The film is centered around Craig, played by Pat Healy, who’s facing eviction from his home as he struggles to meet the rent. Life is further complicated by the fact that he and his wife – Audrey – have a young child. How can it get worse? Well, by turning up to work and finding out you’re losing your job. For, we learn, it’s Violet’s birthday, and Colin is determined to give her a day to remember. As such, with low stakes, he begins offering Craig and Vince cash in exchange for challenges. Can one of them get the woman on the other side of the bar to slap them in the face, for instance? How about some cash for whoever finishes their drink first? Yet the stakes of the wagers, in both a financial and moral sense, get higher and higher, and E L Katz’s tight screenplay efficiently and effectively turns the screw. To call this a very dark comedy would be accurate. For long stretches of Cheap Thrills, it all works very well. In fact, it’s as if Indecent Proposal had been made by Neil LaBute, back when LaBute was making films such as Your Friends & Neighbors and In The Company Of Men. Here though, whilst the inherent cruelty in the concept is thoroughly explored, it builds to an ending that – save for the last moment – overplays its hand. It’s a conclusion that, without giving things away, loses a little interest in the theme that the film has thus far discussed so well, and instead opts to shock its audience. As a result, the sense of unease and tension, the nervous laughter and the black comedy that’s built to that point, ends up a little diluted. It’s frustrating, because up until it takes a more overt genre turn, Cheap Thrills has plenty to say, and says it very well. Granted, there are rough edges as a consequence of the limited size of the production, and the odd logic gap, but the trade off there is the willingness to go to places that a larger film simply wouldn’t. Follow our Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here. And be our Facebook chum here.