Squid Game did a lot of things well, but the thing that catapulted it to the forefront of media discussion was its haunting portrayal of real-world issues. Watching desperate people risk their lives for the promise of financial gain while the wealthy and comfortable watch with glee forces the audience to reckon with the grim truth of systemic oppression and exploitation. Squid Game was, however, far from the only work to explore those themes through the medium of sick games. Would You Rather is an American example that finds many points of comparison with the South Korean hit.
The “death game” genre has been enduringly popular for the past several decades. Arguably the first example was Richard Connell’s 101-year-old short story, The Most Dangerous Game. Modern examples probably borrow more from Paul Michael Glaser’s 1987 adaptation of Stephen King’s The Running Man or Kinji Fukasaku’s 2000 take on Koushun Takami’s Battle Royale. The broad concept of humans competing in games of survival seems to extend beyond genre, tone, and medium, but it manages to maintain its connection to the central theme of the haves and the have-nots.
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What is Would You Rather about?
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Director |
David Guy Levy |
|---|---|
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Writer |
Steffen Schlachtenhaufen |
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Stars |
Brittany Snow, Jeffrey Combs, Enver Gjokaj, Charlie Hofheimer, Sasha Grey, John Heard, Eddie Steeples, June Squib, Robb Wells |
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Release Date |
February 8, 2013 |
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Streaming On |
Philo and The Roku Channel |
Would You Rather follows Iris, a young lady at the end of her rope. She’s in desperate need of funds as her brother suffers the later stages of leukemia and risks death for want of a bone marrow donor. Her doctor introduces her to Shepard Lambrick, a local billionaire who invites her to a dinner party that will end with a mysterious game. Fresh out of options, Iris accepts Shepard’s offer and turns up to his mansion to meet the other guests. In short order, Iris and her fellow desperate attendees learn that only one of them is likely to leave the dining room alive. Lambrick intends to challenge the guests to an increasingly lethal game of “would you rather,” in which each contestant must choose to grievously injure themselves or each other as they struggle to survive. It’s a stripped-down torture horror story in which the power of money allows a sociopath to force a handful of decent people through Hell for the promise of a better life. Newcomers will be surprised by how dark this story is willing to become.
What do Would You Rather and Squid Game have in common?
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Squid Game |
Would You Rather |
|---|---|
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Desperate contestants compete in a series of deadly games to win money. |
Desperate contestants compete in a series of deadly games to win money. |
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Cruel and psychotic wealthy people watch the events with delight. |
Cruel and psychotic wealthy people watch the events with delight. |
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The titular competition is a dark and twisted iteration of a familiar children’s game. |
The titular competition is a dark and twisted iteration of a familiar children’s game. |
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The plot is an unsubtle metaphor for abuse, power dynamics, and exploitation under capitalism. |
The plot is an unsubtle metaphor for abuse, power dynamics, and exploitation under capitalism. |
The comparisons between Squid Game and Would You Rather are largely a result of their being in the same general subgenre. They’re both thrillers about death games. They both use a familiar game to pit destitute people against each other for a massive cash prize. Both works stack their casts with characters who have unique yet heartbreakingly grounded reasons to put their lives on the line. Squid Game and Would You Rather sport remarkably similar premises, but the big difference is in execution. The games in Squid Game have a fair amount of production value behind them. Massive weapon systems, absurd environments, and over 400 competitors are simply beyond the scope of Would You Rather. The American film narrows its focus to a single dinner party and a single game, stripping the premise down to its bare essentials. It’s far less spectacular, but the very personal circumstances create a slightly more intimate death game.
What is Would You Rather‘s Rotten Tomatoes score?
The other big difference between Would You Rather and Squid Game is, unfortunately, quality. Squid Game is a much better piece of media by every metric. Would You Rather is a more niche entertainment experience, while Squid Game is an instant crossover hit. Still, the film has its fans. Most critics probably wouldn’t count themselves among those fans, but Would You Rather has a positive 61% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were far less kind, awarding it a 37% positive score from over 25,000 amateur opinions. It’s undeniably controversial, but the film deserves the positive attention it did get.
Would You Rather is certainly not a perfect examination of the themes that Squid Game so effectively captured, but it is a compelling alternative take. The death game genre has only become more powerful over the last decade. Squid Game will guarantee a constant supply of new desperate people struggling to survive in a world that only wants to exploit them for their entertainment. Would You Rather asks one question in its title and a lot of familiar ones in its plot.
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