The Odds (2018)

The Odds: Directed by Bob Giordano. With Abbi Butler, James J. Fuertes, Katie Gunn, Les Parker. A young woman joins an underground game of pain endurance, hoping to win the prize; US$1 million. She soon discovers the game’s rigged, and the real opponent is the man- a sadistic psychopath, who’s created the game. As things progress, she’s forced to endure ever-increasing torturous pain, as her opponent engages ever-more horrific methods to manipulate and defeat her.

“Woman plays a game showing how far she is willing to self-harm for a million bucks. Film is almost entirely about her interaction with the referee.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThis is probably as low budget as anything– basically one setting, two speaking characters, most gore is insinuated rather than shown, might have been filmed over the course of a week or less– but they do a good job with the budget by making those choices, and while it might have a late-night Showtime feel to it, itu0026#39;s at least just a B-movie, not a C-movie; production values are still high.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAs I said in the title, this is basically a suspense film, about character interaction, although there is some torture porn to it. The gore is mostly off-screen, but if you donu0026#39;t like gore, stay away. Character interaction is with a cookie-cutter misogynist, and Iu0026#39;d be willing to bet there are some deeply individual misogynists who would resent the portrayal; I guess they should probably stay away as well.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eActing is strong, but character writing is on the two-dimensional side and serves narrative convenience over strong characterization. Itu0026#39;s no Streep vehicle. Still, good enough for this film.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI suspect some of the reviews here are from shills, people involved in production, but this isnu0026#39;t a bad film, acceptable for what it is, although very far from high art.”