- Directed by Michael Su
- Written by Michael Merino, with revisions by Rolfe Kanefsky
- Stars Costas Mandylor, Michael Madsen, Robert LaSardo
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udV3XnNjwdU
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A little of Saw meets Untraceable meets Ten Little Indians while still managing to be its own unique story at the same time. It’s well written and well done, overall one to watch.
Synopsis
A woman wakes up in a cell. She has no idea why she’s there, but she looks around and notices food, water, and other things. There’s a monitor on the wall that shows other people in other cells, and she knows them all.
A strange-looking man called the Warden comes on the screen. He says they’ll play a little game called “And then there were…” He looks more like a comic book supervillain than a prison warden. He wants the prisoners to do whatever they have to do to earn “likes” on social media. The woman we saw earlier is player 3. The player with the fewest likes will be eliminated.
#6 (Robert Lasardo) objects to the game and threatens the warden. He refuses to participate, so the Warden explains that each of them has an explosive device implanted in their skulls. #6 is not convinced. The Warden explodes #6’s head.
#8 thinks he can get out of the collar, that it’s an “escape room” kind of game. He finally gets the collar off, and the device explodes automatically. Two down, six to go…
This is all being broadcast live on the Internet, and the police are soon inundated with phone calls. Detective Casey thinks it’s all a hoax. #3, Rachel, talks to #5, Selena. It seems that they are all teachers and school employees. #7, the gym teacher, gets torn in half by a contraption designed to do that.
#6’s nephew shows up at the police station and says he recognizes his uncle, the school janitor, the first to die.
The Warden gives orders to #3 to place a knife under her thumbnail and cut it off. She does it. #2, the coach complains that this is not a game since there’s no skill involved.
Meanwhile, on cable news, everyone is talking about the Warden’s show. Is it real? This, of course, only boosts the show’s numbers.
Round 2 begins. Everyone has a toolbox full of stuff, and they all get to work, except for #1, the head of the school board, who whines about just doing his job. Warden commands each of them to perform an act of non-suicidal self-mutilation with the instrument they have chosen. #5, Serena cuts herself. So does #4, John. #2, the coach, attacks the camera and gets shot in the face with acid. #3, Rachel stabs herself in the hand as well. Turner, #1 refuses, since he’s a role model in the community. He chickens out at the last minute and cuts off his own finger with a pair of scissors. Serena gets the least likes, so her cell is filled with gas.
Meanwhile, Detective Casey complains about the price of gas. The call comes in connecting the teachers to Wooten High School.
Round 3 begins. Same basic game: pick something from the toolbox and use it on yourself. This time, however, the audience gets to pick the tool, and they choose the pliers. “Extract a tooth of your choosing.” Once again, the coach refuses, so he’s injected with horse steroids. He flips out and tears his own skin off. He then collapses and dies.
A photo of a girl we don’t know, Charlotte, appears on the screen. She has something to do with all this. Rachel knows who Charlotte is, the former theater teacher who had her budget cut. They all signed off on the petition to eliminate her budget. The play she wanted to do was too violent for high school kids, “Ten Little Indians.”
Round 4 begins. This time it’s a power drill. Turner, #1, argues and gets set on fire. We hear that Rachel #3 had accidentally slept with Charlotte’s husband; John, #4, told Charlotte about it. Charlotte then killed herself.
Time for the final round… Will anyone actually get out of this?
Commentary
Michael Madsen, with each passing year, looks more and more like a talking, slightly overcooked biscuit: puffy, baked, and flaky. Costas Mandylor isn’t really recognizable in the hood and prosthetics. Robert Lasardo, the only other recognizable actor, only gets one brief scene as the soon-to-explode #6.
The gore, on the other hand, is all really good and realistic. Yes, this is another torture-porn movie, but it’s a fairly good one. The “Ten Little Indians” song plays after each death, and it’s a hilarious choice. I would say it goes on a little too long after the main game is over, but it’s overall pretty good.