IslandGuru Who payed the critics

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Staci Frederick Blistering performances.

sol- Two men in financial woes share a wild evening with a wealthy couple who pay them to do increasingly dangerous and devious things in this deliciously twisted and at times downright disturbing thriller. Cited by some sources as a comedy, the film has some darkly comic moments, but it makes its boldest impression as a grueling drama as the two men (who were friends in high school) stoop to unexpected lows in order to win the challenges that the wealthy couple set. The question at the heart of the film is how much we would be prepared to debase and degrade ourselves for the sake of a financial gain. An aspect of the movie that does not work so well is the fact that we come to like one of the two old friends (a happily married father) much more than the other (a petty criminal). It would have been a far more dynamic film if we were position to root equally for both men and if they each had equally as pressing needs for money. That said, 'Cheap Thrills' is an entirely engrossing and gripping ride from start to end. All concerned deliver high quality performances and while the movie treads some uncomfortable territory, the thought-provoking screenplay renders this an easy film to appreciate.

kevandeb 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.

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) Cheap 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.

Ollie Willis Cheap 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.