13 Sins

(2014)****1/2

An insurance salesman is fired by his overzealous boss for being too weak-willed.  This is horrible timing as the salesman’s wedding & rehearsal dinner are approaching, his fiancée is pregnant, and his aged father and mentally challenged brother are both his responsibility.  The opportunity to play a game and earn extremely large cash prizes presents itself, and he jumps at the chance. 

Catfreek’s review a couple days ago prompted me to rent and watch this one, and I completely agree with her rating.  This film presents a “Saw” –like game, where desperate people are forced to desperate measures.  But this film makes two big improvements over that franchise.  First, this isn’t torture porn.  Most of these situations are incredibly uncomfortable, and present more mental squeamishness than blood and pain.  Second, these “challenges” are realistic.  In Saw, it’s pretty obvious when jigsaw says, “hey you have 90 seconds to cut your out and find the hidden key inside”, that there’s no way this will happen, and the character will die.  This film presents challenges that anyone of us could imagine having to do, and not wanting to do.  Its realism makes this horror film less fantasy, and because one can put him/herself in the protagonist’s shoes, the horror here is more tangible. 

$3.99 on google play, itunes store, etc.  A lean 86 minutes before the credits start.  Highly recommended.