Over hyped, nonsensical crap!

Rating: 4/10 (15 April 2012)

Let me start of by saying "I get it".
I knew something of the premise and I couldn't wait to love the film and see what original and satirical road it was going to take. In the end I wasted an hour and a half of my life and became angry having handed over my hard earned cash over to this excuse for a film.
Put it this way, if Joss Whedon's name wasn't on this film it would have gone direct to DVD!
*SPOILERS BELOW*
As I watched the film I began putting it together. I knew from the trailer that some "Truman Show" kind of vibe was going on. Even if it ended up being Truman Show meets Cabin in the Woods it would of been vaguely interesting. Then I got the idea that an audience of some description was watching this big brother style and demanding blood. Cool, I though a Battle Royale / Hunger Games vibe was creeping in. Interesting. I was prepared to forgive the complete lack of tension knowing the scenario was being controlled by people with power to kill the characters at any moment and change their thoughts via various gases (?). I also disliked most of the characters. You can't mock horror clichés with clichés, they are still clichés - and boring one dimensional ones at that. Nevertheless I went along with it. Then the zombies arrived. I thought maybe they were actors pretending to be zombies in this "Running Man" kind of environment. But then I realized the WERE actual zombies. I began to loose grip on the genre I thought I was in. I thought I was in "the real world" so to speak. Then a Japanese Ringu-like spirit on a TV screen... WTF, I thought - spirits too!? When they went down in the elevator into the chamber of horrors, I lost all interest. "The ancient gods demand sacrifice"? Give me a break. What has an evil clown got to do with ancient Gods? I had lost all interest and I couldn't care less who lived or died. "Oh but it represents us, the audience" no it's just lazy writing! A story should work and be utterly engaging first and foremost, any analogy or subtext should be icing on the cake - not the reason to validate the supposed "entertainment". A great, great pity. Wanted to love this but wasted my time. Don't waste your time! Avoid.