Starve (2014)

Starve takes a familiar “trapped in a nightmare” setup and gives it a nasty little hook: an abandoned high school turned into a watched-from-the-shadows arena where hunger isn’t just a feeling, it’s a weapon. Director Griff Furst squeezes real atmosphere out of the location—the hallways and classrooms feel grimy, claustrophobic, and purpose-built for dread—and the production design sells the idea that someone has been preparing this place for a long time. Bobby Campo and the supporting cast keep the panic and desperation lively enough to make the movie go down easy, and when the story swerves, it does so with a few twisty jolts that reward sticking with it. It’s not for the squeamish or anyone allergic to Saw-adjacent cruelty, but if you’re in the mood for a lean, mean, low-budget survival horror with a solid concept and some sharp edges, it’s an unexpectedly watchable ride.

Starve is clearly trying to mash up the trapped-in-a-building dread of Saw with survival-game cruelty, using an abandoned high school as a grim playground for desperation and hunger. The problem is it rarely feels like its own movie: the twists are easy to see coming, the writing leans hard on clichés, and the pacing drags between bursts of nasty violence. If you need originality, smart character choices, or tension that builds instead of just escalating gore, this will likely feel like thin, mean-spirited leftovers. That said, if you’re in the mood for a low-budget, grimy “people forced into brutal games” thriller and can tolerate familiar beats, there are a few suitably brutal moments that might scratch that itch.