The age-old game of Spin the Bottle finally gets its own horror movie in a trite, overlong PG-13 horror flick aptly titled, Spin the Bottle. Right off the bat, one has to wonder how there could possibly be enough material here to justify a runtime of over two hours. What may have worked fine as a short instead feels stretched beyond recognition. Just about every ghost cliche in the book gets ticked as if checking off items on a tropes list. Spin the Bottle has potential with its familiar “cursed object” premise, but Gavin Wisen’s hollow feature ultimately succumbs to formulaic lore and predictable scares. Those hoping for more intensity or depth held within should re-spin.
The film begins in Jennings, Texas, in 1978, where we witness a group of horny teenagers as they naturally stumble upon a decrepit-looking bottle in a religious girl’s basement. They then proceed to play a game of (what else) Spin the Bottle, making out with each other in the process. The teens just happen to have chosen a cursed bottle to spin, unleashing some sort of ghostly presence in the process. Thirty years later, this night has become the stuff of legend. Cole (Tanner Stine, Nickelodeon’s The Thundermans), given strict direction from his mother (Ali Larter, Final Destination, Obsession)—a previous survivor of the massacre in the 70s—regarding staying out of the basement, somehow ends up there with an all-new group of friends. Any guesses as to what will happen next? Cole is the last hope to destroy the bottle and end the curse.
The film is full of typical horror clichés—flickering lights, characters splitting up for no reason, and random jump scares that fail to have any lasting power. Justin Long plays a jaded, non-believer cop who constantly dismisses Cole’s claims. Despite everything the friends are forced to endure, the group inevitably ends up playing spin the bottle again. The lack of learning or logic in their decisions drags the momentum, and any suspense gets undercut by formulaic writing.
While Ali Larter and Justin Long definitely provide some star power, the characters they play are largely underdeveloped, and feel recycled from their past horror roles. Larter’s Clear Rivers of Final Destination 2 ended up in a similar scenario as her mother of Spin the Bottle. Teens making dumb decisions to drive the story forward becomes an annoying constant despite flickers of a better movie. A propulsive chase scene plays out too quickly, just as the tension begins to rise. The PG-13 rating holds this back from delivering the intense horror and gore that fans might expect from a ghost/demon-themed slasher. The result feels tame, underwhelming, and overly familiar, despite a promising concept—Spin the Bottle lacks the memorable quality of far better genre movies.
Prepare for a wicked round of Spin the Bottle, coming to Video On Demand on Friday, October 4th.
Great review! Saved me the grief of watching this self-indulgent incompetently directed, and especially edited, 2-hour torture fest, with us being the film’s protracted torture victims.