Wow, this was a fun ride.
I’m actually shocked I’d never heard of 13 Sins before coming across it on Netflix. A short, powerful synopsis always pulls me in with books, and it’s no different with movies. The plot descriptions given on IMDB and Amazon are your generic run through, but on Netflix it says: “For $1000, this likable loser will hurt a fly. What will he do for a million? One task down, 12 more to go…”
Man, I love that!
And the film doesn’t disappoint. Right from the opening scene, it’s an intense thriller. Mark Webber plays Elliot Brindle, a guy who basically has everything going wrong at the same time–he loses his job, he is getting married in the near future to his pregnant girlfriend, while also having to provide for his mentally challenged brother and his elderly father who is being booted from a nursing facility. Needless to say, when, seemingly out of nowhere, he gets a phone call instructing him to kill a fly for $1000, he doesn’t hesitate. In fact, we as the audience get the impression he killed the fly more out of annoyance than in the belief he would get paid for it. But then the money actually hits his bank account.
It doesn’t take long for his “tasks” to escalate in sinfulness.
13 Sins is at times funny, at times tragic, at times gory, and suspenseful all the way through. Not to mention, the film has an impressive secondary cast, with the likes of Tom Bower, Ron Perlman, and Pruitt Taylor Vince. My only real criticism is that I was able to quite easily predict the twist at the end–the big reveal. This predictability contributes to an ending that isn’t very satisfying. But it’s definitely worth the watch.
Find it on Netflix and Amazon.