- Directed by: Aaron Fisher
- Written by: Aaron Fisher, Kerri Lee Romeo
- Stars: Alan Ruck, Odeya Rush, Rosanna Arquette
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 30 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpufRdcfep8
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The core staff of a highly successful company goes on an annual corporate retreat. As you might guess, things go horribly. How the movie goes about it is interesting, but the pacing feels long and drawn out with bursts of action. Brian gives it a thumbs down, and Kevin gives it barely a thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
As the credits roll, we get shots of a very expensive house with bodies all over the place.
Cliff and Ginger, his girlfriend, sit in the car and talk about her test on Monday. We also see Carl and Devin, who are boarding a bus. Billie is the gung-ho HR person, and they all work for Immaculate Pond Technologies. Omar is the IT guy, and Deborah, Audrey, and he all don’t really want to be there.
Cliff explains to Ginger that they are meeting friends, but it turns out that he’s brought his girlfriend to a corporate retreat. He’s also got a gun, which Ginger doesn’t like. Everyone except Carl turns in their phone. Billie sneaks in and steals his phone shortly after.
Right away, Deborah finds bodies hanging in the storeroom, and then she becomes one of them.
The group starts with a meditation session. The second involves being locked into a steam room. Afterward, they’re fed botulism and told they have everything they need to survive. The chemist of the group works on mixing up an antidote. Everyone’s OK except for one guy, Omar.
Arthur, the founder of the company, does a video call, and he’s angry about their betrayals and getting kicked out of the company. Amber and Lola, the two running the retreat, walk in with machine guns. They want one of them to sacrifice themself and cut out a heart. They shoot Cliff in the head and drag his body out and then talk for an hour and half about how they met Arthur.
The group decides to kill Omar, who chooses that moment to wake up. Billie cuts his throat anyway, and then Carl removes the heart.
Next up is a laughing contest. Aubrey and Carl do fine, but then it’s Ginger’s turn; Arthur doesn’t even know who she is. Devon requires a bit of prompting, but he does it as well. Billie, on the other hand, can’t do it, so Amber cuts her head off.
During a break, Ginger tells the others about Cliff’s gun, which is up on the roof. They argue with Arthur over the videocall. They goad him into coming there personally.
For the next game, Arthur explains that they all need to pop out their left eyes with a spoon, and he wants to go first. He does, and it looks pretty painful. He came prepared, as he’s got a patch ready to put on. He chooses Carl to go next, and he does it. Devin does it as well. Audrey has her turn and drops the spoon, so Amber shoots her eye out. Ginger is last, and she doesn’t hesitate.
The final game begins. Arthur’s still annoyed about the voodoo doll the group passed around in the company, so he wants everyone to stab themselves with seven big nails. Carl tries it, and stabs himself in both ears– he’s dead. Devin refuses, so the girls shoot him.
Ginger’s time once again. She admits she was the one who made the voodoo doll for Cliff. She says Arthur should never have been ousted from the company. She wants to do the ritual to ascend, but she wants to do it on the rooftop.
Ginger grabs Cliff’s hidden gun and holds it to Arthur’s head. He stabs her, and she shoots him. Lola and Amber shoot at Ginger, but she avoids them. After a little cat and mouse, Ginger beats Amber to death with a dumbbell. There’s more cat and mouse as Ginger deals with Lola.
And final girl is Ginger, who wasn’t even supposed to be there. “This is the worst corporate retreat I’ve ever been on,” she says as she gets in the car and drives home.
Brian’s Commentary
I had two coffees and was still yawning throughout. Alan Ruck: “We have Jeff Goldblum at home.” Everyone else is completely forgettable here. I kept having to look at IMDB to remember which character was which, there wasn’t much here in the way of character development or acting. The gore is pretty good, especially the eyeball scene, but there’s really not much of that sort of thing here.
Pretty awful.
Kevin’s Commentary
It’s well made, good acting, good special effects – that eyeball removal scene for instance. But the script and the pacing are lacking. It was bland and drawn out. I had some chuckles. I didn’t hate it. By the third hour I was getting into it.
I’d call it moderately entertaining on the dull side.
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