The Verdict
You took a teenage party game, the one where someone is secretly the killer, and you let real bodies start dropping during a hurricane while a clique of insufferable rich kids turn on each other. That premise is a loaded gun, and you know exactly where you are aiming it: not at a masked slasher, but at clout culture, performative therapy-speak, and the way these people weaponize words like gaslight before they ever pick up a knife. The satire has teeth.
Your real special effect is the ensemble. Rachel Sennott in particular walks off with the whole sinking house, and the comedic timing across the cast is sharp enough that the deaths almost feel like punchlines. A24 spent modestly and you returned about fourteen million, which for a Gen-Z slasher satire built entirely on vibes and venom is a respectable haul. The skewering of a self-obsessed generation is the engine, and it hums.
But here is where you stumble. A whodunit has to actually whodunit, and yours is thin. Critics enjoyed the wit and so did I, yet the mystery underneath the jokes feels like an afterthought, a delivery system for the comedy rather than a puzzle that earns its ending. When the lights come up you remember the burns, not the reveal. You built a brilliant satire wearing a slasher costume, and the costume is a little flimsy. The bright side: the satire is so good you almost do not notice the seams.
What it nails
- ▲A razor-sharp comedic ensemble, with Rachel Sennott as the standout, carrying the entire film.
- ▲Skewering clout culture, performative wokeness and Gen-Z self-obsession with real bite.
- ▲Repurposing a familiar party game into a tense, claustrophobic hurricane-set slasher hook.
- ▲A lean A24 budget that turned roughly fourteen million in returns into a cultural moment.
What it botches
- ▼The underlying whodunit mystery is thin and feels secondary to the jokes.
- ▼Characters are written to be insufferable on purpose, which can wear on viewers seeking anyone to root for.
- ▼The satire is so dominant that the horror tension often takes a back seat.
- ▼The ending lands as a punchline more than a payoff to a real mystery.
Who it's for
You will love this if you want a vicious, very-online comedy that uses a slasher as an excuse to roast an entire generation, with an ensemble firing on all cylinders.
Who should skip
Skip it if you need a tightly plotted murder mystery, want characters to actually like, or have no patience for ironic group-chat humor.
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