“You may think I’m exaggerating, but this is the story of how my town, Salem, lost its mother-fucking mind. I will warn you, though. It gets pretty graphic.”

This is how Assassination Nation‘s NSFW teaser trailer begins, spoken in perfect deadpan swagger by an 18-year-old named Lily (Odessa Young). It’s an in-your-face statement, one meant to grab your attention and maybe scare you a little too. What comes next are “a few” trigger warnings for the following: bullying, blood, abuse, classism, death, alcohol and drug use, sexual content, toxic masculinity, homophobia, transphobia, guns, nationalism, racism, kidnapping, murder, the male gaze, giant frogs, sexism, swearing, torture, violence, gore, weapons, and fragile male egos. “I promise you,” Lily adds at the end. “This is 100 percent a true story.”

When I first saw the trailer, I thought, Damn, that’s brilliant marketing. In just over a minute, the completely establishes the movie’s ethos: Come for a story that will take every buzzword happening in 2018 America—several of the above, plus Trumpism, the patriarchy, capitalism, social media, and Generation Z—and set them all on fire. It screams, “Everything is up for grabs, bitches! LOLZ.” But spoiler: This is how the movie actually begins.

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The intro is fitting, given that Assassination Nation overall feels like you’re watching a YouTube video drunk on Four Loko. Or like Heathers, The Purge, and The Crucible all merged into one Instagram Story about naked selfies. It sounds wild, and it is, because there’s nothing subtle about Assassination Nation. (I mean, the town is seriously called Salem.)

Fans of Heathers will be drawn to the social commentary and candy-coated darkness, while The Purge franchise comes through in the townspeople’s creepy masks and gleeful violence. But The Crucible is the most obvious reference here, given the plot is essentially about a witch hunt: After an anonymous hacker released the private photos and texts of nearly everyone in town, Lily and her three best friends, Bex (Hari Nef), Sarah (Suki Waterhouse), and Em (Abra) are blamed.

The reasons are hazy at best. Nude photos leak, sexy texts messages are revealed—but once a finger is pointed their way, the townspeople don’t hesitate. They simply accept: Of course these “loose” girls are to blame. They’re responsible for corrupting the men of Salem, which means they’re capable of anything, which means they must be punished. “Who sees a naked photo of a girl and their first thought is Yo, I gotta kill this bitch,” Lily asks as things come to a climax. A lot of people, I guess.

But in movie full of extremes, this fear of women’s sexuality is the most realistic thing about Assassination Nation. Need real-life proof? Try this: According to Indiewire, a scene that features a drawing of a nude woman “in pornographic poses” was deemed too explicit by the MPAA. And so it was cut to keep the R-rating from becoming NC-17. Assassination Nation has extensive gun violence, drug use, murder, gore—and yet it’s the discussion of a drawing made by a teen girl that’s too lurid. (You can see it in the NSFW—because of language—clip, below.)

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Ironically, Lily herself gives the most compelling argument against this. “All you’re looking at is the nudity,” she tells the school principal, who’s trying to reprimand her for the drawing. “But this isn’t about that…≥ This is about everything that goes into it. The pressure, the endless mind fuck, the ten thousand naked selfies you took before this one trying to get it just right. Trying to make sure the light hides your left nipple because it’s slightly inverted or it’s smaller. Or maybe your labia’s too big, but if you pull your pelvic bone up and bend to the left slightly in a low-light setting, then you’ll be beautiful. Hashtag flawless. Body confident.”

“But it’s all one big lie,” she continues. “You can never be, because nobody’s flawless, and all it takes is one fucking asshole to remind you of that. One guy to say, ‘LOL’ or ‘She’s nasty.’ And you’re right back at square one. So, OK, maybe it is explicit or extreme, but it sure as hell looks like life to me.”

Assassination Nation is in theaters September 21.

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