Using shock and surprise to stimulate a sense of horror Would You Rather does a good job of entertaining lovers of the genre. Now on Blu-ray the game of life and death has a cunning idea, but tepid direction and languid acting tend to dampen the story’s potential for imagination based realism. If you can empathize with the characters however, it could deliver an entertaining night of chat between viewers.
The film centers on a group of eight needy people who are faced with debt, medical considerations, horrible living conditions and unattainable desires who are invited to a special game of winner takes all. In fact each of the players has a story to tell about how they arrived at their place in life’s trials and troubles.
The designer of the contest, Shepard Lambrick (Jeffrey Combs) has amazing wealth and a diabolical mind. Choosing those who would do anything to achieve their individual goal, he devises a dinner guest game of pain, maim and death that’s filled with shocking and revolting choices that would make most people cringe or even gag. When Lambrick pushes his group over the edge, the game turns ugly and its competitors get out of hand.
If you are comfortable with films like Saw and Hostel where people have choices with horrible consequences, then Would You Rather would be a good shocker for you. The downside for me comes with the direction by David Guy Levy who muddles the storyline with weak characterization causing a lack of empathy for any of the contestants. Where there’s no sympathy for the protagonists the intended shock diminishes and lack of surprise sets in. In fact, you really want to stand clear of the ending that follows the showing of the successful player and use your imagination as to the result of the reward the champion receives.
To ramp up the wow factor director Levy casts Sasha Grey noted porn star to play Amy a tough chick with an uncaring attitude and one of the eight contestants. She’s out to get everyone at the table because to her elimination is a way to the prize and Amy will do anything to get it. The gorgeous actress has been in over 200 adult videos since 2006 and has been nominated for 35 AVN awards winning 7 including Female Performer of the Year.
There are no bonus features except shots of a dozen or so posters that were planned for the theatrical release. After you watch this feature then you may want to go to IMDb.com and see which one they chose for the movie theaters.
You can go to the setup menu and you can turn on a commentary by Director David Guy Levy and writer Steffen Schlachtenhaufen and find out what they were thinking during the filming of scenes. The only drawback I found was that in most every commentary I’ve listened to the dialogue from the players was lowered while the commentators talked. Here however, there is no dialogue, music, etc. from the film and in essence you are watching a silent film with come chat now and then from the director and writer.
The video quality has diminished from the original print with muted color and occasional. The 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio, Enhanced for Widescreen TVs shows the whole production, but does have those pesky black bars top and bottom. There are a few scenes that tend to be photographically amateurish probably due to budget constraints so do not expect much from the very limited special effects.
The sound quality using the 5.1 DTS Master Audio or the 2.0 PCM Lossless is exceptionally good even if you are not getting actual surround. All the dialogue is easily understood and the special sound effects are recognized without distortion.
Would You Rather has not been rated by the MPAA, but does contain extreme violence, brutality, language and gore. Be cautious in allowing children under the age of 17 to watch the film as it has some very disturbing scenes.
Specifications and additional film information:
- Cast: Brittany Snow, John Heard, Sasha Grey, Jeffrey Combs, Enver Gjokaj, Jonny Coyne, Eddie Steeples, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Robb Wells, Charlie Hofheimer, Logan Miller, June Squibb and Robin Taylor
- Directed by: David Guy Levy
- MPAA Rating: UR, Violence, Adult Situations
- Genre: Horror, Shock, Thriller
- Running Time: 1hr 33 min
- Video Release Date: July 9, 2013
- Original Film Release Date: October 14, 2012
- Language: English
- Format: Blu-ray
- Audio: 5.1 DTS Master Audio
- Video: 2.40:1 Aspect Ratio, Enhanced for Widescreen TV
- Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
- Number of Discs: 1 Disc
- Distributed by: IFC Films
