The Horror Show
Cheap Thrills
by E.L. Katz
What does it take to transform from a caring family man into a merciless animal? Apparently, it’s only a matter of money.
In Cheap Thrills, you get to experience a bizarre night, when the reunion of two old school friends gets twisted and culminates in the most sinister and gruesome night of their life.
The story revolves mainly around Craig (Pat Healy), a quiet and caring family man who struggles to make ends meet, especially after he gets fired from his low-wage job. With an upcoming eviction and a baby who needs to be fed, the emotionally anguished Craig drinks his troubles away and shares his problems with an old friend, Vince (Ethan Embry), who he randomly runs into at a local bar.
After catching up, the two men become acquainted with a married couple Colin (David Koechner) and Violet (Sara Paxton), who are celebrating the joyful occasion of Violet’s birthday. Pumped up for a special night, the ridiculously rich couple starts a fun dare game, setting a playful extravaganza. And the prize? Lots and lots of bucks.
As the night progresses, what started off as a crazy drunken game escalates and soon gets out of control. The cool gang takes the party back to Colin’s house and the two friends having tasted the sweet taste of money find themselves dealing with pretty serious dares in exchange for money.
On one hand, Craig is on the verge of losing his house which means that his family would end up on the streets, whereas Vince is fed up with breaking gamblers’ arms to make some money. These two gentlemen are the perfect victims for Colin, who plays manipulative host for the evening. At first, the dares are silly and childish. But, when Colin and his vegetable of a wife see that the two men are capable of doing way more serious stuff in order to win the money, they decide to crank things up.
By the end of the night, Craig and Vince will have done inexplicable things and will have become vicious animals. Apparently, no friendship or warm feelings matter when there’s a lot of money at stake.
With scenes that can turn your stomach and make you cringe, Cheap Thrills is a very, very weird horror flick. Sara Paxton’s indifferent and dull performance was unexpected and her part as the weird wife was quite disappointing considering her talent. There are also mixed feelings about the plot itself, as it takes a while to get to the point. There’s a big introduction, but it is important to get to know the characters and understand where they’re coming from, in order to justify or condemn their actions later.
It’s a funny thing what happens with the three male characters. Colin who is seemingly the bad guy comes off as particularly likeable, whereas Craig and Vince, who are the victims in this bloody game, are eventually the ones who set the rules.
Even though Cheap Thrills is more of an action thriller, you should be on the lookout for some limited yet extreme, gory scenes. Nothing like Jigsaw’s games in Saw, but more like Would You Rather, Cheap Thrills offers a few moments of proper monstrosities. But, unfortunately, nothing to be overly excited about.
At the end of the day, it makes you wonder, how far would one go for a few thousand dollars?
Maria Kriva, HMS
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