Headgame
We begin by getting introduced to bunch of 'players', Suicide Squad style, who meet at a very unnecessarily long opening scene at a club. They awake in a building with cameras embedded into their heads which allows the people behind the scenes to see what the person is seeing. It also contains the ability to kill them at will. They're pitted against each other to find the 'key' and open the 'special door', but only one person is allowed to survive and subsequently exit or win the 'game'.
I already know your thoughts and there's a little quip to Hunger Games early in the movie, though if you haven't seen Battle Royale please educate yourself immediately. I appreciate The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner series, but my kingdom for something original. As The Narrator in Fight Club states: Everything is a copy of a copy of a copy.
Aren't we getting tired of this genre? With this film, there's definitely other nods to mention: Cube Trilogy, Saw Saga, Cabin in the Woods and even a sprinkle of The Purge.
Obviously the situation makes tensions run high as the group discusses their options. The group divides down the middle and the killing begins.
Like Cabin in the Woods, the overseers bet on the winning player, hand-picked by them for their various traits. There's not much else I can say about it so:
SPOILERS AHEAD
The group overseeing the 'game' are a twisted group of individuals who have all previously won the 'game'. Still, they're loyalties toward each other are nill. The main protagonist of the group, chose the girl seen as 'the prodigy' player in the current game, though some of the other overseers see her as a threat.
The girl wins, is initiated into their 'club', taught how the game is created and the drugs made used to gain new players.
She uses her new knowledge to drug the overseers, implant the cameras, but sets them all to detonate, they all die, she wins.
Please can we move on from this genre? Battle Royale, Hunger Games and Maze Runner have done it all well enough. I know everything has been done before but dig deep for that extra inspiration and that extra element will make your work stand apart from the rest.