It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Blistering performances.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

If, like me, you're sick of the wealth of reality TV programming that has swamped television stations as of late - I'm talking about stuff like Big Brother and Survivor - then SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS acts as a pleasing satire of the shows, emphasising the ridiculous nature of over-the-top voice-over commentary, the exploitation of the weaknesses of the people involved and turning real people's lives into a slick, sick documentary. The film drags you into the lives of the six people and viewing does indeed become as gripping as the producers had intended. Be warned, though, that this production is not for all tastes and indeed it often does tread the line of good taste. The violence is hard and brutal (especially during a supermarket massacre) without being unnecessarily gory and adds to the strong realism of the production - imagine a drama in THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT mould and you'll be halfway there.The strength of the film lies in the excellent acting involved from the entire cast, characters who really do embrace the roles they have and get under the skin to really understand them. Of particular interest are Brooke Smith, who's scarily believable as the heavily pregnant gun-toting Dawn, a veteran of the game show who doesn't think twice about shooting a fellow participant dead in cold blood; then there's Marylouise Burke who happens to be very frightening as the friendly-nurse-turned-angel-of-death. Glenn Fitzgerald also excels as the man dying of testicular cancer who has a complete character transformation as the film progresses. None of the actors are recognisable but a brief look at their resumes reveal that most are veterans in film. This is undoubtedly their finest hours to date and all come away with honours in my opinion.Elsewhere the film achieves a high standard of technical competence, and resembles the shows which it seeks to emulate very much so indeed. Razor-sharp editing and the smarmy, eager narration adds to the experience and of course the realism. Although the pacing of the second half is a little slow - my only complaint about the movie - things pick up for an ending which packs more twists in than most and finishes with an epilogue you won't see coming. Renters looking for a movie out of the mainstream and with a nice original concept for a change may find their curiosity rewarded with this amusing but often disturbing satire.

Season 7 of the popular reality television show "The Contenders" returns with reigning champion Dawn Lagarto still dominant despite being heavily pregnant. This season sees five new contestants randomly selected by lottery for the game show. The rules are simple – each contestant is given a gun and a rifle as well as a choice of other weapons and protective gear. From this point they are separated from their families and joined by a camera crew who will shadow them throughout their time in the show. The winner? Well, whoever is left standing when the others are all dead wins their freedom and life.I remember hearing about this show years ago when it came out but I had never seen it being shown anywhere until it popped up on late night television the other week. It is depressing but the film is actually more relevant now than it was then simply because reality shows have continued down the road that they were on when this was made. Of course it has not gone as far as murder-television but with celebs eating bugs, Big Brother causing protests in India and many other extremes it is hard not to appreciate the point the film is making here.The strength of the film is that it accurately recreates the staples of the genre in the repetitive nature of clips, heavy voice-over use, trailers for coming next, interviews with the contestants and so on. Looking at the genre cynically you could say that the show also gets other things right – specifically the manipulation of footage, the way emotional interest in the contestants is falsely generated and of course the way that conflict and fighting is produced to keep the viewer interested. This aspect of it works well and it really does capture the look and feel of the genre, setting it up well to deliver a scathing attack on the genre from the inside.Unfortunately it is here where it falls down somewhat because it is not as sharp or as clever as it would like to think. OK it does the genre as well as any reality show, but the ability to turn this on itself is lacking. Of course the idea appalled me as a viewer and that was the point – that the viewer would question the genre on the basis of this film, but I do not think it asks enough of the audience to make this happen. In fact, once you get over the concept, it can almost be watched as a reality show of sorts and I imagine fans of the genre could easily miss the point of the film – mainly because it doesn't make one that well. It will sound like a strange criticism but I do think that by hitting the genre spot on throughout the film, the result is that it is almost too "straight" to act as an attack at the same time. Instead it is just an exaggeration and it leaves the viewer to do the work.The cast are OK, no really good performances but they certainly deliver the turns that convince within what I expect from the genre (and I write this as a guilty but unrepentant viewer of America's Next Top Model and a couple of other trashy shows). Smith, Burke, Venture, Wever and Fitzgerald all do well enough without ever threatening to be real characters. The only member of the cast that really stuck in my mind though was Arnett, who turns up in a small role – but he was memorable to me for being Gob in Arrested Development, not for what he did here! Overall then, this is a very convincing extreme version of reality television that remains topical due to the genre becoming more and more extreme and cruel, not the film itself hitting points well. However beyond this design and structure there is not a sharp criticism or message to be had and as a result there is not much of a message other than the obvious one about the path that reality TV is on and why cruelty or suffering of others should be acceptable as entertainment. Topical – but not as sharp or clever as one would have hoped it could have been.

Despite the potentially fascinating premise, Series 7 is weak attempt at attacking reality television. Aside from its bargain basement production values, which present an eyesore 10 minutes in, the overall tone of the film is misguided. Several reviewers have attacked the acting in the film, but I think the real problem is this lame attempt to make the film into a farce. Aside from the fact that the jokes are not funny (a pregnant woman swears a lot, a young girl gets a bunch of guns), it doesn't gel with the overall tone of the film. Had the makers actually made Series 7 to bear a striking resemblance to actual reality TV-colorful yet hollow edits, lame sound effects, sweeping camera motions-maybe their point would have been more solid or at least more palatable. Instead Series 7 meanders through the already harried world of death and game show. You can just imagine the director slapping himself on the back for stating the obvious

Six people from a medium sized town are chosen at random in a government-sanctioned lottery to participate, whether they want to or not, in a "reality" show called Series 7, the Contenders. Rules are simple - kill the other 5 before they kill you. Last one left alive wins.The characterizations and plotting of this satire may leave a lot to be desired, but the extremely contrived plot (though I hesitate to use the term) twists and Jerry Springer-ish performances by the contenders and their families hit the bulls eye in mocking and parodying what we see every day on talk and reality shows. If you're not a fan of reality shows, you'll likely find the many soliloquies and sappy "moments" cloying and distracting, and wish for more action, such as it is. Even if you can accept the premise at face value, the movie has the believability of the absurdest of soap operas. Still, it's entertaining, not overly long, and worth a watch.