The Friendship Game review
Coming up with original horror thrillers isn’t easy. Fresh concepts are rare so it’s nice to see filmmakers attempt to do something different. The Friendship Game puts its players on the board with a workable premise yet it’s no fun thanks to disorienting direction and a script that keeps trying to change the rules.
High school is winding down for four childhood friends and they’re facing the reality that nothing will be the same for them once they graduate.
Cotton (Kaitlyn Santa Juana, The Flash) is the most concerned about the gang splitting up and stumbles onto a mysterious game at a yard sale that will test their friendship. If they win by simply stating their deepest desire, they win and they’ll be BFFs for life. Keep the truth tucked closer to the vest and … strange things might happen and some of them just might end up dead.
Robbie (Brendan Meyer, Unfollowed) is down and after some minor convincing, Courtney (Kelcey Mawema, Superman and Lois) agrees as well. Zooza (Peyon List, Cobra Kai) is less interested, but after some light badgering, decides to play along.
While the friends play the game, they’re unknowingly being recorded by Kyle (Dylan Schombing, Watchmen), a very odd pre-teen who’s obsessed with streaming and hacking people’s webcams.
Not long after the game, the group discovers that at least some of their desires are becoming a reality. For the others, a series of nightmarish events start playing out. Director Scooter Corkle opts to overwhelm viewers with jarring edits, stark color changes and distorting the characters’ faces.
It seems like Corkle wants to convey this funky chaotic mind going haywire feeling, but it’s overdone and clunky. That’s before the equally as jarring score further adds to the confusion.
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Similarly, screenwriter Damien Ober seeks to overwhelm viewers with a series of seemingly random, disconnected scenes. Ober crafts the script in chapters told from a different character’s perspective after they play the game.
This makes for a frustrating rollout of information with other important questions never being properly or fully addressed. Kyle’s role in the film is the biggest example. Why is he spying on Zooza and her friends? Why does he have access to everyone’s webcam and why is he so socially awkward?
Ober likely wanted audiences to think about the questions raised from the characters while intentionally holding back valuable information that would help the story come together stronger.
At least the film can claim a big win in a category that derails too many teen horror films — the cast is a strength instead of the anchor dragging it down. List is probably the most familiar face to viewers, but Mawema, Meyer and Santa Juana are all capable performers. They avoid overacting during the more terrifying moments and interact like they’ve been longtime friends.
Corkle is able to inject a few genuinely eerie and creepy moments. The production has a respectable budget as the sets don’t look cheap, editing and lighting are solid and overall reflects a quality effort behind the scenes.
By the final act the gore factor is raised a few notches. This seems to clash with the more cerebral horror thriller Ober envisioned, but these films need that big climatic showdown. Even if in this case it’s highly unsatisfying.
The Friendship Game has some solid elements, but it doesn’t come together to make for a thoughtful or engaging horror-thriller.
Rating: 3 out of 10
Photo Credit: RLJE Films