Corporate Retreat

Grade: B-

2026 will, for me, go down in history as the gross-out year at the movies. I can list – and have already done so – more than a handful of titles that have been released that seem to be in a competition of out-gorifying each other. Less than 4 weeks ago, I was pretty confident in my proclamation that Over Your Dead Body tops them all. Not anymore. We have yet another “winner,” with Corporate Retreat. I usually don’t mind violence and gore. It’s jump scares that bother me. Otherwise, I can SEE literally anything – I thought. Corporate Retreat had me squirming and wincing, and I hope this is the worst it gets this year. I’m afraid to think about how this one could be surpassed.

A heaping handful of 20-something characters are introduced to us. They are co-workers, pulling up to a secluded fancy house for a weekend retreat. Their phones are confiscated at the beginning, and they are locked in for an unexpected series of gruesome tests. The mastermind, it turns out, is Arthur (Alan Ruck), the founder and former CEO of the company. He was ousted by some of the attendees. He is now some kind of spiritual enlightenment cult leader, who walks them through the tests via satellite video. When we find out where he’s broadcasting from, it’s a refreshing bit of campy comedy in a film that has several. Another moment where I laughed was in a scene I won’t even begin to describe, but it involves a character screaming “I can’t hear!” Yeah, of course you can’t. The movie manages to finagle humor amidst some of the grisliest torture porn I have ever seen.

The cast must have had a blast filming this. I can only imagine the laughter and cutting up in between takes. Of the younger people, my favorite was Odeya Rush, whose character is an outlier. She doesn’t work at the company, and is only there as somebody’s plus one. In more than one way, she’s like Anya Taylor-Joy’s “not supposed to be here” character in The Menu. Two of the young cast members reminded me of a couple of up and coming stars from the 90s. Zión Moreno has a Liv Tyler thing going on, and I thought Kirby Johnson, who features heavily in the trailer, was actually Michelle Williams. Somebody named Omar Sharif Jr. has a tiny part. I checked, and he indeed is you-know-who’s grandson.

Rosanna Arquette is in it, but not for long (hint hint). It’s Alan Ruck’s show. He’s probably best known as Cameron from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, but I will always think of him as Leo Bloom in The Producers, from when I saw him play the role in the national tour (a role I lucked into playing for a few performances a couple years ago). He puts his sitcom and Broadway experience to effective use here, with his comedic timing. He is responsible for my biggest laugh, which came right before the most disturbing part of the movie. It’s in his delivery of a line he has, which is a quiet aside to one of his henchwomen. What immediately follows is unsettling enough the first time we see it, and then it’s shown to us three more times. That’s not even the final test.

I give the movie credit for not having a “villain isn’t really dead” moment. Once they’re taken down the first time, they are a done deal. I liked that some bodies of the departed become human shields. I liked the creative use of the ATV as a misdirection. The needle-drop at the end is perfect, after a film that already boasted a great soundtrack. Corporate Retreat begins as an uninteresting exposition dump with mostly forgettable characters, followed by a stress test to see how much the audience can tolerate. I don’t know if I could sit through it again. But now, 28 hours removed from my viewing, the biggest aspects that remain in my head are the funny moments, very specific imaginative imaginative practical effects, and committed cast.

Grade: B-