Very Decent entry in the Horror genre (Spoilers)

I enjoyed this film a lot. It had a classic premise - what would you do to provide for the ones you love, especially when that 'you' is a struggling guy. An anonymously funded game from the 1%, a nice social commentary added in to the film. The challenges weren't terribly intricate, they were very realistic things that any man could go and do. And to those who keep wondering exactly how it could all get hidden so easily - Money. The theme of this entire film was what someone will do for money, the means by which all his problems are solved.

The one HUGE flaw to the way the story played out was the end. If they had cut from Elliot limping away and Ron Perlman cleaning, to Elliot calling his wife, it would have been a much more powerful ending. Elliot shooting him did nothing for me and seemed very counter to what was being set up thus far. Maybe killing his own brother did make him into a monster, capable of all these terrible things, but it would have been much more powerful to leave it open to how he would use his new fortune with his new wife and if the cycle would perpetuate. Would he become his father?

Also, how did his father really waste all that money and become a monster? I understand, he played the game did some terrible things, but why turn out the way he did? He killed his wife - but there were two other options for him to kill in order to win. He must have done it for his sons, and yet he allows them to grow up miserable, without proper care or living arrangements, or funded educations. He played for himself. It was the difference between his selfishness and Elliot's selflessness that I think the film was trying to drive home.

6.5/10