Eyes and Prize is a 2019 thriller about four strangers who move into a small apartment to take part in a “Big Brother”- type reality show, but soon find that all may not be what it seems.
Let’s not quibble about the value or lack of such behind the glut of vapid reality shows that have transformed and flooded the television landscape and instead consider the long-term mental whatnots entrenched in the phenomenon. Naturally, I’m not talking about the viewers but rather the participants, with many stories emerging of hardships for those playing in the twisted sandbox as it were. This is sort of where writer and director Oliver Cane sets his new, small-cast chiller Eyes and Prize, an intelligent independent film that takes steady aim at its target, combining social commentary and psychological horror to great effect.
Entering a modest-sized single floor home, Ron (Gerard Mcdermott), a middle-aged salesman, gleefully explores the space, eager to get started at something we already make assumptions about. A moment later, three others eventually make their way in, including – in order – Marcus (Jackson Bews), a young whisper-thin fellow with tattoos and a skeptical eye, Abbi (Alanna Flynn), an energetic blonde woman supremely thrilled to be part of the thing, and lastly James (Nick Blakeley), who says he’s been told to lock the door and read the directions provided in an envelope. Seems they are part of a ‘reality show’ where all corners are stocked with cameras and inside the place a variety of ‘prizes’ await. However, that’s far from the case as all things quickly spiral into a deeply disturbing hell and the prize is simple staying alive.
You get the sense right from the start that there’s nothing conventional about the ‘show’ these people are about to star in, each of them telling their stories about the package they received and instructions to follow, Cane immediately planting the seed for his tiny treatise on the shallowness of these kinds of programming and the kind of people who so quickly abandon sensibility for the chance at hollow fame. It’s not long into the film when one of the four splinters off from the rest and reveals their larger role – and the first clue this is not what it appears – resetting expectations and dynamically shifting the narrative.
Where Cane really succeeds is creating a truly palpable sense of claustrophobia and pliable tension as the three remaining others sit in the one room and try to work out what is happening, some believing it’s all part of the show and some not so sure. We know something is off while they think they are simply being tested, though it becomes clear it’s much more. It’s genuinely compelling to watch the three diverse personalities interpret what is truly enveloping them and how each reacts to their real fates.
Crane is patient, taking his time in breeding fear among the three as they chatter away about themselves at the start, wiling away the hours – and then, well time becomes abstract – as they slowly come to realize the worst. Meanwhile, we are offered plenty of clues along the way as the truth outside the walls continually unveil the secret. Crane manages to make what happens here very convincing as a sort of Lord of the Flies mentality overcome the trio stuck in a closing nightmare.
With a production that has the look and feel of a televised reality show – lacking any score – Eyes and Prize is a pitch-black skewering of the genre with a tight crackling run at dialogue and a host of solid performances that might not change anyone’s mind about these kinds of shows but nonetheless makes for a gripping trip through utter madness with a challenging end. Highly recommended.