GATLOPP

Paul (Jim Mahoney) is getting through a divorce, after Alice (Shelley Hennig), his wife decided to move out to live with Andre (John Ales), a socialite who is way richer than Paul. Reluctantly, Paul decides to sell his house, hopefully within the next few days to get the money.

Cliff (Jon Bass) is an old friend of Paul, he lets Paul stay in his home. When Cliff go pick a futon he ordered from Rey (Casey Mills) for his buddy, Rey also gives him a credenza which a board game called “GATLOPP” is later found inside.

Cliff also tries to cheer Paul up by secretly inviting two old friends, Sam (Emmy Raver-Lampman) and Troy (Sarunas J. Jackson) over. Four of them are reunited for the first time in almost a decade, makes Cliff happy and excited. Cliff asks them to play a weird board game he found inside the credenza he brought home, but sadly, none of his friends is interested.

When Sam and Troy are about to leave for their appointments, Sam receives a message saying the meeting is canceled. Paul gets a call from Alice telling him to pick up the divorce papers at Andre’s house and the couple that went to see Paul’s house rescinded their offer which means he will not get the money for at least a few months until the house is sold.

Cliff, Sam, and Troy eavesdrop and hear everything, so they all decide to hang out for a while for Paul. Sam suggests a drinking board game. The rule of the game is simple, the player rolls the die and move the piece to the space accordingly. Then the player has to pull a card from the shoe, the first card gives a task. After the task is completed, the player pulls out the second card from the shoe to receive either punishment or reward.

Before Sam can finish reading all the rules, Cliff gets excited and wants to play the game immediately so he snatches the box from Sam’s hand. He tells everyone that they can learn and play, they all start drinking and rolling the die.

As the time goes by, the questions from the cards get creepier and more personal. They soon realize that GATLOPP is no ordinary board game, it knows everything about them including their darkest secrets. And the penalty for lying can be shockingly devastating. They also find out later from the rules on the box that if none of them is able to finish to game before the sunrise, they all will be forced to play this game for eternity. But if they cannot be honest with themselves, they probably will not survive.

GATLOPP is entertaining to watch. Although the concept of magical board game is not entirely new, it reminds me of JUMANJI (1995) and ZATHURA (2005). However, GATLOPP successfully stands on its own with a good script and believable performances. And the creativity in story-telling by Alberto Belli in his directorial debut, makes me almost forget that majority of the film takes place in one location with only a few flashback scenes taken outside of the house.

With a larger budget, there is a potential to be a greater film, and perhaps a sequel. I love the chemistry between characters in this group of friends, and how the story unfolds their past mistakes and regrets which somehow mysteriously bind them together.

GATLOPP was released in USA as Video On Denand on June 27, 2022. The name of the game, GATLOPP is a Swedish word which literally means gauntlet in English. “To run the gauntlet” means to go through an unpleasant experience in which people criticize or attack you.