Would You Rather (2012)★★★★☆

I have a giant soft spot for torture porn movies, and this one fits very nicely into it. It’s nothing groundbreaking or amazing, but it’s got solid acting, great pacing, and a wonderful lack of annoying background music.

Plus I got to watch Brittany Snow get stabbed in the side, so there’s that. Anyway, if you aren’t squeamish and you’re into this kind of thing, I’d definitely recommend this movie. It’s better than many others like it and should keep you entertained throughout.

Oh, and the story mostly makes sense here. It’s a little sad that my bar has been set so low on that front with all the weird, plot-hole-ridden, convoluted stories I’ve watched so far, but I was impressed that I was able to follow the story from start to finish without confusion.

And the cast was surprisingly good! I already mentioned Brittany Snow, but I was also happy to see John Heard make an appearance, along with Enver Gjokaj (whose name I never remember…I always just think of him as Victor from Dollhouse). Oh, and Sasha Grey, who looked familiar, but after checking out her IMDb page I’m not sure I want to admit to having seen her in anything else.

Another interesting bit about this movie is that everyone arrives at the house of their own volition. In most movies like this, the victims usually wake up in an unknown location, uncertain how they got there. I think it doesn’t change much about the structure of the film, but it was an interesting choice that provides a little more character development without resorting to cheap exposition techniques.

I am, however, torn on how I feel about the end of this film. I think it makes sense in the context of this being a horror film and not a fairy tale, but something about it just seemed so…unnecessary? I don’t know. I’m obviously not torn enough to not like the movie, though!