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This movie is a tongue in cheek look at the runaway success of the reality TV show with a period not too far in the future airing a show called 'The Contenders' which, due to it's massive popularity, is now in it's seventh series. The show's main aim is to pit randomly selected members of a community against one another in a survival-of-the-fittest showdown that see's each contender fight to the death until only one survives. Complete with voice over commentary and professional editing, the whole show runs like a twisted version 'Survivor'.
The topical premise of reality TV being taken to such a brutal level where life is less important than ratings is not a new one. Consider the Arnold Schwarzenegger sci-fi movie 'The Running Man' and Maurice Devereaux's fun low budget 'Slashers', and the video shelves suddenly don't seem all that empty, but Series 7 is taken that little bit further with it's mix of normally ordinary settings for sudden confrontations to occur between the games players and the way in which it ensures that the viewer always believes everything they are seeing is via the lens of a camera following the action as it unfolds.
For the production to be a success, some good acting performances are required of the cast. Thankfully we are not short changed in the talent department with some very believable and, more importantly, natural character pieces which capture the essence of a group of people under the pressures of inevitable murder, whether it be them or their rivals.
The whole piece is very well executed with a great editing job to maintain that broadcast look and a few clever moments that twist the story to fit with the corporate vision of the show even when the reality is far different. It doesn't forget it's humour either with several deliberately funny moments that interweave the seriousness of our competitors situation. For example, the young girl who is chosen to fight has the full support of her parents, in the same way a cheerleaders mother and father would attend the big game, our girls parents attend each kill and even chastise her when she fails her bloody task. We also have a fragile looking senior citizen that sits in her room striping down and cleaning her ballistic weapon of choice ready for a sniper session down at the local shopping center.
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