Polarising films: Panic Button (2011)

I goofed somewhat, so because I don't see an button for editing I removed and am reposting the article:

For this article, here's something that's been called "Cube for the Facebook generation"

Title: Panic Button

Polarising status: Mixed critical reviews, 5.1 IMDb rating

Description: Four people win a social networking site's competition and a holiday to New York. Onboard the plane, they're allowed to participate in a competition to win other prizes.

Problem is, the host (referred to as "Alligator") knows too much. The first round issues questions, prompting the characters to lie to avoid embarressment. But then Alligator reveals the true answers.

Should any contestant try to interrupt - and given the disturbing knowledge the host has on his victims (one's apparently entertained by execution videos, another watches child pornography), that's inevitable - someone is selected from their "friends" list from the site, then killed.

See, Alligator is revealing everything these people have done, things they are embarrassed by, ashamed of, their darkest secrets etc, with attempts to avoid accepting their status as terrible people resulting in the deaths of innocents.

The killer angle might make you think it sounds like a Saw knock-off; I personally think "Panic Button" is the "Family Guy" of "Saw" imitators; which is better is debatable.

For those who think "Saw" gets unnecessary hate because of the gore, "Panic Button" is similar to "Saw" without the gore (alright, some light blood splatter). Alligator could be considered the Peter Griffin to Jigsaw's Homer Simpson too. People say Homer's smart compared to Peter. It's debatable whether Jigsaw is ultimately a bad person, whereas this Alligator guy basically forces victims to accept that they are monsters, then plans on murdering them all, while leaving recordings of the event (and thus their secrets) on the internet. Alligator isn't redeemable at all, once his motivations are revealed its quite clear.

Minor spoiler: Alligator informs the contestants programmed the plane to crash into the HQ of the same social network he pretended to represent, killing everyone inside. Certainly not redeemable.

Notes: I originally watched this thinking I was watching a future classic. I'm genuinely surprised at the hate its received from some people

I watched it at Frightfest, with hundreds of other people, and IIRC I was hearing people discussing it until the next movie started. If nothing else, this got people talking.