The Friendship Game

This film escapes the trappings of most teen horror films. Even so, this does not make the film more likable. A refreshing aspect of the film shows 4 high school kids that have been life long friends without a focus on social media idiocy. It's almost a nod to the days where you spent time with people rather than sit with people while on your phone. From here it jumps into the horror that will be bestowed upon the bunch. Ultimately there is only one friendship that matters. Rather than look at the film and dissect every single syllable uttered on screen I will close by stating that this is exactly what it is billed to be, a horror movie about testing friendship. It's not a movie you must watch but if you do you'll be slightly entertained.

I couldn't tell if this convoluted attempt to create a film was the fault of of the director or the writer, because the results of both are just so bad. Firstly the story makes no sense. Well it started with an idea, about an object that magically tests friendships, but after that it falls apart. Yes it literally falls apart after the first five minutes of the movie. The story meanders, gets weird and confusing and seems like the writer didn't know how to get the beginning of the story, to the end of the story. All the loose ends, and questions this film leaves are just frustrating, especially the question " How the heck did this film even get made?!!!". It's like someone who starts telling you something interesting and just stops mid-sentence and stares into space. The choices in scenes and how they were put together are dumbfounding and just add to the idea that the writer had no idea where this story was going. Jumping from one idea to another and adding elements that make you wonder what they're really trying to accomplish- which it looks like they don't even know. I couldn't even finish it, it was so bad, but watched it on fast forward to see if there was anything worth continuing, and even that was a waste of time. Don't bother wasting your time, just unwatchable.

I recently viewed the Canadian film 🇨🇦 The Friendship Game (2022) on Shudder. The plot revolves around a group of friends who stumble upon "The Friendship Game" at a yard sale, a game that could either strengthen their bonds or tear them apart. As they gear up for college, it seems like a low-risk venture, but initiating the game proves they've bitten off more than they can chew.

Directed by Scooter Corkle (Hollow in the Land), the movie stars Peyton List (27 Dresses), Brendan Meyer (The Guest), Kelcey Mawema (Totally Killer), Annette Reilly (Chilling Adventures of Sabrina), and Jennifer Copping (Devil in Ohio).

While the film boasts a unique concept with the potential to rival Saw or The Escape Room; unfortunately, the horror content falls short, lacking the intensity it needed to achieve. The acting is commendable, and the interactions feel fairly authentic, though a few interactions missed the mark. The well-written dialogue contributes to the movie's strengths, and the horror scenes, though a bit hit-and-miss, include well-executed stab scenes. However, there are some static scenes that lack the intended intensity, and the twist falls short, ending on a cheesy note.

In conclusion, The Friendship Game offers a distinctive take on the horror genre but falls short of making a lasting impact. To stand out, it needed to push the horror elements further. I would give it a 4/10 and suggest skipping it.

The real friendship game is asking your friends to watch this and then seeing if they remain friends with you.

This starts off fine, but within 5 minutes it goes downhill into a confusing poorly written and directed mess. It is so difficult to figure out what is going on: Is this real? Is this a flashback? Is this a flashforward? Certain scenes will replay again line for line or scenes will repeat with slight variations. The movie continues on being like this until it reaches its conclusion which ends up being even worse than the rest of the movie. Multiple people were involved in this movie: someone actually wrote this garbage, someone else directed it and along the way no one involved said anything about how bad it was.

Maybe there's an alternate timeline/universe where this is a good movie.

A confusing, teen angst movie that makes a terrible attempt at trying to be clever and when that fails tries to cover it up with what can only be described as 1970's artsy fartsy poor horror/scifi movie effects that don't hide anything I was honestly expecting the hurdy gurdy man song to start playing for most of this nonsense that in the end amounted to absolutely amounted to a nothing in a nothing movie, about four nothing teens doing nothing but being miserable in a horror movie that isn't a horror movie but a teenage angst movie that is as dull as watching paint dry on growing grass in the middle of winter.