A young woman enlists in an underground game of pain endurance in the hope of winning the million dollar prize. She soon learns the real opponent is the man who’s running the game, as he employs horrific methods to manipulate and defeat her.

As the film opens up we meet The Player (Abbi Butler) when is removed from over her head. She enters a conversion with the Game Master (James J. Fuertes), we learn that there is a million dollars on the line and all she has to do to claim it is be the last one standing. At this point the movie is split into rounds of the game, each challenge becoming more taxing and daunting than the one before it. Even from the beginning, you can tell that both The Player and the Game Master know more about the other than either originally let on. As the game escalates, limits are pushed on both sides to the point that you might not have any idea how it’s going to end.

Since this is a movie that largely takes place in one room with only two people, it’s easy to see how this could have been boring and drawn out. Luckily Abbi and James are able to masterfully play their roles. Abbi as The Player is able to portray a woman that feels she has nothing left to lose but evolves into a strong individual that can and does stand toe to toe with her true enemy. James as the Game Master plays the role of some who changes from a possible friend and ally to terrifying antagonist with relative ease to give a rather unsettling performance. Overall I’ve seen experienced actors fail at carrying a film with just one other but these two do it in stride.

No matter how good your actors are, a movie can crumble with a bad script. The Odds does not have this problem for the most part. A lot of the dialog comes off as natural, will one part that really stuck out. At the film rolls along, The Player keeps asking if she’s ever met the Game Master before and the answer is always no. Though this may be a small detail for most, the payoff of this whole interaction stayed with me even after the credits rolled.

With that said, this film is far from perfect. While the script is mostly tight and well done, there are parts that seem to drag or come off as pointless. These parts are few but they serve as a stark contrast to the rest of the movie. There is also the rounds themselves, while this might seem like an odd point to make, I feel it’s one to make none the less. This is a thriller with some tough to watch scenes but how tough they are to watch depends on your own personal fears. I personally felt certain challenges were too soon while others I felt were used too late. Once again, this all comes down to your fears and what you think you could handle in such a situation.

The Odds came out of nowhere for me. I started watching it and at no point did I feel bored. Some parts were tough to watch and fell into the horror category but this might not be the same for everyone. The leads had me so invested that I needed to watch it until the end even though it felt a bit padded in the final thirty minutes. Simply put, if you like psychological thrillers you owe it to yourself to give The Odds a shot.