Death’s Roulette review.
In some ways Death’s Roulette is a better version of Deinfluencer. If you’ve read that review, you know that this doesn’t automatically mean it’s a good movie. It does take a similar concept and do a lot more with it. So, it has that going for it.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Death’s Roulette
Directed by Manolo Cardona
Written by Gavo Amiel, Frank Ariza and Julieta Steinberg
Starring Maribel Verdú, Manolo Cardona, Adriana Paz, Fernando Becerril and Carla Adell
Death’s Roulette Review
I don’t want this entire review to be a rehash of everything that made last year’s Deinfluencer such a disaster. It is a necessary evil, however, to provide a little bit of context for this review of Death’s Roulette. Deinfluencer and Death’s Roulette have some key things in common. They’re both revenge thrillers. They both take place in one setting (although Death’s Roulette opens the door to let our characters into many different rooms). And they both aren’t quite what they seem. In Deinfluencer’s case we have a movie void of any clever concepts or believability. Death’s Roulette fares better in both ways. Like Deinfluencer before it, however, it doesn’t have nearly as much fun with the concept as it should.
Seven people wake up in a room and are given three explicit rules.
1. The group must choose one person to die within the hour.
2. The person chosen must agree to die.
3. No one can offer to sacrifice themselves.
If those last two rules seem to be at odds with each other…well…it doesn’t always play clean in the movie either. The penalty for breaking a rule is immediate death. Death dealt by gun toting strangers keeping an eye on the room.
Our group has a family of three (Father, mother, daughter), an old man with a mysterious dark past, a police officer, a drug addict flight attendant, and a surgeon. Other than the family they appear to have nothing in common with one another.
Unlike Deinfluencer’s series of challenges…Death’s Roulette uses its games to reveal the shared history of the characters. History that even they didn’t know existed. Everyone is connected to a man named Pablo Vega. You’ve probably already guessed that the history isn’t good. Everyone in the room (save for the daughter) has done something to Vega that he is seeking vengeance for. Whether due to evil or incompetence…they are here to be punished.
Unless, of course, they can agree on someone to die. The dynamics of the group make this discussion an interesting one. The family won’t turn on each other and vote for any one of them to die. The rest of the group has the clock in their favor. Surely one of the parents will inevitably agree to die to save their daughter as the hour time limit approaches. You’re not sure what direction Death’s Roulette will take until it starts to take it.
Death’s Roulette relies on some third act twists to liven up the proceedings. A ticking clock, twists and turns, character secrets, sudden deaths…the ingredients are all there for a good movie. We only get an okay one. The concept and execution here is stronger than it is in Deinfluencer. When a character attempts to volunteer himself for death…the stakes of Death’s Roulette are quickly shown to be much higher than in that movie. I’d call this a Deinfluencer that works…with the understanding that this is faint praise at best.
Things build well for two acts in Death’s Roulette. A brief lunch break interlude allows for a breather before the story kicks into the next gear in act three. This is where the movie fails to reach the finish line in a satisfactory manner. It relies heavily on a twist or two when the opportunity to push the story into batshit crazy territory is right in front of it. This is where the movie’s budget hurts it. Deinfluencer stumbles from the opening frame because of what it can’t do. Death’s Roulette does a good job of making you forget this isn’t a high-priced movie for the first hour. Once the action moves from intense discussion and character moments to attempts to escape and survive…you realize they can’t do the action. At least not to the degree that would have set up a memorable climax.
Still, Death’s Roulette is clever enough to have some decent twists to fall back on. Deinfluencer’s twists were so painfully stupid that it never had a chance. Death’s Roulette kind of works. It’s not uninteresting. It doesn’t add up to everything that you want it too…but it doesn’t go out of its way to insult your intelligence either. The latter is something that Deinfluencer can’t claim.
Scare Value
Death’s Roulette is fine. It certainly does a better job with the one setting revenge thriller concept than…um…some other movies we’ve discussed. It’s still not great. It relies on twists and character reveals…which is fine…but it also forgets to be fun. What we end up with is a movie you won’t regret having watched…but won’t think about after you’ve finished.
2.5/5
Death’s Roulette Link
Streaming on Paramount+
Death’s Roulette Trailer
If you enjoyed this review of Death’s Roulette, check out Bury the Bride, From Black and The Tank
