Movie Review – The Odds, 2018

I got a chance to check out a new independent horror film this weekend called The Odds. It’s a 2018 film, feature-length, made by Uproar Pictures, written and directed by Bob Giordano.

The story revolves around two main characters, a woman and a man whose names we never learn. It is basically a two-person film (for the most part), and takes place almost entirely in one location. I’ve seen some terrific films of this sort in the past – “man in a box” type stories that are true character-driven stories.  Buried, from 2010 comes to mind (starring Ryan Reynolds), which takes place entirely in a coffin buried underground. For this type story to work you need two main things; a solid script, and great actors. The Odds has both.

The story opens with a young woman (Abbi Butler) entering a warehouse type facility. A man (James J. Fuertes) enters the room and sits at a table opposite her. We learn that she has entered a game, and the man is the facilitator of the game. She is competing against unseen players in distant locations, the winner to receive one million dollars. To win, she must have a high threshold for pain, as she is subjected to a different torture technique each round. The facilitator is in communication with the game leaders through a Bluetooth earpiece. Once three players drop out each round is over. We learn that the final round involves a game of Russian roulette, and once you reach that round there is no backing out. This ultimately leads her to question herself, her motivations, the man across from her, and even the game itself.

The film brought to mind for me a short story by Roald Dahl called Man from the South, which has been adapted several times, initially for TV as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (starring Peter Lorre), where a man bets his car against another man’s little finger that his lighter will work ten times in a row. Most recently Quentin Tarantino did a version of this same story for the 1995 film Four Rooms.

The bulk of the story of THE ODDS involves the back and forth dialogue between the two main actors. It would be easy to become bored with a 107-minute movie featuring just two characters, but that isn’t the case here. The script is well-written and builds tension throughout, engaging the viewer and drawing them in with excellent performances from the two leads.

The violence may be tough to watch in places for some people, but I thought the film did an excellent job presenting it without wallowing in it, walking that fine line without crossing into torture-porn territory. I found it an entertaining film, and worth tracking down. I understand a sequel in in the works, as well.

The Odds is currently making the festival circuit and will be screening at this year’s Nashville Film Festival on Friday May 11^th, 9pm, and Thursday May 17 at 8:30pm.

Jim Ridley Honored at this Year's Nashville Film Festival

Sam Adams at INDIEWIRE.com posted the news yesterday that the Nashville Film Festival will hold an empty seat in every theater "from now on." Sounds like they mean not only this year but every year going forward, from that statement, which is a remarkable tribute to an equally remarkable man.

Jim's passing continues to stun and sadden me. Jim was always such a great friend and ally to all of us here, a true champion for all of Dr. Gangrene's creative ventures. He was so excited back when I first started my TV show, I remember him telling me how great it was that Nashville had a horror host again. He made mention of my events time and again in those early days of cable access zaniness.



 

I remember a couple years back I ran into him in Nashville one day shortly after I'd started my Fantastic Films of Vincent Price series. He was so excited to hear about it and told me one of his favorite Price films was HIS KIND OF WOMAN, starring Robert Mitchum, Jane Russell, and of course Vincent Price. It is a great film; zany, unusual, quirky and energetic - much like Jim himself. Makes total sense he'd love that one!

As editor, Jim was naturally the one who gave the go-ahead for a Dr. Gangrene cover on the Nashville Scene. I remember he had me come in for a photo shoot to accompany the article (written by Randy Fox), but instructed friends at the Scene (like Randy) to keep the fact I was going to be on the cover quiet, so it would be a surprise for me. And quite the pleasant surprise it was!! Time and time again he would write reviews or mentions of events we were hosting over the years, from live shows to movies, events and more -  and he'd even work humorous mentions of Dr. Gangrene into other folks' events, such as the following from Jan 22nd 2016, during a blurb for a Creeping Cruds show:

The Independents w/The Creeping Cruds & The Lonesome Town Drifters 

When: Fri., Jan. 22, 9 p.m. 2016
Price: $12

To non-fans, “horror ska” is redundant, but South Carolina’s The Independents are still skankin’ to wake the dead after almost a quarter-century of shock rock. Managed for a few years by the late Joey Ramone, an ardent admirer, founders Evil Presly and Willy B. have moved farther from the band’s early ska elements toward a punk sound that’s not as garage-y as, say, The Cramps, but still laden with references to black angels, corpses in the rain, and even the much-missed Rudy Ray Moore. Joining them are Nashville’s own psychotronic rockers The Creeping Cruds. If you plan your evenings around the chance of spotting horror host Dr. Gangrene, here’s a pretty safe bet. JIM RIDLEY

Too funny! That one I stumbled across totally out of the blue. But that's how Jim worked, making kind gestures like that without a second thought or expecting anything in return. He got a kick out of it, and I would have thanked him next time I saw him - to which he would naturally have shrugged it off as if it were nothing.

At last year's 12 HOURS OF TERROR festival Jim handed out stacks of paperbacks to the crowd for free.  He gave me one called THE SCREAM by John Skipp and Craig Spectre, which is a heavy metal horror (a favorive sub-sub genre of mine) novel. Jim raved about how much he loved Skipp and Spectre's writing. The book is fantastic, I need to do a proper review of it.

I'll leave you today with this shot of Jim from last year's 12 HOURS OF TERROR fest, where he  introduced THE EVIL SPAWN. Thank you again for your friendship and everything you did for us over the years, Jim. You rock, my friend.