‘Stupid Games’ Review: An Engrossing Supernatural Chamber Piece
Stupid Games is an indie horror film that makes the most of limited resources to create a wonderfully atmospheric experience.
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What is Stupid Games About?
Stupid Games is a one-location movie about six people playing a board game that becomes increasingly sinister as the night goes on. One night, Jaxon met Celeste at a bar. If you listen to Jaxon tell the story, they hit it off that night, but Celeste ghosted him afterwards. Now, three weeks later, Celeste invites Jaxon and two of his friends over to her apartment for a dinner party and board games. Is this the second chance with Celeste that Jaxon was hoping for? Or is there something else at play this evening?
Stupid Games was directed by Nicolas Wendl and Dani Abraham from a screenplay by Tanner Adams. Saad Rolando and Alyssa Tortomasi star as Jaxon and Celeste respectively. Jaxon’s friends are played by Gage Robinson and Grant Terzakis, and Celeste’s friends are played by Cass Huckabay and Ashwini Ganpule. Larsen Deane also appears in a brief yet memorable role as a delivery guy.
Stupid Games Review
A good chamber piece is a wonderful thing. Making a movie with limited locations, few cast members, and stripped-down action is difficult, but when done right it can be enthralling. Stupid Games gets just about everything right.
Stupid Games takes place almost entirely inside a modestly-sized apartment with six people. To keep the movie effective and engaging, all six of the main characters are well-defined and entertainingly brought to life. You get a good sense of who everyone is right from the start, and that’s important for a movie like this where the dialogue and characters are so important. There’s some really good chemistry among the cast, so it’s fun watching everyone get to know each other while waiting for the spooky stuff that begins happening about a third of the way into the movie.
Saad Rolando and Alyssa Tortomasi do a particularly good job as Jaxon and Celeste, the main couple among the group. There’s a mystery to their relationship that is teased out gradually and provides the most interesting thread in the film. You’ll likely make some assumptions right away about both characters and their motivations. Some of those assumptions will probably be proven correct, but there are enough subtle twists to keep the dramatic tension simmering throughout. You might find your allegiances to one or the other shifting multiple times as more and more of the story is revealed, and that kind of engagement is a testament to good performances and solid writing.
The overall story of Stupid Games is a well-plotted supernatural mystery that is inextricably tied into the playing of a strange board game. It’s a “truth or dare” style game that provides a great way to keep the pace of the movie up while simultaneously revealing bits of information and moments of action in a logical way. It’s a smart premise that works extremely well. The rules of the game—and therefore the logic of the film—get a little fuzzy in the later stages, but that appears to be intentional once some of the bigger reveals are made. So, even if some things seem arbitrary early on, they start to coalesce once the movie nears its satisfying conclusion.
As for the spookier side of Stupid Games, some of the scares work better than others. Some are too subtle to be particularly effective, but there are a few scary moments that are surprisingly effective. All in all though, Stupid Games appears more concerned with delivering a good story with fun twists than with being an overtly frightening experience. In that way it’s sort of like an episode of The Twilight Zone. Meaning, it has a good atmosphere which is generally spooky, but the mystery and its revelations are the main driving forces of the film’s entertainment value.
Speaking of atmosphere, Stupid Games, despite being set essentially in one large room for most of its run time, never becomes stagnant visually. The candle-lit ambiance is not only fitting for the mood of the movie, but it also provides the perfect method to create dynamic visuals. Stupid Games always looks good, and that should be commended. It never falls into the trap of so many modern movies and shows where everything is too uniformly dark, and for an indie movie with a (presumably) modest budget, that is quite impressive.
Stupid Games Rating and Recommendation
Star Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Stupid Games accomplishes a lot with relatively little. With good characters, a superb ensemble cast, a fun story, and impressive production values, Stupid Games gets a solid recommendation. It is especially recommended for fans of supernatural mysteries with slightly twisty plots. Also, even though it isn’t a fill-blown comedy, there is levity to it that arises naturally from the characters’ interactions that makes it right for anyone looking for something engaging and fun.
Stupid Games is currently streaming for free on Tubi and on Mometu.
Further Reading
- Bag of Lies Review: An Effectively Unsettling Supernatural Drama
- Model House Review: A Home Invasion Thriller with a Remarkable Cast
- Ship of the Damned Review: Cursed Cannibal Pirates on a Low-Budget Ship
- Frogman Review: A Gloriously Fun Found Footage Creature Feature
