Series 7 - The Contenders
2001
SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS consists of six episodes of a fictional television game show called The Contenders. On the show, non-actors are given handguns, quickly explained the very basic rules (kill the other contestants) and told to "play," with a goal of winning by staying alive. Ultraviolent and psychologically disturbing, .. Read more
| Starring | Brooke Smith, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael Kaycheck, Marylouise Burke |
|---|---|
| Director | Daniel Minahan |
| Genres | Drama |
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Series 7 - The Contenders
SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS consists of six episodes of a fictional television game show called The Contenders. On the show, non-actors are given handguns, quickly explained the very basic rules (kill the other contestants) and told to "play," with a goal of winning by staying alive. Ultraviolent and psychologically disturbing, the film unrolls in the frenetic style of network television, never pausing for reflection. Written and directed by Daniel Minahan (cowriter of the screenplay for 1996's I SHOT ANDY WARHOL), SERIES 7 makes a timely comment on the rising popularity of actual television reality games shows.
It's the ultimate game show. The contestants are chosen in a random drawing, handed a weapon, and instructed to watch their backs. Then, the entertainment begins. The prescient SERIES 7 skewers American popular culture with wit and style. Conceived long before the phenomenal success of the television program, SURVIVOR, and the subsequent deluge of "unscripted entertainment," the film takes the idea a step further. The manipulation of lives in SERIES 7 is in bold face. The film is shot on digital video in a hand held, breakneck style, with a hysterically solicitous voice over narration and bold, jarring graphics pumping up the drama of every frame. Using unknown actors, the audience accepts the characters as ordinary citizens. These actors generate tremendous sympathy, even as they commit desperate and brutal acts. Brooke Smith is particularly engaging as Dawn, the pregnant reigning champion. But Minahan reminds his audience again and again that all of the images they're seeing have been filtered, and even what seems to be the direct presentation of an actual event, cannot, in the end, be trusted.
| Starring | Brooke Smith, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael Kaycheck, Marylouise Burke, Richard Venture, Merritt Wever, Donna Hanover, Angelina Phillips |
|---|---|
| Director | Daniel Minahan |
| Studio | CINEMA CLUB |
| Run time | DVD: 1 hr 24 mins |
| Certificate | |
| Genres | Drama |
| Language | DVD: English |
| Hearing-impaired | English |
| Subtitles | DVD: English |
| Released | DVD: not available Production year: 2001 |
| Format | DVD |
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Critics' reviews (6)
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After Big Brother, Survivor and all the other “reality TV” shows that have proliferated all over the small screen, a big-screen satire was inevitable. But first-time writer/director Daniel Minahan began developing this low-budget, no-star project — a game show in which contestants must kill the others to win — at Sundance in 1997, so there's a degree of prescience (or luck) about the timing. Presented in vérité style as edited segments of a TV show (The Contenders) — with tabloidesque voice-over, trail-aheads and reconstructions using “actors” — this is a one-idea film, whose central gimmick soon palls, despite the who'll-get-shot-next intrigue. It's hard to care about any of the promising characters (the pregnant woman, the pacifist dying of testicular cancer, the devoutly Catholic nurse) in such a deliberately unreal format. Not as original as Minahan or the marketing department think (Rollerball, Death Race 2000, The Running Man) and sadly lacking the context that would have elevated it from timely distraction to deeper political-cultural statement.
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"...[Smith] plumbs the tenderness and humor in her character's desperate situation....[The film's] power can't be denied..."
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Most helpful member's review
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4 out of 4 people found this review helpful
Disappointing
I have longed to see this film since its release at the cinema, went to see it but had already completed its run (of 1 week) and ended up watching Bridget Jones instead. Jumped at the chance to rent it, to see if it lived up to the descriptions at the time.
Unfortunately not. What was described as being a black humoured pastiche of reality game shows was sadly lacking in humour, realism and decent acting. I really wanted to enjoy it but it just seemed full of shouting and overacting. I didn't warm to any of the characters in it and was relieved when it finished. -
Most recent members' review
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3 out of 4 people found this review helpful
[Highly rated reviewer]
Lacklustre
Series 7 had a good concept following the recent overkill of reality TV gameshows on contemporary Western networks but the delivery was weak and lacklustre. Everything seemed too scripted and over acted and never seemed real, even the gunfire seemed more like a capgun than the real thing. The film got boring fast. I'd recommend watching The Running Man with Arnie instead, far better film with the same idea.
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- Dragilex from Manchester
- Posted 21 Apr 2006 09:45
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Series 7 - The Contenders
SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS consists of six episodes of a fictional television game show called The Contenders. On the show, non-actors are given handguns, quickly explained the very basic rules (kill the other contestants) and told to "play," with a goal of winning by staying alive. Ultraviolent and ...
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