A more intelligent film than it first appears actually. I watched thinking it would be a mildly thriller in vein of other dark web orientated content. But I was surprisingly entertained on a few fronts.
The film opens with a bloody death as the masked host of a game show kills an innocent girl, and I immediately thought I'd be watching a nasty hostel-alike show.
Not at all - sticking with it, what unfurls is a tight, attention grabbing thriller, with a lot of tension, and squirming moments that manage to avoid showing any real gore, a testament to the film-makers to able to pull that off.
The antagonist of the film, the Presenter, kidnaps people and puts them in his game show on the dark web, where presumably his evil friends place bets on who gets evicted and how they get killed.
What then unfurls is something a little more layered. Ben, played by Gossip Girls Ed Westwick, is battling his own demons whilst hunting this supposed deranged lunatic taking people hostage, and a young mum called Kaya who provides our window into the game, and the Presenter himself, who, in my eyes, is the real star of the show here.
I found myself starting to root for him about two thirsts into the film, which is a great mark pf a film presenting an antagonist that we might love to hate. He is deliciously played by Andrew P Stephen, who has done little on screen before, but he is clearly enjoying the role immensely, he is a joy to watch and I would like to see a sequel where he take more of a central stage.
This film delivers of thrills and drama. It lacks some sophistication in its execution, I'd have liked the police station and exteriors to have felt bigger, but the action it does have is well done.
