Given its title, one might expect 2013’s Cheap Thrills to offer a look at Janis Joplin’s career with Big Brother and the Holding Company. Instead, it offers a mix of thriller and black comedy.

Craig Daniels (Pat Healy) loses his job and struggles to provide for his family. When he drowns his sorrows at a local bar, Craig runs into Vince (Ethan Embry), an old pal.

As they commiserate, they meet Colin (David Koechner) and Violet (Sara Paxton), an eccentric wealthy couple. They offer Craig and Vince money if they complete a series of increasingly risky dares, a run of tasks that challenges the men in a variety of ways.

Season 12 of The Simpsons included an episode called “Homer vs. Dignity”. In this one, Mr. Burns pays Homer to perform an increasingly degrading series of antics as his personal “prank monkey”.

The movie’s credits indicate it took its inspiration from a Roald Dahl short story called A Man from the South. However, I can’t help but suspect Simpsons influenced the filmmakers as much – if not more – especially because Thrills and “Dignity” come with more similarities.

Of course, Thrills takes a much darker and seedier turn. While Homer acted in ways that leaned toward humiliation, he didn’t go down the grotesque path seen here.

This becomes a decent concept for a movie, though I don’t know if Thrills really brings enough content for a feature, even a fairly brief one like this 87-minute effort. The tale stretches thin as it follows its predictable arc.

That really becomes the biggest drawback here, as we know where Thrills will go. I don’t mean that to connote that we can see every twist and turn along the way.

Nonetheless, I don’t think the uglier and uglier path will surprise any viewers. Matters gradually escalate until they reach a brutal climax in ways that seem fairly predictable.

The question becomes whether these antics keep us interested. For me, the answer came back “not really”, mainly because of the events really did evolve in a less than creative manner.

Maybe I just expected the Colin and Violet characters to put more thought into their dares. Not that I thought we’d get the crazed complexity of the Saw flicks, but given how much of Thrills revolves around these actions, I figured they’d feel more dynamic.

Of course, Thrills really wants to tell a tale of human nature and the lows to which people will stoop when desperate. It doesn’t really succeed in that regard, mainly because the characters seem ill-defined.

This doesn’t become a problem in terms of Colin and Violet. Though we get no backstory about them, that feels appropriate.

I can accept that like Mr. Burns, Colin and Violet exist as two people with too much money and too little morality. Bored with the usual shenanigans, they get off on the humiliation of others.

However, the lack of depth given to Craig and Vince becomes more of a problem. They receive sketchy narratives that don’t allow us to get to know them well.

I feel this turns into an issue because we fail to invest in either one. Perhaps the filmmakers did this intentionally, especially in the case of Craig, who I sense exists as a theoretical “everyman”.

Still, it leaves the viewer without much concern for what happens to either Craig or Vince. The movie’s sketchy coverage of What Went Wrong With Their Lives feels insufficient.

In the end, Thrills attempts to meld social commentary, black comedy and dark drama. It remains a watchable affair but it never digs as deeply as it should.

Cheap Thrills appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The image satisfied.

Sharpness largely worked well. A few interiors leaned a little soft, but the majority of the movie seemed accurate and well-defined.

I witnessed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and the film lacked edge haloes. Source flaws also failed to mar the proceedings.

For the most part, Thrills offered a palette that mainly opted for an orange/amber vibe, though it went with a blue sensibility as the story grew more grim. The disc replicated the tones as intended.

Blacks felt deep, and shadows fared well outside of a slightly murky shot or two. Overall, this became a very solid presentation.

Don’t expect a lot of ambition from the flick’s fairly subdued DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack, as it largely favored a sense of atmosphere. A few violent scenes delivered a bit more activity, but those didn’t pop up often.

Instead, the soundscape favored moody ambience and music. These elements filled the channels in an adequate manner, even if the track never kicked into higher gear.

Audio quality seemed good, with music that came across as full and rich. Speech sounded concise and natural, without edginess.

As noted, effects didn’t get a lot to do, but they nonetheless felt accurate. Again, the track lacked much breadth, but it worked fine for the story.

This Arrow release includes two separate audio commentaries, the first of which appeared on the movie’s initial 2014 BD release. Director EL Katz and actor Pat Healy sit together for a running, screen-specific look at story/characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, photography and editing, stunts, themes and related topics.

This turns into a fairly solid piece, albeit not one that ever becomes great. Still, Healy and Katz remain chatty and they deliver enough useful material to make the chat worth a listen.

New to the 2026 Arrow set, we get a second commentary from author/critic Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. She delivers her own running, screen-specific discussion of story/characters, themes and analysis, influences and genre domains, and her thoughts about the film.

Though not billed as such, Heller-Nicholas leans toward appreciation territory, as she tends to relate what she likes about the movie. She does dig into what she views as the film’s interpretation but I think she stabs at depth Thrills lacks. Some decent notes emerge but the track seems iffy overall.

Some video programs follow, and With Friends Like These spans 19 minutes. It involves Katz and producer Travis Stevens.

The program looks at how they came to the project and aspects of its development as well as casting and crew, budgetary restrictions, the movie's rough cut, and general thoughts. Little repeats from Katz's commentary so this becomes a revealing piece.

Money Talks goes for 36 minutes, 35 seconds. This one brings in Healy and actors Ethan Embry, David Koechner and Sara Paxton.

They tell us how they came to their parts along with aspects of their performances and characters. Expect a strong view of these topics, and it's great to get all four leads back to discuss the movie.

Via Double Down, we find a 19-minute, eight-second reel. It features writers Trent Haaga and David Chirchirillo.

We learn about the project's roots and development as well as rewrites to the script. I like that Haaga and Chirchirillo actually chat together and they provide lots of good notes.

Ketchup, Cheese and (Fake) Blood occupies 11 minutes, 47 seconds. Here we find notes from special effects makeup artist Hugo Villasenor.

He discusses what brought him to his profession as well as his gory work on the film. Villasenor delivers useful info about his endeavors.

With Vital Heat, we see a 39-minute, 47-second show. It boasts info from Katz, Haaga, Chirchirilla, Stevens, Koechner, Embry, Healy, Paxton, composer Mads Heldtberg, sound mixer Jesse Brown, gaffer Grayson Austin, boom operator John Carchietta, co-cinematographer Andrew Wheeler, and actor Amanda Fuller.

Filmed during the movie's production, we get info about its development, casting, sets and locations, stunts, effects, and general impressions. Despite some interview clips - which tend to echo what we heard elsewhere, "Heat" exists more as a production diary than anything else. It becomes fairly engaging in that regard.

Cheap Thrills at Fantastic Fest 2013 spans six minutes, nine seconds and shows Koechner, Katz and Healy at a screening where they bring up audience members to perform various dares for minor prizes. These go more disgusting than I'd expect, with maybe the nastiest our sight of a pasty nerd's butt when he agrees to a tattoo - or maybe it's when we see a chubby geek's testicles as he places them in a variety of spicy substances.

Ugh. I don't get paid enough to watch this stuff!

In addition to the film's trailer, we conclude with two Image Galleries that cover "Cheap Shots" (15) and "On-Set Production Photos" (20). The latter don't seem interesting but "Cheap" shows the photos the Paxton character took during the story so they become a fun feature.

Although its premise comes with some promise, Cheap Thrills can’t live up to those hopes. While it brings some clever moments, the whole package fails to clearly connect. The Blu-ray offers very good picture as well as decent audio and a fine set of supplements. Though watchable, Thrills doesn’t offer consistency.