🩸 Would You Rather Review: A Twisted Dinner Game Where Every Choice Hurts
My Rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 4.6/5
Everybody knows the game. Would you rather do this, or that? Usually the questions are silly, embarrassing, or funny. This Would You Rather review looks at a 2012 horror thriller that takes that harmless party game and turns it into something truly nasty. A wealthy host, a room full of desperate strangers, and a pile of money add up to one very bad dinner party. If you have never seen it, you are in for a nasty little treat.
Would You Rather Review: A Party Game Turned Nightmare
In Would You Rather, millionaire Shepard Lambrick invites a group of strangers to dinner and offers them something they desperately need: money.
There is just one problem.
Before the evening is over, they are going to have to earn it.
The film was directed by David Guy Levy and written by Steffen Schlachtenhaufen. According to Levy, the idea started with a simple text message from the writer. What if they made a movie about Would You Rather, but in their version, you actually had to do what you chose?
That question became a lean, mean thriller that runs about 93 minutes. It played the Screamfest horror festival in Los Angeles in 2012, and IFC Midnight released it in early 2013.
This Would You Rather review stays spoiler free. The fun of the film comes from not knowing who will survive the evening or what the next choice will be.
Brittany Snow Has a Very Good Reason for Being There
Brittany Snow plays Iris, a young woman struggling to care for her seriously ill younger brother. Money is tight, the medical bills are piling up, and she is running out of options fast.
Then she is introduced to wealthy philanthropist Shepard Lambrick.
Lambrick offers Iris an opportunity to take part in a dinner party. The winner will receive enough money to solve some very serious problems, including her brother's care.
For someone running out of options, it is difficult to say no.
Snow is a strong choice for the lead. Levy said Iris was the first role the filmmakers focused on, and they wanted someone likable who could also be tough when it counted. Snow fits that perfectly. Horror fans may remember her from the 2008 remake of Prom Night, while many others know her from the Pitch Perfect films.
Iris soon discovers she should have asked considerably more questions about dinner.
Jeffrey Combs Was Born to Host This Party
Jeffrey Combs plays Shepard Lambrick, and he is one of the biggest reasons Would You Rather works.
Horror fans already know Combs from Re-Animator, From Beyond, and a long list of genre movies and television appearances. Science fiction fans know him too, especially as the sly Weyoun on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
Here he does not need monsters, mutations, or mad science.
Give him a suit, a dinner table, a room full of desperate people, and an absolutely terrible idea.
That is enough.
Combs plays Lambrick with smooth, aristocratic charm. He smiles, speaks softly, and treats his guests with polite courtesy. That makes everything he does far more chilling.
Welcome to Dinner
Iris is not Lambrick's only guest.
Around the table are several people who have arrived for essentially the same reason.
They need help.
Each has something to gain if they win. Some are dealing with debts. Some are dealing with illness. Some are simply out of luck.
At first, the elegant dining room and wealthy host make the evening seem strange but respectable. The table is set beautifully. The staff is attentive. Lambrick is gracious.
That illusion does not last long.
The First Game Should Have Been a Warning
Before the real competition begins, Lambrick demonstrates exactly how easily money can make people reconsider their principles.
It is one of the movie's smartest moments because nobody has been locked in the room yet.
Nobody is being forced.
Lambrick simply discovers what something is worth to someone and names his price. A guest's values suddenly have a dollar figure attached to them.
It is a quiet scene, but it says a lot. Lambrick is not just a sadist. He is a collector of weaknesses.
Then things get considerably worse.
Would You Rather?
Eventually Lambrick explains the real entertainment for the evening.
Each guest receives a choice.
Do one terrible thing, or another terrible thing.
Choose.
There is no comfortable third option.
The rounds escalate steadily. Early choices seem painful but survivable. Later ones become far more extreme. Levy has said the filmmakers spent about a week brainstorming the options. He also said the very first round, involving electric shocks, was the toughest to film, because every actor had a different idea of what a shock would feel like.
And every round makes the previous choice look a little easier.
The Movie Has a Surprisingly Interesting Cast
Brittany Snow and Jeffrey Combs are not alone.
The dinner guests include Sasha Grey, John Heard, Enver Gjokaj, Charlie Hofheimer, June Squibb, Eddie Steeples, Lawrence Gilliard Jr. and Robb Wells.
That mix gives the table personality. John Heard was the dad from Home Alone. Enver Gjokaj starred in Dollhouse. Eddie Steeples was Crabman on My Name Is Earl. Lawrence Gilliard Jr. appeared on The Wire and The Walking Dead. Robb Wells is best known as Ricky from Trailer Park Boys.
Robin Lord Taylor also appears as Julian, Lambrick's son. A few years later, Taylor became famous as the Penguin on the TV series Gotham. Logan Miller plays Iris's brother.
These are not anonymous victims waiting for their number to come up.
Different characters react to Lambrick's game in very different ways, and watching those personalities collide becomes a major part of the movie.
Yes, That’s June Squibb
One particularly fun bit of casting is June Squibb as Linda, one of the dinner guests.
Squibb would receive an Academy Award nomination for Alexander Payne's Nebraska shortly afterward. She went on to enjoy a remarkable late career, including the lead role in the 2024 action comedy Thelma.
Seeing her sitting at this dinner table is one of those casting surprises that makes discovering an older horror movie more fun.
She brings a grounded, human quality to her character. That makes her scenes even harder to watch when the game turns cruel.
Sasha Grey Is More Than Stunt Casting
Sasha Grey plays Amy, one of the dinner guests.
Grey had already moved from adult films into mainstream acting by this point, including a lead role in Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience. It would have been easy for the movie to treat her appearance as nothing more than attention grabbing casting.
Instead, Amy quickly establishes a personality of her own and holds her ground among the other guests.
When survival becomes the objective, being seated beside the wrong person suddenly matters.
Shepard Lambrick Is Scary Because He Thinks This Is Entertainment
Lambrick is not running around screaming or waving a weapon.
Most of the time, he is sitting comfortably at the head of his dinner table.
He is wealthy.
He is polite.
He explains the rules.
And he watches.
Jeffrey Combs makes Lambrick frightening because the man seems genuinely entertained by discovering exactly what desperate people will do when given an impossible choice. To him, this is a pleasant evening's amusement. That casual cruelty is far more disturbing than open rage.
Bevans Makes Sure Everyone Follows the Rules
Every good host needs help.
Lambrick has Bevans.
Jonny Coyne plays the quiet enforcer who makes certain the dinner guests understand that participation is no longer optional.
Bevans rarely needs to say much. His presence is enough. He stands at the edge of the room like a butler, but everyone knows he is not there just to pour wine.
Lambrick may control the game.
Bevans makes sure nobody decides to change the rules.
How Much Would It Take to Make You Do Something Terrible?
Underneath the violence is the question that makes Would You Rather interesting.
Everyone has a price.
Or do they?
The movie repeatedly asks where desperation ends and morality begins. Each guest has a reason to keep playing. Each guest has someone or something at stake.
It is easy to say you would never do something horrible when nothing important is at risk.
Lambrick's game removes that comfort. It forces the characters, and the audience, to think about what they would actually do with a loved one's life on the line.
The Dining Room Does Most of the Work
Would You Rather does not need dozens of locations.
Much of the movie revolves around one table in one room.
That confinement helps.
Once the game begins, the dining room feels smaller with every round. The fine china and candlelight start to look absurd next to the horror unfolding around them.
The audience is essentially another guest at the table, waiting to discover what Lambrick has planned next.
The Violence Is Nasty Without Becoming a Gore Contest
There are painful moments in Would You Rather, but this is not simply a movie trying to cover the walls with blood.
The anticipation frequently does more work than the actual violence.
You know somebody is about to make a choice.
You know neither option is going to be pleasant.
Then the movie makes you wait.
Sometimes imagining what is coming is worse than seeing it. The film understands that, and it uses the waiting to squeeze every drop of tension out of each round.
Would You Rather Understands the Power of a Simple Premise
One reason the movie works is that you can explain it in about ten seconds.
Desperate strangers attend a wealthy man's dinner party and compete in a deadly game of Would You Rather for a life changing amount of money.
That is it.
No complicated mythology required.
The filmmakers take that simple idea and keep asking how much worse the next choice can become. It is a premise that grabs you instantly, the same way films like Saw or Cube hooked audiences with a single clever concept.
Don’t Look Up What Happens
This is one movie where reading too much beforehand is a mistake.
Do not search for who wins.
Do not read detailed character descriptions.
And definitely do not look for an explanation of how the night ends.
The fun is sitting at Lambrick's table without knowing what is coming next. The director has said he hoped viewers would argue afterward about what they would have done. That conversation is much better if you go in blind.
This review is not going to ruin that for you.
Why Would You Rather Is Worth Rediscovering
Would You Rather has recognizable actors, an immediately understandable premise, a memorable villain, and the kind of setup that makes you wonder what you would do in the same situation.
Yet it never became one of the enormous horror titles of its era. It arrived mostly through video on demand and a limited theatrical release, which kept it under many viewers' radar.
That makes it exactly the sort of movie that is fun to stumble across years later.
You recognize Brittany Snow.
You recognize Jeffrey Combs.
Then you start recognizing people around the table.
And before long you are wondering how you missed this thing.
Does Would You Rather Still Work Today?
Yes.
The movie does not depend heavily on technology, special effects, or trends from 2012.
A wealthy man offering desperate people money to compromise themselves is not exactly an idea that has become difficult to understand. If anything, the theme of the rich toying with the struggling feels even sharper today.
The strongest element remains Jeffrey Combs.
He gives the movie the host it needs: charming enough to get people through the door and disturbing enough to make you wish they had never walked through it.
Who Should Watch Would You Rather?
Would You Rather is an easy recommendation for fans of psychological horror, survival thrillers, and deadly game movies. It also suits fans of confined location films, Jeffrey Combs, and horror built around impossible decisions.
If you like movies that make you ask "What would I do?", this one gives you plenty of opportunities.
Be aware that some scenes are painful and cruel. Squeamish viewers may want to brace themselves for a few rough rounds.
You just may not like any of your answers.
Final Thoughts 4.6/5
This one earns a 4.6 out of 5 from Kilroy. Wrapping up this Would You Rather review, the film is a sharp, cruel, and surprisingly smart little thriller.
Would You Rather takes one of the simplest party games imaginable and asks a wonderfully nasty question:
What happens when refusing to play is not one of the choices?
Brittany Snow gives the movie someone worth caring about. The collection of familiar faces around the table keeps things interesting. Jeffrey Combs looks entirely too comfortable presiding over the whole miserable evening.
It does not need a masked killer.
It does not need a haunted house.
It does not need a monster.
It just needs a dinner table, a stack of money, and people desperate enough to sit down.
If Shepard Lambrick ever invites you to dinner, tell him you already ate.
