It would be fair to say that E L Katz burst onto the scene with his directorial debut in 2013, Cheap Thrills. This was certainly an adventurous start for any director. It premiered at the South by Southwest Film Festival that year and was immediately snapped up by Drafthouse Films. Regrettably, it was a total box office flop, grossing around $60,000 on a $100,000 budget. Making a loss on your first film can’t be a great feeling, but that $100,000 budget is remarkably small for a film nowadays and Katz managed to create some memorable cinematic moments in this debut. 

We’re going to take a quick look at the plot, the cast, and the highlights, so you can decide whether you want to give this black comedy a spot on your ‘to watch’ list.

The Ones Who Stole the Show

There are some films that have such a brilliant script that almost anyone could play the part, there are others that have such a great cast that the script molds and changes to fit the actors. Cheap Thrills falls into the latter category, snagging Pat Healy, David Koechner, Sara Paxton, and Ethan Embry to play the main four characters. 

Pat Healy takes the part of a down-on-his-luck mechanic, Craig, who’s quickly running out of funds to support his young family. Ethan Embry plays the part of Pat’s friend, Vince, who will set Craig on a path that he’ll never forget. Sara Paxton and Ethan Embry play a seriously adventurous couple, who provide the push to the runaway train of a plotline that ensues.

How Swiftly Things Progress

The plot begins with Craig making his way to a local bar to meet his school friend Vince. The two share a couple of drinks and get talking to a good-looking couple at the bar, Colin and Violet. It turns out to be Violet’s birthday and learning of Craig’s struggling bank balance, the couple invite the two friends to embark on a series of progressively more disturbing tasks in order to amuse Violet on her special day. 

When it comes to their gambling strategies, we can safely say that Vince and Craig both err on the edge of the positive progression system, raising the stakes higher and higher, every time they win, that’s if you can count a win at Violet’s disturbing games a win.

After all, that’s the way casino betting systems are set up – as in the positive progression system, bets are increased after each win, which can help accumulate occasional bigger rewards – at the expense of smaller losses. This certainly boosts the gambler’s optimism, as after completing initial tasks, Vince and Craig approach next tasks with more boldness – which is a direct by-product of the progressive increase of stakes, as it leads them to expect the winning streak to continue. 

However, going back to Vince and Craig’s scenario, these “wins” take place in very unconventional and quite unsettling settings. 

If you don’t want any spoilers, then it’s time to stop reading now, but it seems only fair to prepare you for what is a tumultuous ride. The games start slowly, with a challenge to down a shot the fastest. It seems pretty innocuous, but things get dark seriously quickly. The next task has a price tag of $500 to the winner, to throw the first punch at the bouncer on the door of the bar. Craig obliges and the bouncer throws one punch at him, knocking him out. This is where things escalate.

Both Vince and Craig find themselves coming around from their unconsciousness in the home of Violet and Colin. It’s a terrifying scenario and things only get weirder when Violet shows her true colors, asking for stranger and stranger tasks. The game changes from a breath-holding competition to chopping off actual digits. It’s a super weird ride and it would be unfair to spoil all of the challenges for you, but suffice it to say, chopping off a finger almost seems normal next to some of them. 

The Turning Point

The major plot twist comes when the old school friends decide to work together. Vince discovers that the couple has a quarter of a million dollars in cash in an unlocked safe. They try to steal it together, only to find out that the couple are trained martial artists and are heavily armed. The dares get darker, the friends turn against one another and if you’re the kind of person who enjoys laughing through gritted teeth, and doesn’t have a stomach that’s easily turned, then you might think that this is when the film really gets going.

However, for us, the film descends into the ludicrous at this point. The plot becomes harder to follow, the writing gets a little lazy, and the premise of someone actually enjoying watching these tasks be undertaken seems more than a little unlikely. 

With that said, Pat Healy and Ethan Embry do an excellent job of making the whole thing seem a little more believable, and if you’re a fan of movies that blend horror with super dark comedy, then you might love it. However, if you prefer a pure horror movie, or a film that’s at least rooted in the real world, then you’ll likely find the next part of the film too weird to stomach. Overall, it’s a fascinatingly weird directorial debut, but one that will definitely divide the masses. One thing is for sure, E L Katz is a pretty strange guy, and fans of this film will not be disappointed with his later efforts.