This Underrated Horror Comedy Perfected the Art of the Board Game Movie

Jul 31, 2023

"Here's to those who wish us well, and all the rest can go to hell!"

Editor's Note: The following contains spoilers for Gatlopp: Hell of a Game.

Considering how popular board games are, it’s somewhat surprising that Hollywood doesn’t have more than a handful of movies based on them. A few classic board games got a cinematic adaptation to different degrees of success, such as Clue, Battleship, and Werewolf Within. There are also brilliant films that subvert the idea of a party game to deliver something completely unexpected, such as Ready or Not, Game Night, and Bodies Bodies Bodies. Still, Hollywood doesn't have many great ideas regarding the actual thrills and troubles of sitting with friends around a table to play a board game. Furthermore, Jumanji, the OG board game movie, has turned to video games for the franchise’s latest installments. With that in mind, the fact that Gatlopp: Hell of a Game remains underseen is almost a crime. That’s because this underrated horror comedy perfectly captures the board game experience.

Gatlopp: Hell of a Game was quietly released in 2022 as a dark and adult spin on the Jumanji formula. As expected, the story follows a group of friends that decide to play a board game, only to find out it is cursed. What follows is a night of unexpected events, as the game traps the friends inside a house and threatens to take them to hell if no one wins the game until sunrise. Of course, the game seems hellbent on keeping the friends’ souls, so the question-based mechanics will force them to confront past traumas and come clean about dark secrets that strain their relationship.

With a synopsis as delicious as this, it’s hard to imagine why Gatlopp: Hell of a Game has remained under people’s radar. The mystery only increases when we look at the cast and crew involved with the project. Gatlopp is written by Jim Mahoney, one of the writers behind Netflix’s highly-imaginative Christmas animated movie Klaus. While Gatlopp and Klaus have distinct audiences, both showcase Mahoney’s ability as a comedy writer. Plus, since Klaus was one of Netflix’s biggest hits in 2019, it’s a shame more people didn’t keep tabs on Mahoney’s work as a writer.

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Besides signing Gatlopp’s script, Mahoney also stars as Paul, whose recent divorce leads the whole band to get back together after years. The foursome of protagonists also counts Jon Bass as the joke-cracker Cliff, Sarunas J. Jackson as the actor-wannabe Dominic, and Emmy Raver-Lampman as successful producer Sam. Bass has recently shown up as the main villain of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, a series that highlights his talents for taking goofy and comedic roles. In his turn, Jackson had recurring roles in TV shows such as Made for Love and Insecure. As for Raver-Lampman, she’s one of the members of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy. There’s no questioning all the talent in Gatlopp, which should be enough to get the release more attention than it did. Even so, what makes the movie an underrated gem is how everyone does their best to capture the board game experience despite budget constraints.

While the core concept of Gatlopp could lead to wild scenes filled with special effects, the movie struggles with a low budget. So, instead of focusing on the supernatural aspects of the titular board game, Mahoney’s script keeps the story centered on the four friends and their complicated history together. That creative choice also allows Gatlopp to capture the magic of playing board games with your friends better than any other movie.

In the movie, the four friends play a game of Gatlopp to have some quick fun and leave as fast as they can to tend to their own business. Soon, even before the board game reveals its nasty intentions, everyone is laughing at the absurd questions and wacky challenges proposed at each card someone picks from the pile. It also helps that Gatlopp is a drinking game, which allows players to lose up and get hooked by the game. Of course, once things start to get serious, the board game also leads to bickering and heated arguments as the friends pin the blame for their issues on each other.

What makes a night of playing board games so unique is how the event serves as an excuse to get together with loved ones and let time slip by. Board games can also be a source of conflict, as even best friends sometimes argue about rules and the lack of commitment that some people can show. In short, a board game is a social activity that goes beyond dices and meeples, either bringing people closer together or underlining the differences that pull them apart. That’s exactly the energy of Gatlopp: Hell of a Game, in which its four main stars perfectly incarnate the mix of unconditional love and deep resentment that is part of so many friendships. These relationships are also essential to increasing the stakes of Gatlopp, as it doesn’t take long for us to care about the fate of these characters, each as flawed and human as the other.

Director Alberto Belli also deserves some credit for making Gatlopp so enjoyable. The movie is shot almost entirely in a single location, and Belli’s dynamic camera control makes the most of the confined space. In fact, the limitations of the house frequently become a critical plot point as the movie tries to squeeze every ounce of creativity from the limited resources it can count on. Finally, Gatlopp also never overstays its welcome, with a tight 80-minute runtime that’s precisely what it needs to tell its self-contained story.

Of course, Gatlopp is not perfect, and the audiences can sometimes feel how the lack of money stops the movie from getting as bonkers as it would like. That only makes the shy release of Gatlopp: Hell of a Game more lamentable, as the same creative team could have used a bigger budget to explore the movie’s franchise potential. Still, there’s still time to turn Gatlopp: Hell of a Game into a cult classic, even more since it reflects so well the experience of playing board games with friends.

Gatlopp: Hell of a Game is currently streaming on Tubi.

Marco Vito Oddo is a writer, journalist, and amateur game designer. Passionate about superhero comic books, horror films, and indie games, he works as a Senior Writer and Film Critic for Collider.