The Friendship Game
“The Friendship Game” is a contest in which there’s truly no victor.
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“The Friendship Game” (available in select theaters and on VOD beginning Friday, Nov. 11) is a movie borrowing from many other movies. This horror flick feels like “Hellraiser” by way of “Brainscan” with a jigger of “Jumanji” thrown in for good measure.
Best friends Zooza (Peyton List of “Cobra Kai”) and Cotton (Kaitlyn Santa Juana) buy a totem at a garage sale. The item’s seller (Miriam Smith) informs the girls that the object comes complete with a game. Divulge your deepest desires to the totem amongst friends – if your friendships survive, so will you. If not, c’est la vie.
Zooza and Cotton along with their pals Rob (horror staple Brendan Meyer) and Courtney (Kelcey Mawema, a veteran of Netflix’s “To All the Boys” vehicles) are game to play. The gang’s been partying through the summer following their senior year. Cotton and Rob are on the precipice of attending college. Courtney’s on needles and pins awaiting waitlist results from State. Zooza, who has a history of substance abuse and whose Dad deserted she and her mother (Jennifer Copping), is opting to stay behind and continue working at the family fun park where she’s employed.
Rob, being a dude, wishes to be good at sex. Courtney wishes for admittance to State. Zooza, being a bummer, wishes to not give a shit when she’s deserted by her friends.
Director Scooter Corkle and screenwriter Damien Ober break the first half of their flick into four separate chapters named after each member of the quartet. The second half breaks this format and focuses on Zooza, Rob and Courtney trying to solve Cotton’s disappearance at the home of Kyle (Dylan Schombing), an Italian horror-obsessed hacker tween whom Zooza’s babysitting.
With a premise like this, rules should be established and need to be followed. Corkle and Ober play fast and loose with these rules – much to the picture’s detriment. They also employ the clichéd conclusion that undoes any danger or stakes visited upon our protagonists and passes the buck (or totem if you will) onto a peripheral character so the “creepiness” can continue. I abhor this tripey trope. It’s one minor step above everything having been a dream all along.
“The Friendship Game” being a modern horror flick sports the requisite synth score (this one’s by Blitz//Berlin (“Psycho Goreman”) and it’s admittedly pretty cool) and neon lights capably captured by cinematographer Farhad Ghaderi. The young cast does decent enough work despite their characters largely being unlikable – like a lot of 18-year-olds all these kids care about is drinking, drugging and doing it. Two of the three gals have what my Pop refers to as “Crayola hair.” Meyer sports a bowl cut worse than the one I had when I was 12 and my band instructor told me my head looked like a circumcised penis.
“The Friendship Game” is a contest in which there’s truly no victor.