Director: Halina Reijn

Stars: Amandla Stenburg, Maria Bakalova, Rachel Sennott, Peter Davidson, Myha’la Herrold, Lee Pace

The slasher movie gets a perky reboot with this entertaining and spirited ensemble piece. It starts with a passionate kiss between Bee (Bakalova from ‘Borat Subsequent Moviefilm’) and her new rich-kid girlfriend Sophie (Stenberg), followed by an awkward declaration of love. The couple are on their way to a country house in the forest to spend time with a group of Sophie’s twentysomething, equally wealthy, friends. ‘Don’t worry, everyone will love you’ Sophie assures Bee. On arriving at the house, owned by the parents of cokehead twentysomething and host David (Davidson), it’s evident that these various acquaintances barely tolerate each other. A hurricane leaves them with no power and (gasp!) Wi-Fi. During a booze and coke fuelled playing of the titular game, in which one of the players is assigned as murderer and must tap their victims on the shoulder to kill them, an intimate secret is revealed about one of the players, causing them to storm off. Soon after, a dead body is found and recriminations abound as the guests play cruel head games with one another and the bodies start piling up. Although the script never quite ascends to the catty heights of 'Mean Girls' or 'Heathers' this is a keenly-paced, and funny takedown of entitled, terminally online Generation Z rich kids. Rachel Sennott (from ‘Shiva Baby’) leads a very crowded field as podcaster Alice, the most shrilly solipsistic character. Palpably claustrophobic production design elevates this way above usual studio fare and the twist ending is an absolute doozy.