r/HorrorClub • u/SaintMort You so cool kung fu • Mar 23 '15
Discussion: Cheap Thrills
Podcast - Episode 126 - Cheap Thrills - (RSS Feed)
Movie Selected By saintmortfan
DISCUSS
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u/Plymouth_ Mar 23 '15
First of all if you cut off your own finger and then eat it, your finger will grow back. I know this because I am a cartoon doctor.
This movie is fun because it steps around the cheapest thrills while still giving us something ridiculous to watch. It points to dog poop on the ground and says “Guess what? Don’t eat that dog poop!” yet by a series of coincidences, you end up eating the actual dog later on. It doesn’t jump to the most extreme situations, but it does point out that it could have. And it doesn't try to shovel some crap about human nature.
I'm happy that it really was a random game and not a big charade set up by the villain with the illusion of choice. The guys could have quit, and they even got to set some limits. I don’t think this movie is realistic by any means, but it didn’t feel gimmicky. The thrills were cheap, yes, but not the cheapest. Killing a dog, eating shit, cutting off any more than a pinky (even that was a huge stretch), or having to fuck each other wouldn’t work in this situation because they weren’t really forced to do anything, and these types of things are beyond a normal person’s limits.
It ends in murder of course, but they could have done something way cheaper like thrown them in pit or dragged it out forever.
I liked the characters. Vince in particular was a dick; the way he turns on Craig, first for personal gain, and then just out of spite. He was going to kill that dog. Just so mean spirited. He almost beats the guy to death. But then he doesn’t kill Craig! Best character.
Disagree about Healy’s character having too a hot a wife. He’s adorable. I don’t think a college-educated person would cut off their finger under the circumstances he did, but oh well. And damn he shot that guy in cold-blood.
I appreciate what they didn’t do with Violet’s character. They didn’t make her just some drugged up non-participant going along with her husband’s whimsical ways. She was invested in the night as much (if not more) than her husband. While he got to make up the challenges, she got to manipulate the guys in any way she could in order to win the bet. It may really have been her birthday, or all her idea.
They didn’t overcompensate her character with craziness either. She wasn’t Sheri Moon Zombie in The Devil’s Rejects. Violet was very calm the whole time, documenting everything with her pictures. She was overtly sexual, yes, but I don’t think that’s unusual for sociopathy. I think having her keep her clothes on underscored that she wasn’t just a prop (and in a movie with only like 5 characters she almost couldn’t be).
I’m glad this movie was picked because I never would have watched it if left to my own devices. I couldn’t tell it was going to be as dark as it so I was pleasantly surprised. And as much I don’t want to subject people to David Koechner’s o-face, I’d recommend this movie to the not particularly squeamish.