Unrated, Pitch Black Comedy Uses Saw Logic To Win An SUV

By Robert Scucci
| Published 13 seconds ago

In the Saw movies, a very simple formula is followed: a group of people wake up in captivity and have to complete a series of sadistic games in order to be let out alive. Of course, I’m grossly oversimplifying the premise, but that’s all I really need to know so I can compare the horror franchise to the 2021 Canadian comedy, Stanleyville.

There is one important distinction that completely separates Stanleyville from the Saw movies, however: everybody participates in the games voluntarily, and they’re doing it to win an SUV. We get five people, all of whom want to win a new SUV, showing up to play a series of bizarre games that make no sense at first, but become downright horrifying once more context is established.

It’s worth noting that Stanleyville is not a horror movie. It’s a straight-up comedy, one that thrives on each character’s quirks and idiosyncrasies. Every single person here, sans our protagonist, is absolutely insufferable, and if I’m being honest, it’s hard to like our main character too. But you eventually warm up to her. Kind of.

Jigsaw Is A Much More Intimidating Name Than Homunculus

When we’re first introduced to Maria Barbizan (Suzanne Wuest), it’s hard to size her up. A hawk flies into her office building’s window and dies in front of her, prompting her to leave work, abandon her family, throw out her money and cell phone, and take a trip to the airport with no real plan in mind. She’s approached by a man calling himself Homunculus (Julian Richings), who offers her a spot in his competition, giving her the date and time she needs to show up.

Upon arrival, Maria is acquainted with arrogant trust-fund baby Andrew Frisbee Jr. (Christian Serritiello), exercise and supplement addict Bofill Pancreas (George Tchortov), flamboyant eccentric Manny Jumpcannon (Adam Brown), and Felicie Arkady (Cara Ricketts), who is so in it to win it that you don’t want to get on her bad side. Or her good side, for that matter. Just stay away from Felicie. That’s my advice.

Each round of the “competition” escalates from blowing up balloons or creating a fully functional telecommunications device in less than 14 hours to writing a national anthem for the entire world or cutting off somebody’s earlobe.

Maria, who’s not really interested in the first-place prize but instead searching for a deeper purpose in her life, successfully creates a communications device using a conch shell, from which a disembodied voice tells her how to proceed. As the competition moves forward, however, some of the advice comes across as equal parts hostile and cryptic.

Set ‘Em Up, Knock ‘Em Down

As much as I wanted to love Stanleyville for its characterization and oppressively sparse setting, I still felt like something was missing. The ending is ambiguous, leaving the whole thing open to interpretation, but even those interpretations leave a lot to be desired. Consumerism is wrecking us. You can’t self-actualize if you’re trapped in the rat race. Blah, blah, blah. These are all great messages to consider, but I felt robbed of a meaningful payoff because it just… kind of ends.

I truly enjoyed spending time with every single character because they’re all so unhinged in their own charming way, but part of me wishes we had more time to explore their relationships with each other throughout the competition. For what it’s worth, every character brings their A-game, and you don’t necessarily need a satisfying payoff to enjoy spending time with them under the oddest circumstances.

As of this writing, Stanleyville is streaming for free on Tubi.