There are two reasons as to why I purchased a copy of Would You Rather on DVD. First, it has Brittany Snow featured in the female lead role. If you remember way back to 2008, Snow was also the lead in the Prom Night remake and I was interested to see what her return to horror would be like. Secondly, you see tons of movie based around the “truth or dare” game, but you never see a movie that revolves around “would you rather.” Interesting! So, was Would You Rather worth the price of purchase? Read on to find out.
Would You Rather is written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen and directed by David Guy Levy. It stars Brittany Snow (“American Dreams,” “Nip/Tuck”), Jeffrey Combs (Frightmare, Re-Animator), Lawrence Gilliard Jr. (“Army Wives,” “The Walking Dead”), Enver Gjokaj (“Dollhouse,” “Extant”), Sasha Grey (“Entourage,” Masturbation Nation 3), John Heard (“The Sopranos,” “Prison Break”), Robin Lord Taylor (“Gotham,” “The Walking Dead”), Jonny Coyne (The Hangover 3), Charlie Hofheimer (“Mad Men”), Eddie Steeples (“My Name is Earl”), June Squibb (Nebraska) and Robb Wells (“Trailer Park Boys”).
“What would you do if a millionaire offered you a chance to solve all your life’s problems? After the tragic death of her parents, Iris (Brittany Snow) is desperate to make ends meet while caring for her terminally ill younger brother. When seemingly philanthropic aristocrat Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs) expresses an interest in helping them by inviting her to an exclusive dinner party that offers the chance at untold riches, Iris finds herself in a group of similarly desperate individuals all looking to make some easy money. But the guests soon find themselves trapped in Lambrick’s mansion and forced to play a sadistic game of Would You Rather, where only the winner will get out alive. As the game progresses, Iris must decide how far she will go to save her brother… and herself.” – Amazon
Ok, it’s kind of hard for me to critique this movie because I want to give it top scores because of the impeccable and extremely talented cast members. I mean, no matter what genre of film and television you most gravitate to, you’ll be able to find a star from it in Would You Rather. However, I think everyone was a little too relaxed in their performances here. Was it just a check film for them, something to get paid for and move on without too much effort? Everyone is capable of much better performances and they were all a little too toned down for my liking. There wasn’t a not of screaming, crying and begging; things you’d expect from a group of strangers basically being forced to torture each other. I think had all the actors been advised to ramp up their performances a notch or two, that alone would have greatly improved my viewing. I didn’t feel too bad for them when they themselves didn’t seem that bothered by what was happening.
And I think that getting so many recognizable faces attached to this title ended up hindering it in the long run. If I had to wager a guess, I’d say the vast majority of the film’s budget was spent on hiring cast with probably 25% of it left over for actual production. If I’m correct, then that would explain why the entire movie takes place in one room and the dares aren’t that bad. Mostly, the dares are “electrocute this person,” “stab this person,” “hold your head under water for four minutes,” all things that take very minimal special effects to bring to life. The only injury that looks like it took effort was the fire cracker in the hand explosion. Again, I would wager that Would You Rather would have been a much better movie if they cut out four of the big names and went with lesser known actors. As with the acting, I went in expecting something horrifying and brutally intense, and what I got was kind of a dud.
Good cinematography. A plot twist here. A plot twist there. Glimpses at extraordinary acting and a sickly suspenseful script. But, yeah, this one was kind of a snoozer. I would rather have watched Curse of Chucky instead, my other viewing option. It was still better than Among Friends, though! Final Score: 5 out of 10.
