00:00Welcome to the Overlook Motel, a place where underseen and unappreciated media gets its moment in the spotlight.
00:06I took a break from the expected for the previous installment of the Overlook Motel,
00:11and I shared a television series recommendation instead of a feature film.
00:15I'm radically unpredictable, I know.
00:17For this edition, I'm reining in my wild ways and championing a motion picture as I normally would.
00:23Too much deviation from the norm has the very real tendency to overwhelm.
00:27Today's pick is a Blumhouse-produced effort from the company's hot streak in the 2010s,
00:32back when the production house seemed more prone to take risks.
00:36More specifically, I'm talking about Daniel Stamm's 13 Sins.
00:40The flick is an English-language remake of the Thai horror film 13 Game of Death.
00:45Stamm's reimagining maintains the darkly comedic tone of its predecessor,
00:49filling the lead roles with a cast of characters who will surely be familiar to genre film enthusiasts.
00:55The picture follows Elliot, played by Mark Webber of Green Room.
00:58We catch up with Elliot shortly after he finds out that his fiancée,
01:01who is played by True Blood's Rutina Wesley, is with child,
01:05but shortly before he loses his job and insurance benefits.
01:08At that pivotal moment, Elliot fields a call promising a unique opportunity to participate in a game.
01:15The so-called game is a series of escalating challenges that start small and end with a devastating dilemma.
01:22Elliot gleefully accepts, only to later question what he's gotten himself into.
01:26I mentioned previously that the film features a cast of characters that genre fans will likely recognize,
01:31and I was dead serious.
01:33In addition to Webber and Wesley, the cast includes Devin Gray,
01:36who plays the teenage version of the titular character on the original incarnation of Dexter,
01:42Richard Berge of Hostel 2,
01:44Ron Perlman from Hellboy,
01:46the late Tom Bauer of Die Hard 2 fame,
01:49and George Ko from The Stepford Wives 1975.
01:52The entire cast does a fine job.
01:54Rutina Wesley is underutilized, yet she still makes for a welcome presence in the scenes she appears.
02:00Webber is the real star of the show, though.
02:02He turns in a nuanced performance that sees him transform from mouse to monster in record time.
02:08He is just as convincing as a meek, timid salesperson,
02:12as he is playing a much more emboldened version of himself that begins to emerge once the game is afoot.
02:18The other standout from the cast is the late George Ko as the disembodied voice on the other end of the line.
02:23His endless enthusiasm is at odds with the menacing nature of what he's actually saying,
02:28suggesting he's taking sadistic pleasure in ruining lives and causing various forms of malady.
02:33Ko's delivery fits well with the picture's bleak tone.
02:36The film juxtaposes moments of pitch-black comedy against various forms of malady.
02:41The humor is so dark that it almost feels inappropriate to laugh.
02:45There were a couple of times where I chuckled and then had to stop myself because I felt like a complete monster.
02:50One perfect example of that is presented in the sequence where the disembodied voice on the other end of the telephone
02:56tasks Elliot with making a child cry.
02:59This sequence would be horrifying to witness in real life.
03:01However, seeing it unfold within the confines of a fictional narrative
03:05had me desperately attempting to stifle laughter with little success.
03:09The downbeat narrative and bleak tone underscore the film's core messaging
03:12about what money, or the want for money, does to people.
03:16Greed has the very real potential to turn the well-meaning into monsters.
03:20That point is humorously and not-so-humorously illustrated throughout the duration of 13 Sins.
03:25The film playfully comments on the insular nature of wealth
03:29and explores the darkest corners of the human condition with a maniacal zest for mayhem.
03:34The picture concludes in a manner befitting to the rest of the film,
03:37which is to say it's bleak and hard to watch.
03:40If you're invested in the characters, the decidedly unsettling conclusion is likely to leave you distraught.
03:45The day now made did a number on me the first time I watched 13 Sins and,
03:49even knowing what was coming upon a repeat visit, I still came away with a heavy heart.
03:53With that said, I think the conclusion is true to form and further drives home the picture's message.
03:58As for why 13 Sins remains under-seen more than 10 years on from release,
04:02that likely has much to do with the lack of promotion from Dimension, the picture's now-defunct distributor.
04:08The flick premiered at South by Southwest, which undoubtedly generated some buzz.
04:12However, things get a little weird from there.
04:15Following South by Southwest, the flick went straight to VOD.
04:18Then a month after its VOD release, 13 Sins played in a handful of theaters.
04:23Not what I'd call a particularly effective release strategy,
04:26although that's certainly no reflection on the quality of the film.
04:29On the whole, 13 Sins is a bleak meditation on greed that delivers a relatable lead,
04:34a killer cast, a couple of devastating twists, and a hefty serving of pitch-black comedy.
04:39If you haven't yet experienced 13 Sins and would like to do so,
04:42you can find this unsettling effort streaming for free with ads on Tubi as of the publication of this post.
04:48It's also available on both DVD and Blu-ray, so if you check the flick out and dig it,
04:53I suggest picking up a copy on physical media.
04:56I know I probably sound like a broken record by now,
04:58but that's the only way to guarantee the films you enjoy will be available to watch when the mood to do so strikes.
05:04That's all for this installment of the Overlook Motel.
05:07If you'd like to chat more about underseen and underrated films,
05:10feel free to hit me up with your thoughts on Twitter threads or Instagram,
05:13at funwithhorror.
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