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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
If Only We'd Known, November 26, 2007
This review is from: Series 7: The Contenders (Marathon Edition) (DVD)
SERIES 7 is a prescient film about the absurdly illogical conclusion to "reality" competition shows. What's even more amazing is that this film came out before these shows actually had a stranglehold on American prime-time television.
SERIES 7 takes a look at a fictional reality show (like they aren't already) in which contestants survive by, well, surviving. Last one alive is the winner. When this movie begins, it's obvious that the "show" has been around for several seasons. I don't want to give away anything because this is one of those films in which every line, scene, and plot point is potentially important and entertaining. Suffice it to say, the "show's" producers find ways to spin events as their ratings require (such as the contestant who chooses to stab "himself in the back" as his method of commit suicide).
If you hate SURVIVOR, et al, as much as I do, get this yesterday. - Chris
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
B-Rated Cult Classic. Running Man Eat Your Cinematic-Heart Out, August 24, 2008
This review is from: Series 7: The Contenders (Marathon Edition) (DVD)
When it comes to B-rated films, this one tops the list. 'Series 7: The Contenders' is an almost campy parody of reality television, similar to Schwarzenegger's 'Running Man' and Japanese cult classic, 'Battle Royale'
Presented as TV marathon of the 7th season of a reality show, the film takes place in America and the show is called The Contenders. Six people, picked at random from a national lottery, are given guns and forced to hunt and kill each other for the cameras.
It's a dark satire of the reality TV genre. Starring Brooke Smith as Dawn, a pregnant mother and the reigning champion from the fifth and sixth series, 'Series 7: The Contenders' asks the question: 'Is she the monster for killing and doing what it takes to survive, or are we, the viewers, the monsters for entertaining ourselves with tragedy and meaningless death. Humanity's need to watch things die, from a good safe distance, as Maynard James Keenan once put it, is effectively portrayed with all the campy B-rated fun necessary to make a successful cult classic.
The film is littered with interview segments, commercial previews, complications due to technical error, confrontations with the camera-crew, dramatic re-enactments and cliffhanger promos, giving it the authenticity of a reality TV show. The film purposely leaves many key details unexplained, as the viewer is supposed to be watching only what the creators actually aired in the fictional TV show. It is not explained how the TV show got into so powerful a position that it could randomly select people to be killed, but all the Contenders treat it as something they have absolutely no control over, which is possibly a reflection of television's influence over society.
The soundtrack is also noteworthy, but I'll stop here. Just buy the movie, watch something that makes you think for once, and enjoy your purchase.
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6 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The future of reality television?, November 10, 2005
This was a phenomenal film. Wicked and hateful satire, extremely black comedy, content which seemed at times over the top but retained its credibility all woven together into a nightmarish suburban landscape.
The film's premise is simple: There's a gameshow, called The Contenders. It's currently shooting season 7. You "win" your way onto the gameshow by a national lottery, and you have no recourse but to enter, even if you don't really want to play.
The downside is that the game is Last Man Standing. Each of the seven contenders is given a gun and a cameraman to catch the action, and they have to hunt each other down. The last one standing moves into series 8.
Theoretically, with the dearth of reality shows around, this is an extreme scenario which may need to be employed purely to hook viewers. This is the main theme of the film - violence for spectators. Conceptually, perhaps, not that different to The Running Man - in that film, convicts on Death Row are given an opportunity to play for their lives against futuristic Gladiators who have all the celebrity of today's pro-wrestlers. Series 7, however, has none of that glamour. It's set in the here and now, and all anyone unlucky enough to be in it wants is to get out alive. While some are quietly confident, each character has a sense of dread about the show, and rightfully so.
The filmmakers, though, have gone one step beyond that, and stereotyped the Contenders into recognisable moulds. Dawn is the reigning champion, pregnant and unmarried, with some history of a turbulent childhood. Tony is an angry old man who has no intention of playing the game. Jeff is Dawn's childhood friend, unhappily married now and currently dying of cancer and preparing to commit suicide. Connie is a conniving nurse with delusions of grandeur who seems to have thought more about a gameplan than anyone else. Lindsay is just a teenager, only just old enough to enter, who thinks it's quite cool and whose parents have aspirations of her winning fame and fortune on the show, to the point where they drive her around looking for her victims and get her revved up to kill in the car. They also buy her an extra gun, a big one.
It's not a happy scenario. However, with a hugely upbeat power-punk soundtrack and omnipresent gallows humour, complete with a Rescue 911-type narrator/voice over in the background, the film comes across as gleeful; just good old-fashioned family fun for everyone to enjoy round the TV at night. The fact that it is all so tragic seems not to occur to anyone bar one or two of the contestants.
The characters are richly textured, the plot fast-paced and unpredictable. At times your stomach will turn, at others you will burst out laughing. As the story winds up, and people's attitudes change, the climax comes completely out of left-field to blindside you.
The film is cutting-edge stuff with razor-wire social commentary. The humour, when there, never seems set-up, and there are no "punchlines" so you know when to laugh. It all just happens. I found it to be hugely enjoyable indeed; and I think the film tells us a lot about ourselves as a species.
The soundtrack by Girls against Boys is also excellent.
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