The Death Factor
In a world fascinated by reality TV "The Contenders" is one of the most popular. People selected random on their government id number are handed a gun and basically have to kill the other people who have selected whether they want to be part of it or not. Dawn (Brooke Smith) is the current champion having been the last woman standing during previous rounds and during interviews keeps on saying she is doing it for her baby as she is heavily pregnant.
"Series 7: The Contenders" is a really strange experience and movie because it doesn't feel like movie but more a marathon edition of a reality show. We get the camera following the contenders around, the interviews with the contenders where they tell you their back story, footage off them leading their normal lives and so on. Basically think of any reality show and it has that exact same style. Because of this it keeps throwing you this strange curveball because you keep on having to remind yourself you are not watching a reality show but a movie.
But then you have the weirdness of it all as we watch these civilians given guns and having to kill their competitors to survive, so we see this sweet nurse who not only barricades up her windows but then we watch her cleaning her gun. It is surreal as is watching Dawn pull up outside a competitor's house and try and get them to leave their home so that she can kill them. It at times reminded me of a more violent and sadistic version of "Interceptor" a British reality show from the 90s which featured civilians in laser tag jackets trying to follow clues to find treasure whilst a man in a helicopter tries to hunt them down. It makes "Series 7: The Contenders" a really strange experience, entertaining but in a really weird and violent way.
But "Series 7: The Contenders" has an issue and that in trying to mimic a reality show and then making it last a marathon 86 minutes doesn't work. It is a shame the concept is good and there are some interesting and amusing ideas tossed into the mix but after 60 minutes you want something more than what is being offered.
What this all boils down to is that "Series 7: The Contenders" is an entertainingly strange experience which almost pulls it off but suffers from aiming for 90 minutes rather than say 70 minutes.
