Cruciatu: Life is a Game

The stakes are high in this twisted nail-biting masterpiece by Noel José Padilla Albor Paganotti called Cruciatu: Life is a Game. This psychotic thriller movie is packed with suspense that made me want to hide my face under a pillow, but I can’t because I am too engrossed in what is going to happen next. The last time I have seen a movie as intensely gripping as this movie was during the first-ever Saw movie, and I believe I just witnessed the birth of a franchise that will put the Saw legacy up on to the shelves for good.

Are fond of playing Blackjack? An easy and fun game using a deck of cards, where wit and numbers are in play, and all the players got to do is tally their deck to a total of 21 to win. Indeed, a simple and harmless game of cards. However, the movie’s creator Noel José Padilla Albor Paganotti spiced up the game in this film. There is no huge amount of money involved but a little more about the value of life. In a game of all or nothing, how much are you willing to gamble? When life and death are at stake, will you settle for safe numbers or are you willing to take another hit to get that 21 to win the game? If you are going to ask me, I won’t even dare to play the game, and if you are wondering why, well I am about to introduce to you the real game of life and death in Cruciatu: Life is a Game.

Imagine waking up with both your legs tied up in a chair and both your arms locked on the table in steel cuffs, puzzled on your whereabouts or what have you done wrong. Crazy huh? well, it gets even crazier the moment you realize that the only person you’re with is a psychopath who is against in everything that you believe in life and is ready to swipe at you any moment. But our serial killer here is unlike any other killers I know from the big screen. He likes his viewers entertained as well as his guest. You see, the film was shot in a small room with visible cameras where our serial killer was like shooting a reality game show, a very sick one that will make the Saw franchise a real bore.

I like the intrigue injected in this film. It made me immediately wonder who is the real antagonist in this movie. Though it is evident who is the serial killer between the two leads, it still made me question what caused the serial killer to select his victim. And with the way they tackle perceptions about life, I am sensing that there is something more beyond their small talks. Aside from the movie’s plot, I’d also like to commend the extreme crazy that Adriano Klingell gave to his serial killer character. He brought to life a character that many will fear and imagine while they are walking down a dark alley or playing blackjack in an underground organization.

I bet that this is the next big thing in the suspense psycho-thriller genre. It is bold, twisted, and not the typical psychos that we have on the screen nowadays. Cruciatu: Life is a Game is worth the gamble, definitely the start of the new psycho-legacy that many people like me will go crazy watching.