So, so surprised. Not what I was expecting, and not disappointed either. Once you're let in on the gist of the story, it's a wild, fun ride.

Stan Jeter (Beau Mirchoff) recently got promoted to detective. He is the rookie at poker night, where all the detectives sit around and tell stories. The rookie is to learn from those stories and the experience of seasoned veterans. Poker night runs as a flashback as Jeter is held captive in a basement while Amy, his slightly underage girl friend (Halston Sage) is chained in a nearby room and apparently is getting raped, although the film didn't make that clear. As Jeter experiences abuse of his captor he flashes back.

It isn't hard to figure out the flashbacks. When his mentor's tell detective stories, Jeter imagines himself as being there, which might confuse viewers. The film has some small twists and it isn't until the very end do we appreciate the genius of the film.

Guide: F-bomb. No nudity. implied rape. Torture, blood, killing.

Eager young detective Stan Jeter (a fine and likeable performance by Beau Mirchoff) finds himself locked in a basement after he's abducted by a vicious and crafty masked serial killer (a spot-on smoothly sinister portrayal by Michael Eklund). Jeter has to use all the wisdom he learned from various senior police officers playing cards on poker night with them in order to survive.

Writer/director Greg Francis handles the intriguing and intricate story with tremendous skill and assurance: The snappy pace rarely flags, there's a considerable amount of steadily mounting tension, the exciting action scenes are staged with aplomb, the dark gritty tone is well maintained throughout, we also got a sly sense of wickedly funny black humor, and the surprise twist at the end rates as a real doozy. Moreover, the camaraderie amongst the poker night cops registers as quite engaging and enjoyable in equal measure. The ace acting by the excellent cast helps a lot: Ron Perlman as the hard-nosed Calabrese, Giancarlo Esposito as the amiable Bernard, Titus Welliver.as the bitter Maxwell, Ron Eldard as the scruffy, but shrewd Cunningham, Corey Large as the tough Davis, and Halston Sage as the feisty Amy. A cool little flick.