A dark, sadistic debasing experience in how low desperate people are willing to go to, ironically, raise themselves out of their dire life situation. This is a disturbing, yet compelling watch and draws parallels in how quickly society would collapse without order and is extremely depressing in that this kind of 'entertainment' is not something that would be discounted in a future society. We already have TV shows where people eat strange animal parts in the name of entertainment. It is depressing that this is a possible future game show in the making. All that said it is well acted and very hard to turn away as each dare gets becomes more extreme with a brutal finale. Well done to the director for keeping a realism to the film without wandering into fantasy.
Add a Review
-
kevandeb5 March 2017
-
thedukeofmovietown14 September 2014I saw CHEAP THRILLS last night! In case you've never heard of it, Cheap Thrills is a black comedy thriller directed by horror journalist turned director E.L. Katz. The film stars Pat Healy and Ethan Embry as two old friends who, while commiserating over their extreme financial woes, meet a rich, thrill seeking couple, played by David Koechner and Sara Paxton, that derive enjoyment from making wacky bets involving risky dares and large amounts of money. The night starts off light and fun but as the evening wares on and the stakes become higher, both the ties of friendship and the limits to which each will go to make quick cash and tested to the breaking point.
I was thoroughly impressed with this movie. It's exceptionally well acted with Healy, Embry and Koechner playing their respective roles famously. For having a budget of less than $20k it is truly amazing to see how well this movie is made. Hats off especially to the art direction and cinematography in this movie which is all aces as it uses color and lighting very uniquely to give Cheap Thrills a dark and sickly cool look. Ultimately I really enjoyed this film and despite maybe not having the best ending in my opinion, it's still damn good movie which should be seen. Cheap Thrills gets a 4...out of 5. -
SpannersGerm66912 July 2014Cheap Thrills is a film that doesn't come with a lot of hype, which it greatly benefits from , because it will surprise you!
Its a morality tale. What would you do with the lure of big money? Will you turn on your friend and family in order to earn a quick buck? What can pressure do to us? All of these questions are asked and they are answered in a very blackly comical way! The main character's chemistry with his best friend, who both embark on this dark game, is what carries the film the most. Comedy aside, it feels real. It feels like these guys have known each other for a life time, so when the games get darker, you sense that money has overridden all sense of loyalty and rational thinking. Its a scary reminder of what money can do to a person.
As well as being scary and comical, there are a few scenes of shocking violence that will please the more extreme fan. Thankfully the director doesn't overdo it, which gives the violent scenes all the more impact.
Acting, Cinematography, Script, and a sense of connection, makes Cheap Thrills another movie that proves that lower budget films are capable of matching it with the mega budget movies as far as enjoyment is concerned. -
MUFCOK29 December 2014Out of the four characters in Cheap Thrills I only recognised one of them, David Koechner (Champ from Anchorman). I went into watching this knowing very little about the film; I had a vague understanding of the storyline but that was about it.
Cheap Thrills is classed as a dark comedy, I would disagree with this, there are a few chuckles along the way but in my opinion it is far from a comedy. It's a dark, disturbing and very tense film which makes the viewer feel quite uncomfortable at times.
Craig and Vince are old friends who have lost contact and bump into each other in a bar. Craig has been sacked that day and Vince is also struggling for cash. They get invited over by Colin; A millionaire who is out celebrating his Wife's birthday. He flashes the cash straight away, buying a $300 bottle of Tequila and handing out Cocaine like its candy. He starts by offering Craig and Vince money for fun things such as 'first one to down their shot' or 'talk to the girl at the bar'. They then leave the bar and go back to his place and his dares start to get much more dark and disturbing.
David Koechner plays his character really well. At the start of the movie I couldn't help see him as Champ from Anchorman, but as the movie progresses he really comes into his role and before long you forget he ever played Champ! His character comes across as very friendly and likable but there is always a nervy feeling, like he could do anything at any moment, he is very intense & Koechner is extremely convincing in playing him.
The divide between filthy rich and poor is huge and this movie makes it its aim to show you this. The millionaire takes advantage of his two 'guests' and plays to their desperation for his own twisted pleasure. A man, who has it all, still wants more and is willing to throw hundreds of thousands of dollars to play with two people desperate for cash. The view from Craig and Vince is also a simple one, how far would you and how low would you go if big bucks were being offered to you.
This movie certainly isn't ideal family viewing; there is sex, drugs, violence and some disturbing scenes. I did find it somewhat entertaining, I probably wouldn't view it again but I don't regret watching it. With a short run time of just under 90 minutes it did a good job of gripping me and giving me the experience that was intended by the creators.
7/10 -
Buddy-519 July 2014An allegory of sorts for the Occupy generation, "Cheap Thrills" endeavors to answer the age-old question of just how far you would be willing to go for a boatload of cash. Especially when you've just lost your job, you're being evicted from your home, and you have a wife and toddler counting on you for support. This is the dilemma facing Craig (Pat Healy), an Average-Joe, mild-mannered urbanite who's genuinely trying to play by the rules but who just keeps getting dumped on by a world that seems dead-set against him ever achieving his portion of the American Dream.
On the night he loses his job as a mechanic at a Southern California garage, Craig wanders into a local bar only to hook up with an old buddy of his from childhood (Ethan Embry) and an obnoxious, borderline- sadistic millionaire (David Koechner) who keeps tossing money at the two men whenever they perform impromptu, trivial tasks for him. Things turn serious, however, when Mr. Moneybags ups the ante, throwing out ever more enticing financial rewards for ever more vile and degrading stunts.
Though fairly simple and straightforward on the surface, "Cheap Thrills," written by Trent Haaga and David Chichirillo and directed by E.L Katz, is really a modern-day parable about greed, desperation, exploitation and the dangers of unbridled macho bravado. It portrays, in miniature, a world in which a small number of people have virtually everything in terms of wealth and power, while the vast majority wind up with virtually nothing they can call their own. Craig and Vince have so little to lose, in fact, that they are willing to go to unimaginable extremes to get at least something to keep themselves from feeling like total failures in life. They sense that their very identity as men is on the line here and, thus, they will stop at nothing to assert their primacy over one another, the first step in securing that which they feel is rightfully owed to them and their families.
Colin, along with his equally amoral wife, Violet (Sara Paxton), on the other hand, represents the callous 1% who amuse themselves at the expense of other people's desperation, going so far as to pit the have- nots against one another for the sheer pleasure of watching them brawling in the dirt over the scraps that are condescendingly thrown their way. This is Darwin's "survival of the fittest" as it is played out in 21st Century America.
Crude, brutal, at times unwatchable even, "Cheap Thrills," nevertheless, manages to get under the viewer's skin, forcing him to face harsh truths about society and human nature and to ask himself just how far he would be willing to go to get what he needed to survive. It doesn't paint a very flattering portrait of us as a species, but, let's face it, sometimes you don't always like what you see when you catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror. -
outdoorcats10 November 2013Pat Healey of The Innkeepers fame plays a family man and blue collar worker who receives an eviction notice and is laid off on the same day. On the way home, he runs into an old friend at a bar, and the two of them run into an eccentric rich couple played by David Koechner and Sara Paxton (again of The Innkeepers) who propose a twisted series of games for money at their private residence.
To compete against each other for large rewards, Craig and Vince engage in more and more disturbing acts of depravity, self-mutilation and moral bankruptcy.
This is a shocker, and a hard-to-watch one at that. What keeps it bearable is that it's a very FUNNY shocker, particularly with Koechner providing most of the black comedy.
Ultimately this is an allegorical haves-and-have-nots tale that looks at the lengths people will go to in the name of financial desperation. The climax is disturbing and had me doing some sharp self-reflection. Not bad for a first-time director and a tiny budget. -
Gregor_8131 March 2014I did not expect to like this movie, but It slowly pulled me in with it's desperation, humor, horror, and ethical dilemmas.
Cheap Thrills has a little story, but it's big in suspense, intrigue, and insanity.
This movie excels at dark humor. Although the story becomes increasingly ridiculous, the character reactions are grounded enough that it makes the mayhem seem entirely plausible.
There's also a subtle depth to the movie that begs to be explored. It's thought provoking while being mostly entertaining. -
eamonnshadokarafferty14 April 2014We meet Craig, a family man that has just lost his job and gets a eviction notice and decides to hit up a bar to delay facing the music with his wife at home. There he meets old friend Vince, whom he hasn't seen in five years and begin catching up on what they've been up to since the they last seen each other then they encountered a married couple, Colin and Violet, who get them a few drinks and show off their obscene amount of wealth in doing so and they engage the two friends in a series of dares in exchange for money over the course of the evening, which at first is all in light hearted fun but soon takes a more darker and sinister turn as the stakes are raised and desperation of what the two friends need becomes more apparent.
Well this is certainly a ballsy film. Ballsy in the fact that the 'villains', except for the one moment that Colin and Violet are threatened as Craig and Vince try to rob the money from them, they literally don't do ANYTHING to these days other than plant the seeds for them to make their own choice, it's the greed desperation if you will of the money on offer that corrupts them and eventually pits them against each other as the friendship between Craig and Vince is used as ammunition against one another as the night goes on that takes them to breaking point.
The power aspect comes from Colin and Violet being able to buy their way out of any situation and also show that they aren't stupid millionaires splashing their cash in sake of a long night of 'I dare' games for their cheap thrills when they're under attack.
Not going to lie, I still just see Koechner as Champ from the Anchorman films and here I just see him as a darker version of that character without the 'WHAMMY' catchphrases and such but he plays this role well and is a good serious actor. Paxton does well as the mostly silent birthday girl Violet who mostly speaks whispering sweet ideas to Craig throughout the film. Ethan Embry does a good job as Vince but the standout actor that we see do a complete 180 throughout this film is from this shy guy to someone that is willing to do anything to get the money to provide for his family and that is Pat Healy.
Simple story that's executed pretty well. Good performances from the cast though the overall do anything for cash method may get too gory and far fetched for some people as the film goes along. Will be a hidden gem in the 2014 film year, in my opinion. -
brando64726 September 2014I haven't felt this bad at the end of a movie since REQUIEM FOR A DREAM. This film, from E.L. Katz, is the ultimate feel-bad movie of the year. Believe it or not, I mean this all as praise. CHEAP THRILLS is a movie that drives its point home like a nail to the head. It's a dark comedy, emphasis on the dark, that aims to sensationalize the perceived apathy of the upper class to the suffering of the lower class, going so far as to take perverse joy in it. I never recall laughing over the course of the movie, but there were a few chuckles scattered amongst the groans and cringes. It opens on the worst day of Craig Daniels' (Pat Healy) unfortunate life. He wakes to an eviction notice posted to the door of the apartment where he lives with his wife and baby, and he's fired from his menial job at an auto shop later that afternoon. While he's drinking his problems away at a seedy bar later that night, he's reunited with an old friend, Vince (Ethan Embry) who earns a living rough housing gamblers to collect on debts. The night shifts in an interesting direction when they meet Colin (David Koechner) and his wife Violet (Sara Paxton), out on the town to celebrate Violet's birthday with some harmless. Colin and Violet enjoy betting each other on the pettiest of prospects (i.e. how a bar patron chooses to ogle the bartender), and they see an opportunity to have some fun with Craig and Vince. It starts simple who can drink their shot of tequila the fastest or who's willing to slap a stripper on the butt but, as the night goes on, the game grows more sinister.
CHEAP THRILLS wears its message on its sleeve. It's a frightening glimpse at the power of money and the lengths some will go to get it, but it's also a statement on what passes for entertainment now. The first point is the most blatant, as it's basically the premise of the movie. Colin and Violet are filthy rich. We don't know how he acquired his money; we just know he's got $250,000 chilling in an unlocked safe in his office for the sole purpose of blowing on his wife's birthday. Money is nothing to these people. But for the common man (in this instance, Craig and Vince), money is everything. Craig has a family to look out for and every cent earned goes toward securing their future. Vince is a thug who'd made some poor choices and sees a chance at a better life. At first it's all a game, but then it all goes south and the greed takes hold. Meanwhile, Colin cheers them on like a man watching the latest UFC fight at the local bar and Violet well Violet's chilling. She says very little over the course of the night but it quickly becomes apparent that there's something disturbing under her gorgeous visage. She's calm and collected, often seeming disinterested in the events unfolding around her. Again, it's all a game to these two and Violet shows a chilling disconnect from Craig and Vince's pain.
But, really, the audience isn't much better. The premise of CHEAP THRILLS reminds me a lot of modern culture's obsession with reality television. Average people are paraded about and put into often uncomfortable situations with the promise of potentially walking away with a nice chunk of change. People have no problem going on national television for the amusement of others to chow on bull testicles or knock themselves around in some bizarre obstacle course for the chance at wealth. Well, it's no different than what Craig and Vince endure in CHEAP THRILLS. Colin and Violet aren't any better than the general reality TV audience except, you know, their pretty evil. Things get insane here. This is definitely not a film for the feint of heart. I'm not the queasy sort of dude but there was some stuff here that had me gritting my teeth. This movie is determined to show the ugliness of greed and how it corrupts even the best intentions. This becomes apparent in the final third of the movie when it's obvious there isn't really a "good" guy anymore. We essentially start rooting for Craig. He's the family man who needs the money to give them a life but, by the end, he's just as ruthless as Vince. If anything, Vince is the less sympathetic character but retains the most humanity in the final moments. CHEAP THRILLS is a punch to the gut with a cast of characters that's impossible to associate with and it leaves a sour taste in your mouth when the end credits roll, but it's an entertaining funhouse mirror of a movie that goes off the rails to reflect some of the darkest elements of our culture. -
Why this film is labelled with the genre of comedy unfathomable to me. It is all thriller. A tense, dark and ultimately disturbing film. I'm sure if it had been made differently it could easily have been funnier but in its current format it contains no mirth whatsoever.
The plot of the film is undoubtedly summarised in other reviews and by IMDb itself so I won't waste your time here. I will say that it escalates slower than I might have liked and ends abruptly and shockingly a short while after things had gotten very tense and I had started to pay proper attention and sit on the edge of my seat in anticipation.
I enjoyed this film but it is probably not something I would watch again. I will however be on the look out for more films by E. L. Katz as if they're anything like this then they're going to be just as dark and stomach twisting. A thrill ride if ever there was one. -
brchthethird14 November 2014CHEAP THRILLS certainly lives up to its title, but I thought it failed to really offer anything besides increasingly grim stakes and a nihilistic worldview. Make no mistake, with the the exception of Sara Paxton (who really doesn't do too much talking anyway), the movie is well-acted. David Koechner is the standout, and he does a sort-of twisted version of his comic persona here. The movie is also well-made on a technical level, and is actually quite restrained in terms of gore. Granted, the movie isn't trying to be anything profound, but I've seen so much "torture porn" by this point, that I suppose I've become numb to it. This movie just didn't hit me in the way I thought it might. The best part of the movie is learning that all the events that transpired were part of a sick bet between a husband and wife. Everything else was just too familiar, and a little underwhelming. Overall, I thought it was a slight waste of my time, although fans of indie horror might get more enjoyment out of it than I did. My advice is to get your kicks elsewhere.
-
asda-man24 March 2015Cheap Thrills has the type of concept which could easily live up to its title. Two rich sickos torturing a couple of poor strangers by daring them to do progressively twisted tasks could result in an exploitative B-movie designed to shock the audience for the sake of it. Thankfully, Cheap Thrills manages to offer much more than a few cheap thrills. It's actually an intelligent, engaging and darkly humorous little film with a few hints of postmodernism not too dissimilar to Funny Games.
Pat Healy and Sara Paxton made a terrifically witty duo in Ti West's limp, The Innkeepers and deserved to appear in a much better film. Cheap Thrills is that better film, and whilst Sara doesn't have particularly much to do, Pat puts on a similarly likable performance as the down on his luck protagonist, who we can all relate to. In fact, all of the characters manage to be engaging and interesting. I love how realistically the film progressed from a friendly encounter on a night out to a sick set of dares.
For a film largely set in one location with just four characters, it's never boring. Quite the opposite, in fact I was left wanting more and I think it could've pushed the boundaries more, but that's probably just my twisted horror nut coming out! Where the film actually succeeds is that it doesn't make the dares the focus of the entire film. Instead it's much more concerned with the characters and how they develop, thus making for a much better quality and more involving piece of filmmaking.
The comment it makes on society is quite heavy-handed but nevertheless an intelligent and relevant one. It's best to view the two rich psychos as symbols, rather than characters. They're obviously representative of the bourgeoisie and how they exploit the poor minority. However, the film also makes a subtle comment on the psychotic nature of audiences too. I thought that the ending kind of made out like the psychos were doing it all for us, the viewing public, thus adding another intelligent and postmodern layer to the film.
Overall the film is a striking debut and this E.L Katz bloke looks like he has a promising future in the horror movie industry. His directing was consistently intense and he managed to build some massive amounts of tension. Cheap Thrills may falter on repeated viewings (due to the lack of a surprise factor) but for a first time viewing there's very little to complain about. Perhaps it could've been a little more twisted, but really I was surprised by how intelligent the screenplay actually was. Cheap Thrills offers a lot more than its title suggests. It's probably one of the best horror-comedies we've had in a while. -
poundoffleshband20 March 2014I had no idea what to expect with this film. It's a decent story with two men who are both pretty much going bankrupt meeting each other while drinking at the bar and then they end up making some money they desperately need when a rich guy starts offering them cash in exchange for performing different challenges for his and his wife's amusement. The money keeps going up to get them to do more and more things that get bigger and ever crazier.
The best part of the movie is David Koechner's performance, he is really hilarious.
Worth seeing but don't bother buying it or paying to see it at the theatre, it's just Okay. -
estebangonzalez1023 December 2014"Let's keep this going. What do you want me to do next?"
As the title suggests, director E.L. Katz delivers some cheap thrills in this extremely dark comedy which begins as a standard down on his luck tale of a family man trying to survive through the recession after losing his job and receiving an eviction notice. The first half of the film (my favorite part) slowly builds up the tension while gradually getting darker as we approach the final act. There is a saying in my country which translated goes something like this: "For money, the monkey dances," and that is what first time screen writer David Chirchirillo is exploring in this black comedy: to what extremes is someone willing to go for monetary gain. Are our values worth negotiating with in exchange for money? This theme is richly explored in Cheap Thrills through two characters (played by Pat Healy and Ethan Embry) who meet a rich married couple (Sara Paxton and David Koechner) in a bar and begin playing an innocent dare game. The couple offer them money in exchange for them doing a series of dares involving drinking a shot of tequila, punching the security guard in the face, and so on. Of course we all know that this is going to escalate quickly into something much darker as they begin paying the consequences for their action, and it does. Cheap Thrills has all the right ingredients to become a cult favorite for some audiences, but it just didn't work that well for me as things began to get darker.
What I appreciated the most about this film is that it plays out perfectly as sort of an allegory of our society's obsession over reality TV shows in which we are offered an opportunity to get rich by simply competing against each other in a series of dares. It actually is spelled out during one scene where Fear Factor is mentioned and this is exactly what the film is trying to get at. As we are judging these characters for how inhumane the series of dares are turning into, it all of a sudden puts a mirror into our society's obsession over reality TV shows similar to Fear Factor. I think that if the film would've come out some 7 years earlier it would've been more effective because those shows have become a bit outdated. It also shows how we are always competing with our friends to become more successful than the other, and the way we justify our actions even though we know our behavior was dubious. The film reminded me a lot of Saw where the rich couple take on the role of Jigsaw as they get a kick out of watching their victims compete for money (instead of their lives). The clever difference is that this time their victims voluntarily place themselves in this situation as victims of their circumstance and so the game begins. But then during the second act it slowly identifies more with darker and gory horror films such as Hostel which was where I began losing interest.
The performances in this film are solid. At first I found David Koechner to be over the top, but everything begins to make sense as you stick with the premise. His wife, played by Sara Paxton makes for an interesting character despite not doing much. Just the way she is gazing at everyone with her beautiful eyes, it becomes obvious that she isn't someone you can fully trust. Ethan Embry and Pat Healy are convincing as the out of luck old school buddies who bump into each other at a bar. The film focuses on establishing their relationship first and then it slowly progresses into portraying each other's flaws. There aren't any likable characters in this film, but they all deliver strong and engaging performances nonetheless. If you like you films dark and nasty then Cheap Thrills might just be your thing, but it just wasn't for me despite appreciating some of the things it was saying about our society. -
Day_ImFivebyFive26 June 2014At 1 and a half hours long, this movie never bores. The characters behave realistically. There was never a moment where I questioned what they were doing on screen, and the way the characters behaved hinted brilliantly at what was to come.
The arc the main character goes on is great. At the start, he's an utterly defeated man in a financial pit. He has a rigid personality and doesn't take risks. But by the end, he has committed despicable deeds.
As I said, it's funny. The character reactions are both believable and hilarious. For instance, when Colin says "I'm cumming, too, baby" in response to his wife yelling, "I'm gonna cum!", and Vince goes, "Oh, f***, noo!" and promptly relocates away from Vince, I laughed out loud.
I would've liked to see more at the end -- give us more consequence to his actions, ie: how does his wife react? Do they go on living? Does she find out about what took place that night? Do they get divorced?
Overall, this movie is well worth a watch. -
witster185 September 2014The closest comparison's would have to be "Very Bad Things", or maybe even "Hangover 2".
"Cheap Thrills" is better than both, and while that might not be saying much, the film still deserves some mad-props for the entertainment value/budget ratio.
The cast, while small, is pitch-perfect for their particular roles. Ethan Embry stands-out here. It's obvious he's come a long way since "Can't Hardly Wait". The cast is small, but certainly efficient.
This film is NOT for the faint of heart. Definitely NOT for the kiddies.
I know this film is labeled as a black comedy, and it does start as more of a black comedy, BUT the last 30minutes or so gets quite serious.
Cheap Thrills works for me. It's a basic concept, but the film builds nicely, and asks some fairly pertinent questions, especially in ever-growing, ever-losing lower-to-middle class America where the value of a dollar is both down and up at the same time.
For a-dollar-thirty-two at the Redbox, this turned out to be the best 'Cheap Thrill' I've had in quite a long time.
You MIGHT like this if you liked:Hangover 2(not as good), Very Bad Things(not as good), The Last Supper(about equal), and Bindlestiffs(about equal).
"Cheap Thrills" isn't as laugh-out loud funny as some of those, but overall it's a fine film worth a rental for those who aren't squeamish or too young for this VERY ADULT film.
GOing on my "B-Movie Marathon"!! 71/100 MIght or might not hold onto a 2014 top-25 spot. -
leesimon-263574 February 2021This movie is so hard to describe. At times funny, gut-wrenching, thrilling, sad, disgusting, and cringy. Hard to watch at times, and the ending left me feeling so off, but not completely disappointed or displeased. This is such a weird watch! I don't know if I'd recommend it to strangers, but I'd have a conversation about it with any stranger who saw it! There is no way you can watch this film and not feel something.
-
Dodge-Zombie10 June 2022I may be more twisted than most people because I really liked this movie. The fact that it is listed as a comedy of any kind is misleading. It's certainly not for the faint hearted crowd and I can imagine lots of people would find it very disturbing so watch with caution.
If you enjoyed "Would you rather" then this is probably for you. -
mackistner18 March 2013Saw this at SXSW and I must admit it was very well done. This won the Audience Award for the Midnighters at the festival and it is wholeheartedly deserved. The film is a hybrid genre film with a constantly shifting tone of hilarity, drama, thrills, and extremely dark themes.
The story follows everyman Craig (Pat Healy, who should finally get some deserved recognition for his extremely demanding role in this) who is down on his luck after having a really bad day. He hits the local bar on the way home from work and sees an old high school buddy (Ethan Embry, in an against-type role that completely works) and the two meet up with a strange couple that wants to have a drink with them (David Koechner and Sara Paxton, who are both deliciously hilarious and mysterious). The four then have what can only be described as a truly horrific night and that is all I really want to say about it because the less you know the better. The concept of the film is laid out easily and quickly, which is developed fully throughout the film as the stakes are raised higher and higher with every passing minute.
I must say that I was very happy to see the movie take so many risks. The content of the film is definitely not for the faint at heart, but if you like envelope-pushing pieces than this is the film for you. Im sure this will divide audiences, but the theater I was in had a great energy and made the film really fun to watch. The director EL Katz introduced the film and told the audience that "it is okay to laugh." After seeing the film, I understand why he said that. There are so many uncomfortable, cringe-inducing moments in the film that the only thing to do is either to curl up in the fetal position or laugh your head off. I had no clue where it was going and the final image in the film will go down as a classic final shot. It is perfection.
People will be definitely talking about this one. It is highly entertaining, the performances are excellent, the writing is tight, and the content of the film is entirely original and unpredictable. I actually saw it twice during SXSW and it was even better a second time. Tons of twists and turns, so please DO NOT spoil it for yourself. Go into it with little knowledge and enjoy the twisted mayhem. -
CHEAP THRILLS (2013) ** Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner, Amanda Fuller. Part-black comedy, part horror film about two hard-on-their-luck friends who bump into each other on a fortuitous night when they become friendly with an off-beat couple who engage them in a deadly betting game of one-upmanship that tests all matters of what is moral and when is enough enough. While David Chirchirillo & Trent Haaga clearly have seen their share of vintage anthology TV (i.e. "Alfred Hitchcock Presents ." & "Tales From The Crypt" where the plot line echoes an episode of each) the tension escalating flatlines no thanks to rather stilted direction by E.L. Katz despite a game cast and a few gnarly moments (but truly nothing 'horrific' or 'new').
-
watchthisspacefilmmagazi27 January 2015Cheap Thrills (2013) is an independent film based on the idea that people will do anything for money. The story follows two friends who haven't seen each other in five years fall into a game with an insanely wealthy man. The game, do what I say and I will give you money.
The beginning of the film showed promise as did the premise of the film. I went in with a positive head on and for the first 20 minutes I was enjoying it. Then I started to notice something, had my curtains always been that colour?
I got bored very quickly as the film seemed to repeat itself time and time again. It reminded me of Jackass meets Saw but with none of the humour of Jackass and none of the... well OK Saw was rubbish but you get my point.
The acting was great; I could find no fault with the actors or their performances. It was the characters which annoyed me, OK you need money, we get it, we all need money, but I don't think I would cut my little finger off. Instead I would get down the job centre and find another job.
Every dare got progressively violent and disgusting and we all knew how this was going to end, right from their first encounter. It was a slow slog to get there with a small twist at the end which admittedly provided a minor shock, but nothing good enough to save the film from itself.
I've heard a lot of people praising this film, praising its insight and comedy factor and I can only assume they were watching a different film. There was no insight into this, no originality, yes it was a study of the human condition of what people would go through to get money, a comment on reality TV, but, like reality TV, I was bored, annoyed and utterly unimpressed.
Apart from the performances, this film was terrible. It left me feeling depressed that I just spent a portion of time watching such rubbish while at the same time feeling relief on two accounts. One, at least its finished, and two, at least I didn't go to the cinema to see it. Rubbish on all levels, don't believe those people praising it, they're probably the film's PR team. -
forni-n30 March 2014I have to admit I didn't feel attracted either by the poster or the plot summary. Yet the experience was thrilling and full of surprises: the acting of the four protagonists is excellent and I enjoyed it all the way. Also, although the genre of psychological thriller is not my cup of tea, the director did a great job creating a disturbing atmosphere sustained by a very good script, good dialogues and deep human characters. The first work of Katz as a director is, in my opinion,a successful debut: the movie is filmed with great sensibility and the art in general is perfectly in tone with what we feel from the very beginning.
Highly recommendable, no doubt. -
This one is a little bit different. I would call this a funnier version of the recent release "Would You Rather". It definitely lingers over in the Black Comedy territory, and is a pretty dark movie indeed.
A scheming couple put a struggling family man and his old friend through a series of increasingly twisted dares over the course of an evening at a local bar.
A pretty straight forward premise that delivers a pretty watchable movie. The characters are pretty likable considering the horrible things they do to each other. And a small cast, Pat Healy (The Innkeepers) and David Koechner (Anchorman) deliver some pretty solid performances, and over all they have a pretty engaging chemistry with each other.
The movie is definitely dark, and a few (one) of the places it goes it seems to go just for the shock value. If you're not one who deals with dead animals well in movies, this would be one to avoid. You don't see anything happen to the dog, but it still manages to make you think you have.
All in all though, the movie is effective and pulls the story off quite well. Better (in my opinion) than Would You Rather did.
It's very violent, gets pretty bleak, and still manages to be funny somehow.
I don't have a ton more to say about this one, it's pretty straight forward. If it's the kind of movie you enjoy, then you'll like it. I personally liked it, and would like to say check it out. It's well shot, slick and fast.
Watch it, or don't.
Final Grade : B
--check out more of my reviews at barleydoeshorror.tumblr.com-- -
OK; who the hell came up with this script? A 5 year old... no seconds thoughts I take that back as that is an insult to children in general. Let's crack on with the review...
I must admit I thought that the film started out quite strongly; we're introduced to Craig Daniels (Pat Healy) who is a nice and caring family man, he's in employment and seems like a decent guy. He then falls on hard times and ends up losing his job and decides to drown his sorrows. He then bumps into Vince (Ethan Embry) and the pair quickly strike up a conversation with husband and wife Colin and Violet (David Koechner and Sara Paxton). This wealthy couple seem like the ideal solution to Craig's financial situation, but how far will Craig and Vince go for money?
The problem with this film is believability; Craig & Vince decide to go along with this ridiculous proposition betting scheme with the wealthy couple, but he'd only lost his job that day. For me, it just isn't believable that he would resort to such drastic measures without speaking to his wife first. Surely a normal person would have discussed their financial problems with their spouse first and then look at more drastic alternatives if they can't find a straight forward solution to their problems. We also never learn how Colin has amassed his vast fortune. I suppose it doesn't really matter in the context of the film, but it would have been nice to get a bit of insight on his behaviour/motivations. This isn't just a failure with his character, but with all the characters. We don't learn much about the characters which means that we won't care about them.
Where this film really falls down is when it comes to these proposition bets; they started off as being reasonably believable (downing shots, getting slapped), but then they got more and more ridiculous and less and less believable the further on things progressed (cutting fingers off, pooing in someone's house because the dog pooed on their lawn - I honestly couldn't believe how ridiculous it all was). The turning point for me was when Craig sleeps with Violet (which Violet's husband gives him $4,500 for doing). This happens to be the exact amount that Craig needs to pay off his debts. Ironically, he's told that he needs to sleep with Violet in order to prove how much he loves his wife and therefore get the $4,500 that he needs. After this point, the film becomes more gratuitous and more disgusting (I can take most things, but seeing Craig and Vince eating a cooked dog was just revolting).
I can take pretty much anything that any film throws at me, but for me this film didn't seem to have any point to it; was it supposed to act as a dark social commentary on the evils of greed? Who knows? The film seemed to revel so much in pointless gore that I ended up past the point of caring.
I hated this film, I thought the plot (if you can even call it that) was probably the most stupid that I've come across in recent years. I thought that the film was pointlessly violent. I didn't like any of the characters and I also hated the way that the film ended. That final scene will stay with me for a long time (and I don't mean that in a good way). -
damian_hockey16 April 2014Cheap Thrills Movie Review Its been a while since i have reviewed a film, Partially due to my re addiction to dragon ball z and partially because there are no movies other than captain America that are worth seeing at this moment in time. But i came across a small gem of a movie A scheming couple put a struggling family man and his old friend through a series of increasingly twisted dares over the course of an evening at a local bar. These dares escalate and become more and more intense This movie is aimed at being a black comedy but becomes more of a thriller movie in the long run. And is well worth a watch especially for how intense it becomes halfway through the film Some great acting performances from some actors you barely know (Pat Healy, Ethan Embry, Sara Paxton, David Koechner) A dark an gritty backdrop with lots of moral compass story thrown in for good measure this film is well worth the time to watch My rating for this movie 6 out of 10 ps i have never cringed so much in my entire life