The Rules of Attraction, based on the novel written by Bret Easton Ellis, author of American Psycho, opened in theatres last Friday.

Starring James Van Der Beek (Dawson’s Creek, Varsity Blues), Ian Somerhalder (Life as a House), and Shannyn Sossamon (A Knight’s Tale), the film takes place at Camden College, a small liberal arts school in New England, where the students are rich, the parties are many, and drugs and sex are abundant. I suppose I’m just sheltered.

Sean Bateman (Van Der Beek), Paul Denton (Somerhalder), and Lauren Hyde (Sossamon) are all seniors at Camden. The three of them are part of a tumultuous love triangle, with some very interesting relations.

Sean likes Lauren. Lauren liked Paul. Paul likes Sean.

This predicament proves to be quite an interesting ride, and from a technical aspect both the direction and editing are remarkable.

Director and screenwriter Roger Avery, who also co-wrote the cult classic Pulp Fiction, comments on making Rules: “What I wanted to do with this movie is take the teen genre and just kind of twist it into a pretzel.”

Proving to be anything but a teen movie, Rules first received a rating of NC-17 from the MPAA, but then after making some cuts, pulled through with an R. Doesn’t that just make you want to buy the DVD?

I would imagine though, due to an abundance of controversial material, including but not limited to homosexuality, extreme drug use, suicide, rape, and hitting girls, Rules will upset certain groups of people, where I will refrain from mentioning any hardcore religious affiliations.

An older couple in the theatre actually left 10 minutes or so into the film, no doubt shocked and appalled by what they thought might be a cute and somewhat tame teen flick. Guess again.

I would have to deem Rules a cinematographic work of art, but I would not recommend it as a family outing.

“It just makes you squirm a little bit, and that’s what’s great,” said Somerhalder. “You’re not playing that 17-year-old all-American kid at all … And after seeing the finished movie for the first time, I felt kind of dirty, which is the way I wanted to feel.”