It stars Jon Huertas, Isabella Gomez, Lindsay LaVanchy, Froy Gutierrez, Gattlin Griffith, Patrick Walker, James Berardo, Bart Johnson, Shireen Lai, Kent Faulcon, Yancy Butler, and Lochlyn Munro.

The murder is investigated by Detective Sandra Fitzgerald and Officer Rico Martinez, the latter of whom discovers that Wes's previous case of sexual assault had been covered up by Van Horn.

He also wanted to avoid using some of the common slasher tropes, as he felt that they were "inherently misogynistic; a giant man with a phallic sharp thing chasing a half-naked girl who's too stupid to be going out the front door when she's going up the stairs, it's insulting.

The site's critics' consensus reads: "Although Initiation struggles to balance its gorier goals against the story's social commentary, that added maturity makes this slasher a slight cut above.

She described the film as "a trashy, slashy horror movie that takes the issue of sexual assault on campus, removes a few layers of complexity and adds a masked serial killer armed with a power drill", and added: "Kylie, the alleged victim, gets a couple of scenes, necessary for the plot, but otherwise, there’s practically zero interest in what she’s going through.

"[12] Adam Graham of The Detroit News described the film as "a standard issue horror offering where frat boys and sorority girls are picked off faster than you can set up a game of beer pong."

He described it as "a unique indie horror-thriller, one with an unprecedented sense of maturity in its filmmaking and thematic aims, even as it gives you the visceral scares you want and need", and concluded: "Initiation is quite the low budget genre marvel, a propulsive yet patient thriller that cares deeply, yet ruthlessly, about its characters.