Last year, after pressure from a number of studios, Netflix added a clause to its subscription contract warning that it would terminate the account of any subscriber found to be using a VPN – a service designed to mask a computer’s location – in order to access international versions of its streaming catalogue. While the company has seemingly yet to follow through on this threat, its introduction does draw attention to an uncomfortable truth for Netflix: the company provides a service that varies dramatically from place to place. The UK catalogue, for instance, offers less than half the titles available in the US, and costs more.
If Netflix does start clamping down on VPNs, take solace in the fact that we do have a few hundred titles that our American friends are not privy to, including Fast Times At Ridgemont High, The Thin Red Line and Agent Cody Banks (though not, ironically, Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London). Most importantly, the UK catalogue has exclusive dominion over perhaps my all-time favourite Netflix discovery: the 2013 torture porn indie Would You Rather.
Styled after the iconic millennial pastime of the same name, the film sees a group of disparate individuals roped into a gruesome dinner party from which only one of them can escape, thrown by a maniacal aristocrat with a penchant for sadistic challenges. Guests include Pitch Perfect’s Brittany Snow, the dad from Home Alone and the dynamic duo themselves: former porn star Sasha Grey and 85-year-old Oscar-nominated character actor June Squibb.
Each of these unwilling participants must take it in turns to select a punishment from two distinctly unappealing options, including electrocution, eye-slitting and holding their breath underwater for, like, a really long time. By the time Grey stabs Squibb in the leg with a screwdriver to avoid a forfeit of her own, you’ll be cancelling your VPN subscription faster than you can say “region-specific licensing deal”.
Also out this week
Into The Woods Disney musical starring James Corden, of all people.
Foxcatcher Prestige drama starring Steve Carell, of all people.
Mercenary: Absolution A 2015 release starring Steven Seagal, of all people.
