MADISON, Wis. -- Homecoming season is approaching quickly, and for some high school students, it will mean drinking at parties.

McFarland students are taking a different, more shocking approach to showing their peers the true dangers of drinking. They're using a movie to make the message hit home.

"Hit home" is exactly the term students used Thursday to describe the film "Shattered."

It stars 17 real McFarland High School students playing themselves in a dramatized movie.

It's not real, but the graphic pictures target the emotions of the students watching it. Students said it's not the typical drunken-driving awareness film they expected.

Writer and director Ron Haese has produced eight similar films in Wisconsin and said he didn't hold back with the film for McFarland.

The film follows a group of students planning for, attending and leaving a party.

The film then shows the aftermath of a car crash, with one person thrown from the car with others pinned and severely injured.

Students said the movie shows in great detail what happens when the wrong choices are made.

"It felt like we were watching real life kind of. It felt like it was actually happening," said McFarland junior Autumn Schmidt, who watched the premiere of the film with the rest of the school at an assembly Thursday.

Students said it felt real and not like a lecture.

"I actually heard people crying during the movie, which was different cause during the other videos and stuff, people didn't really pay attention to it," said Schmidt.

"Obviously we knew that it was trying to teach us a lesson, but I think people kind of lost that feeling as the movie went on. It was just like, 'Wow, this could be real; this could actually be happening," said senior class president Andrew Hovel.

The student-actors said they did what was needed to make a difference.

"There's always going to be some people who don't take it seriously and are just like, 'Oh, it's just another movie,' or whatever. But as long as it changed one person's mind within the entire crowd, then we accomplished what we wanted to," said Kyle Kubicek, a senior at McFarland High School and an actor in the film.

Students said the message of not drinking and driving isn't new, but seeing the crash, the gruesome aftermath, and even the funeral of someone they know in the film, gave it a new twist.

Although it was staged, the students said it's not easy to forget.

"This had an extreme impact on people. It was really, really heavy for me at least, and I think for a lot of other people too," said Hovel.

After watching the movie, students went back to their classes to discuss what they saw.

On Oct. 8 there will be a community premiere held at the high school for anyone to come out and see the film.