Cheap Thrills

Craig, a man who has just become a father, loses his job and faces eviction. While drowning his worries in a bar, he runs into Vince, an old friend from high school, and the two meet a wealthy couple, Colin and Violet, who offer them money for carrying out a series of increasingly strange and violent dares. What starts as a game takes a darker turn as the night goes on.

Cheap Thrills is a 2013 American comedy-crime thriller directed by E.L. Katz, who makes his feature debut here. Trent Haaga and David Chirchirillo wrote the screenplay, and Gabriel Cowan, John Suits and Travis Stevens produced it. Pat Healy plays Craig, with Ethan Embry as Vince, Sara Paxton as Violet, David Koechner as Colin, Amanda Fuller as Audrey and Laura Covelli as Caryn.

The film runs 88 minutes. On IMDb, critics gave it 6.9 out of 10 from 98 reviews, while on TMDB audiences rated it 6.4 out of 10 from 465 votes, so the critical reception sits somewhat higher than the viewer response. Katz went on to direct Small Crimes in 2017 and Azrael in 2024.