10 High Stakes Horrors You've Never Heard Of
2. Funhouse (2019)
It’s a format we all know and (sort of) love: Big Brother exploitative reality TV meets internet vlogger nightmare. This film is essentially Love Island but if there was more murder, with 8 social media stars being invited to a luxury house to participate in what they think is your run of the mill reality show.
You know the drill: a bunch of people are watched 24/7 in a house, they have to put their most performative foot forward and every few days the person the audience likes the least is voted off. The only difference here is that when you get voted out it’s not your reputation that takes a hit, it’s your life that’s on the line.
Being the least popular contestant makes you liable to a fight to the death with no way of escape. Your options are win or die.
The social commentary is anything but subtle but doesn’t go so far as to be cringey and stifling, and the kills are just on the right side of the gory/sadistic line. In a world where everywhere we look there’s another influencer, it can be kind of therapeutic to watch a movie that unceremoniously dispatches them to serve a slightly clunky metaphor.