13 Sins

The Last Exorcism director Daniel Stamm remains in scary movie territory with this taut little chiller. Echoing the premise of 2013 horror poser Cheap Thrills - how far to go if you are offered tons of cash on a dare - it stars Mark Webber as the good-natured loser who's cajoled into completing 13 tasks for ever-increasing reward by an unseen games-master. The fact he has a pregnant girlfriend to marry, an ailing father and brother to look after, and has just got sacked means little persuasion is needed. The first challenge - to eat a fly - is innocuous enough, but as things escalate, the hapless nice guy is soon accompanying a corpse to a café and practising a bit of DIY amputation in a seedy hotel. Webber makes a sympathetic everyman and with a cast including True Blood regular Rutina Wesley and genre veterans Ron Perlman and Pruitt Taylor Vince, it's always morbidly enjoyable. Saw may have set the ball rolling when it comes to dilemma horror so Stamm's film is nothing new (and it's based on a 2006 Thai flick), but there are enough plot swerves and gruesome twists here to reward your attention.