It’s rather ironic that we would be faced with a new trailer for the thriller Cheap Thrills today as I recently had the opportunity to screen it just a few days ago. Having premiered at SXSW earlier this year, it garnered some decent reviews, but after finally seeing it, I couldn’t begin to tell you why.
The premise involves Craig (Pat Healy), a family man who is facing eviction and just lost his job. In a bar, he comes across an old high school friend, Vince (Ethan Embry), and begins to catch up. Eventually they are invited to have drinks with a rich couple (David Koechner and Sara Paxton), who are just looking to party. Things start to get interesting as they pay the two men to do random things such as getting a woman to slap them and slapping a stripper’s behind. As the group retires to the couple’s house, the situation only becomes more intense as the stakes are raised and the requirements become harder.
It has an interesting premise, and while it works well for a while, you know exactly where it’s headed as they’re asked to do crazier and crazier things, turning it into a rather grotesque and vile film. You can see some pretty clear signs of this in the red-band trailer, and while it’s not as gratuitous as your average torture porn, it’ll still be enough to turn off a lot of people.
I will say this for it though, it was fascinating to watch David Koechner play completely against type. People are so used to seeing him play the funny man in projects like The Office and a multitude of film comedies. Many may not even recognize him here as the tequila-swilling, drug-snorting lunatic he plays.
If the premise does sound intriguing to you, you may enjoy it given that there were many at SXSW who did, but just be warned that it does get pretty gross in the final act. Cheap Thrills doesn’t have a set release date as of yet, but it’s assumed that it will be released sometime this year. Until then, check out the trailer below and let us know what you think in the comments.
(Source: /Film)
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