Series 7 - The Contenders (DVD)

Forget Big Brother and Survivor, the ultimate concept in reality TV must surely be 'The Contenders'. Now in its 7th hugely successful series, The Contenders follows the same basic format as its contemporaries - a small group of contestants, in this case six, are eliminated one-by-one until only the winner remains. That person will, of course, walk off with the prize money. The difference here is that the contenders are not 'evicted' by the other housemates or 'voted out' by a public phone poll. The winner of The Contenders is the last person left alive. These six people, picked at random by a ... more

...or, “Blastaway”, “Big Blooder”, “Shot Idol” or even “Soap Scars”. Puns working overtime! It’s not too easy to épater les bourgeois (shock the conventionally minded) nowadays. Sexual taboos like bondage or S&M are being assimilated into mainstream culture without a second thought and candid free speech is more or less encouraged. Violence is seemingly the only thing that still jolts people’s minds, no matter how many times we see Bruce Willis shoot a naughty thief in the neck. Well, that and marrying an electric eel. What ... more

STARRING: Brooke Smith, Glenn Fitzgerald, Marylouise Burke, Michael Kaycheck, Richard Venture and Merritt Wever DIRECTED BY: Dan Minahan RELEASED: June 1st 2001 RUNNING TIME: 85mins The Story This film is set at some point in the futre, where things are pretty much the same, and the number 1 TV show is “The Contenders”. The Contenders is a "reality-based TV show" where six contestants are picked at random in an involuntary national lottery type scenario. The six contestants are presented with a handgun (they can use any weapon they want, though the handgun and at least one rifle ... more

SERIES 7 - THE CONTENDERS (2001) DVD/C18/87MINS/£4.83N/£2.93U When people talk about this film they mention something that I totally disagree with: that this films is a prediction of where reality TV will one day go. In the same way Irreversible is more than one horrific 12 minute scene, this film is more - and less, than a take on the evils and future evils of reality TV. If you wan't to see a film that accurately skewers the reality of TV years before they were entitled to - watch Network. If you wan't a satire with a pitch black heart and bright blue soul - check out Series 7 - The ... more

'Hello Big Brother house, this is Davina. You have 1 minute to shoot Kimberley dead...'. Well, despite it being a more entertaining concept than the housemates making a pigs ear out of porridge, Channel 4 haven't quite yet as desperate as to introduce a reality game show involving killings. (Although flick occassionally to 'Brookside' and you might think the contrary...). 'Series 7' is a film which shows the extreme potential of reality TV in all of its horror. The film takes the form of a fly-on-the-wall programme, featuring a game where 6 contenstants have to gun each other down until there ... more