saying that her mother is trying to get discharged  against medical advice. Laina asks the doctor to buy time and rushes to the hospital with her  siblings, where her mother has already signed all the discharge paperwork. The doctor pulls Laina  aside and turns down her money, revealing her mom has gotten worse and no treatment will help her  now.

In the evening with only twelve hours left for the exam, the governor’s son Blake tells his  bodyguards he’s going to the kitchen for a bite, but he actually sneaks out of the mansion and  gets in his car to meet his girlfriend Ellie. The mood gets awkward when they remember they may  die in the morning, so they decide to distract themselves. They sneak into another mansion and  use the pool for a while.

Afterward they return to the car to make out, but Ellie can’t get in  the mood because she’s scared of the test. They’re suddenly interrupted by a bodyguard, who drags  Blake back to his house. Governor Dean scolds Blake for wasting his time the night before  the test, pointing out he should be studying now so he can have fun later.

He thinks Ellie  is a distraction that Blake can’t afford until he graduates next year, but Blake doesn’t look  convinced. Dean gives him a hug anyway. Three hours before the test, guards in black surround  the school with fences, barbed wire, and cameras.

They also patrol the perimeter to make sure nobody  runs away. Simon arrives early and another student accidentally bumps into him, causing him to  drop his contact lenses. He tries to find them, however a guard tells him to keep moving.

As the  students arrive, they share a sad goodbye with their parents, then the guards check their bags  and scan their bodies to prevent any cheating tricks. Blake approaches Laina and asks to buy the  special lenses, but Laina tells her she already sold the last ones. At that moment a guard finds a  student with invisible answers painted on his arm and the boy immediately runs away.

This is the  first time someone makes it past the guards, so Laina’s friend Kellan hacks his father’s account  to access the street security footage, watching how the guards surround the guy and catch him with  a net. Then Kellan makes a copy and sends it to a reporter. Once everyone is inside, the guards put  the school under lockdown.

Then the students go to their respective classrooms and Miss Birch tries  to be as comforting and encouraging as possible, telling them there’s always a chance. Mister Glass  reminds them of the rules: they have two hours to finish the test, their eyes must never leave their  tablets, and all grades are final. At that moment the test finally begins and everyone concentrates  on answering the questions on the tablet, but it’s clear many of them are struggling.

When the test  is finally over, the students must drop their tablets and the guards immediately go over the  results in their computer. The conclusion arrives in just a matter of minutes and the teachers  are heartbroken to read the list with the lowest scores. With each name mentioned, the guards take  the student away, dragging them away when they try to resist or even beating them up when they try  to escape.

Blake, Kellan, and Laina passed, but Ellie didn’t and she’s taken away. The students  are allowed to have a break and Laina sees Simon is also being taken away. A desperate Blake calls  his dad to ask him to save Ellie, but Dean refuses to play favorites since the law is the same  for everyone.

Furious, Blake pushes a bunch of people to reach the guard, pushing him too  before grabbing a fire extinguisher and hitting him with it. Then he jumps on the second guard  and wrestles him while telling Ellie to escape. She immediately runs away but the other students  block the corridor and the guards catch up to her, taking her to her death while a screaming Blake  is dragged away.

A year passes and the next test will be in twenty-four hours. Sarah can’t  handle any more studying and goes to see Glass, who agrees to give her a good grade in exchange  for doing the dirty with her. Meanwhile Birch visits Laina and her siblings, who recently lost  their mother.

Birch has brought food and offers her support because she knows the little ones  are having their first test this year. On her way home, Birch sees Sarah leave Glass’ car. At the  governor’s mansion, Blake records a video on his tablet, saying that if someone is watching this,  it means he’s dead.

Three hours before the test, Laina takes her siblings to the school, quizzing  them on the way to make sure they’re ready. Dean tries to be supportive of Blake before he leaves,  but Blake doesn’t buy it and tells him to save it for his speeches. A bodyguard notices Blake  dropping an envelope in a mailbox on his way to the school, so he steals it and takes it to  Dean.

Moments later, the school is put under lockdown and all the students take their seats.  In the kindergarten class, the teacher plays an animated video full of propaganda that explains  why the test is important to save the Earth. Other countries kill the elderly or restrict the amount  of annual births, but the USA concentrates on keeping the smart people so it can be great again. 

Then the students are given the tablets and the test begins. Meanwhile Dean finds Blake’s video  inside the envelope and learns that he’s going to fail the test on purpose so his father can watch  his son die because of the system he defends so much. Dean immediately asks the bodyguards  to bring Blake home, but nobody can leave the school after lockdown.

After making his bodyguard  leave the room, Dean calls Mason, the head of the school’s security operation. In the classroom,  Blake answers everything fast and wrong, allowing him to finish early. Glass finds this strange. 

In the kindergarten class, a kid raises his hand and asks for help, but the teacher refuses to  assist him because a guard is watching. Eventually the time runs out and everyone puts down their  tablets. This time the results are calculated by Mason alone instead of a group of guards.

Soon the  teachers start calling the names and the kid that asked for help is taken away. So is Sarah, who  screams as she realizes Glass lied to her. Kellan and Laina’s siblings pass and so does Blake, who  doesn’t understand what’s happening.

Birch cries as she reads Laina’s name, not believing it  because she’s the best student in her class. Meanwhile Mason calls Dean to confirm he made the  switch. A shocked Blake watches the kids being taken away and Birch runs to a guard, asking him  to double-check the results since it’s impossible for Laina to fail.

The guards call Mason and  they’re told everything is fine, so Laina must leave with the others. As Birch says goodbye,  she secretly gives Laina her keycard, reminding her there’s always a chance. Afterward the school  throws a party for the people who passed and Birch notices Glass flirting with another student.

At  the same time Dean is on a public event and his speech is played at the party. The whole crowd  is cheering for him as he mentions all the things he’s improved in the state and comments on how  decisions are had to make but also necessary. He thinks the Thinning isn’t barbaric, instead  he calls it innovation.

Dean also announces his candidacy for president and a disgusted  Blake leaves the party. In a private hallway, the failed kids are told to take off their clothes  for decontamination and hit when they don’t obey. Laina puts the keycard in her mouth to keep it  hidden.

Then they’re given prison-like clothes and taken to another room where they’re handcuffed to  the chairs. Nearby, Blake reaches the corridor and pretends to feel very sick. When a guard checks  on him, Blake jumps on the man and knocks him out with his own weapon.

At the same time, Kellan  gets into his father’s account again and watches the failed students on the security camera, but  it’s too painful and looks away. After hiding the unconscious body, Blake waits for Mason to leave  the control room and he sneaks inside. He tries to use the computer but it asks for a password.

As  the guards get ready to inject the students, Blake shuts down the power in the whole building by  messing with the power box while Mason finds the unconscious guard. The electronic handcuffs begin  to fail and the students try to escape, letting chaos take over the room. As the guards and the  students fight, Laina uses the chance to escape by using Birch’s keycard on the door.

Soon Mason  returns to the control room but Blake is already hiding in the vents. Mason sees the system is down  and tells the guards to bring Kellan’s dad to fix it. At the party, the guards inform everyone that  it’s just a regular power outage and take Kallen’s dad to the control room.

While the man works,  Mason goes to check on the students, who have been handcuffed again. Mason reminds the guards to make  a headcount and they notice someone is missing. In the corridor, Ellie almost bumps into a guard but  she hides among the lockers just in time.

Then she tries opening another door with the keycard,  however it’s stuck. At that moment the guard finds her, so Ellie uses the darkness to pretend  she’s Birch. As soon as the guard turns around, Ellie jumps on him and tries to fight him, but  the guard overpowers her and starts kicking her.

Suddenly Blake shows up and takes over the fight,  using the element of surprise to knock the guard out. Afterward Blake admits he failed on purpose  and Laina realizes something is off with all the results. Blake then activates the alarm to send  all the guards to the corridor while he and Laina hide in the vents.

Mason announces the school  will stay in lockdown until they find Laina, not caring about the fact the kids are supposed  to be reuniting with their parents by now. In the vents, Blake judges Laina for selling the lenses  to the desperate kids because he sees it as taking advantage of their fear. Laina has to explain she  only did it to pay for her mother’s treatments, and Blake immediately apologizes.

She also admits  that she used to have a crush on Blake. At the governor’s home, a reporter asks Dean about  the prolonged shutdown at the school, which Dean didn’t know about. He pretends everything is  under control and after the interview he checks the news to discover Kellan’s reporter friend is  outside the school.

She’s covering the crisis and interviewing parents who are worried about their  kids’ fate. Meanwhile Mason makes all the teachers prove they still have their keycards. When he’s  about to check Birch, he’s interrupted by a call from Dean, who furiously yells at him to solve  the problem quickly.

Back to Blake and Laina, they continue to move through the vents when  suddenly the surface breaks and Blake falls through, landing in the pool. Laina immediately  jumps in and swims quickly to rescue Blake, who is unconscious. Fortunately Laina knows CPR  and manages to wake him up.

Then they head to the lockers and turn around while they change  into dry clothes. Laina finds another vent so they can keep going. At the party, some students  try to leave only for the guards to beat them up, so Kellan starts recording and sends it to the  reporter.

Minutes later, Laina and Blake reach the corridor outside the server room and the keycard  falls from Laina’s pocket. The guards hear a noise so Blake immediately covers Laina’s mouth and they  wait for the men to pass by. Thankfully because of the darkness they don’t see the key.

Next the  duo goes to the science classroom, and this time the noise they make as they descend is definitely  heard by a guard. Putting a few objects together, Laina makes a magnet rod to fish for the key. At  that moment the guard arrive and starts pounding on the locked door, so Blake sends Laina back  into the vents while he stays as a distraction.

Blake tries hiding behind the desks, but the guard  bursts in and quickly finds him. Soon only one of them is unconscious on the ground. In the vent,  Laina waits for the guards to move and lowers the magnet.

She manages to catch the key and raises  it, only for a guard to suddenly grab it. However he also lets go of it and Laina realizes this is  Blake, who stole the uniform from the guard he knocked out. Meanwhile the guard from the previous  fight tells Simon there are two teenagers on the loose and one of them used the name Birch.

In  another room, the teachers are still waiting. Birch pretends to flirt with Glass and steals  his keycard. When Mason comes to check on her, Birch presents Glass’ keycard as her own.

The  guards notice Glass is missing his key and he gets detained while the other teachers are  finally allowed to leave. Mason starts beating Glass up as he asks where to find the escaping  teens. Back to Laina, she takes the vents to the server room and tries using the computer,  but the test program asks for Mason’s password.

She sends a message to Kellan, asking for help.  At that moment Kellan’s dad finishes his repairs and the power comes back. Kellan gets wifi and  receives Laina’s message, so he replies with a video of Mason using his password earlier.

Laina  copies it and accesses the test system, first checking on her siblings to confirm they passed.  Then she checks her own results and sees she got a 98% but still failed while Blake passed with 15%.  The same happened with Ellie, who failed with a score of 88%.

It seems Dean has been messing with  the test results for a while. Speaking of Dean, he appears on a press conference and claims that  Laina killed two guards after failing the test, but the guards are working hard to keep everyone  safe. At the same time Kellan sends his reporter friend the video of the guard beating up the  students that tried to leave, which immediately gets played on national TV.

Laina guesses this is  Kellan’s doing and sends him some screenshots of the manipulated test results. Sadly Mason finally  sees her on the security cameras and raises the alarm, so she starts running. Mason and his guards  quickly surround her and she tries to say she has proof she actually passed, but she gets arrested  anyway.

Meanwhile Blake finds the room with the students and pretends he has orders to move  them. The other guards find it strange since they weren’t informed, so Blake has no choice but  to trigger a fight. He barely manages to throw some punches before the guards surround him and  overpower him too.

At the party, Kellan receives the screenshots and he sends them to the reporter,  who immediately appears live on TV to announce her discovery. She comments on how suspicious it is  that a politician’s son got a benefit from this, and at the mansion Dean’s team panics. They think  he should shut the mission down and let Laina go, but Dean says he has one final move.

Soon Laina  is handcuffed with the rest of the failed kids and the guards get the injections ready. Mason  calls Dean to ask for authorization to proceed, but Dean stops him, saying that the list needs to  be revised. The students that actually passed the exams are released and Laina runs to kiss Blake,  who is tied up.

Some guards drag her away while others go to the party to bring the students that  actually failed the exam. This includes Blake, who is also handcuffed with the others. One by  one, the students get a mysterious injection and they pass out.

Now the school is finally opened  and the parents reunite with their children. Laina runs to meet with her siblings, who have been  watched over by the teacher. The parents that don’t get their kids back have a breakdown on the  spot.

Soon Dean appears on TV again and pretends Mason was behind everything. He puts up a sad act  about his love for his dead son, still clarifying not even him is above the law. Sometime later,  a truck arrives at an illegal tech factory.

To Blake’s shock, he wakes up alive and well because  the injection had only been a sedative. The other students are also alive and when they look  around, they discover failed students from previous years working at the factory. Blake gets  another shock when he sees a very alive Ellie.