Funhouse Review: A Twisted Reality Competition With Deadly Results

Release date: May 28, 2021
Running time: 106 minutes
Written and Directed By: Jason William Lee
Starring: Valter Skarsgård, Khamisa Wilsher, Gigi Saul Guerrero, Christopher Gerard, Karolina Benefield

When 8 celebrities from around the globe are invited to compete in an online reality show, they soon realize that they are playing for their very lives, as those voted off suffer horrific consequences, broadcast live to the entire world.

Funhouse pits eight celebrities against each other in a global contest for likes and audience approval.  And this format is an interesting one as it is essentially a reality TV show where the voters don't know what will happen to the least popular.  It sets up a nice scenario where the celebrities are pandering to the crowd and then begin pandering that much more.  And the international aspect of the cast is fun to see; Funhouse is occupied by celebrities from around the world, which makes for some culture clashes on top of the personality clashes.  I liked the cast a lot in this film, despite many of their characters being cliched.  It is a fun group of young actors and each brings a very different persona to this twisted game.

But what sets Funhouse apart are the brutal consequences for being voted last.  The film starts to show its horror skin in these instances, with brutal practical effects and plenty of gore.  There are some CG effects in here, but overall they are done nicely.  And some of the challenges are downright twisted, which will have you cringe as these social media influencers are forced to fight for likes and their lives.  

However, Funhouse has a really good start and brutal effects, but the film sort of devolves towards the end.  It isn't bad, but some of the characters go through some strange character shifts fairly abruptly.   And the film hides the main villain behind a CG generated panda, which is by design for the film, but makes him looks a little ridiculous.  The voice is also altered so it is tough to take the film seriously when this character is threatening.  Funhouse tries to make him look scary during those instances, but that effect falls flat.  Additionally, the film tries to have a surprise twist ending that just didn't seem necessary.  It spoiled some of the fun and felt like it was put there for shock value rather than story value. 

Funhouse earns a lot of likes for its brutal effects, campy internet style, and fun cast of international influencers in this brutal social media survival game.

Rent it.

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Funhouse is available digitally and on demand on May 28, 2021.  For a list of places to watch, click here.

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