Series 7: The Contenders

Plot synopsis:
Lampooning the tendencies of 'reality television' to become ever more shocking, 'Series 7: The Contenders' is a movie of an imagined reality show in which the contestants, tracked by cameramen, must kill to win.Selected at random and seemingly with government approval, the contestants are real people, dropped into a real town, and given weapons with which to wipe each other out. The winner is the last one left alive, and the 'game' is not over until all but one of the contestants are dead.Heavily pregnant Dawn is the current champion, and she is only a few kills awaw from being allowed retire from the show. Pregnancy and the will to get out of the game have made her pragmatic about her modus operandi: kill everybody in her way.Those fighting against her are an elderly gentleman, a female teenage high school student, a cold-hearted middle-aged nurse, and a man recovering from testicular cancer.Dawn's mission is complicated however, by virtue of the fact that cancer-sufferer Jeff is an old flame from high school. Ironically at the start of the contest, Jeff is ready to die, but suicide is against the rules, so he wants Dawn to be the one to bump him off. However, as the game progresses, Jeff's motives change, and this confuses Dawn's situation.The movie builds towards a showdown between the two high-school sweethearts. In this crazy situation, who will be the last one standing?-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------The movie opens with Dawn walking into a convenience store, coming up behind a man who's buying something at the counter, jamming a 9mm into his back and killing him.Dawn, who is eight months pregnant, is the reigning champion of The Contenders, a reality show where five people are selected at random by government issued ID numbers to face each other and the reigning champion in a no-holds-barred fight to the finish. Contestants are issued firearms and placed into a selected town for their manhunt. Viewers watch the show in episodes like regular reality TV.The town selected for this battle is the sleepy little town of Newton, CT.Dawn and her cameraman, Pat, arrive by plane and drive into town. Facing off against her are Tony, an unemployed, struggling, but still well-to-do family man; Connie, a middle-aged nurse with a heart of ice but who is deeply religious and opposed to killing; Franklin, an elderly retiree who uses a crutch; Lindsey, a teenage girl who's just graduated high school; and Jeff, a married thirtysomething man who's dying of testicular cancer. All five challenger Contenders are residents of the town.Actions scenes are interspersed with continues "interview promos" with each contestant that are meant to build up drama and storyline for each contestant. Breaks for commercial and end-of-episodes are shown with "coming soon" scenes.Tony is in good physical shape and skilled in boxing. Lindsey's parents and boyfriend have supplied her with a generous cache of weapons and a bulletproof vest. Jeff's wife, Doria, dutifully takes care of him as his condition worsens and frets at what is to come. Dawn calls both Tony and Connie to taunt them. Dawn tells Connie that a bomb is in her apartment. Connie runs out screaming, and Dawn fires at her, but misses, and Connie retreats back into her home.Dawn visits her family, who don't want to see her but she confronts her mother and sister in the garage. Although Dawn tries to maintain composure, the bitter argument she wanted to avoid, slams into her head-on. It's shown that the family threw Dawn out after she became pregnant as a teenager and had an abortion. Finally Dawn steals her sister's SUV-- at gunpoint, no less- but as she's settling into the driver's seat, Dawn's little niece runs to her and hugs her proudly, supporting Dawn as champion contender.Dawn is driven to Tony's house and calls him out to fight her. But, rebelling against all the show stands for, Tony takes his baby daughter hostage and drives off. This being a serious violation of the show's rules, show promoters and police cooperate to track Tony's vehicle as it drives down a highway and disable it. There is a tense standoff between Tony and a SWAT officer before the officer manages to take the baby girl from Tony. Tony runs, but several SWAT officers grab them. In the struggle, Tony deals himself a critical wound to his back with his own knife and is paralyzed.Tony is in the hospital when Connie comes into his room and administers a lethal injection. Tony tries to plead with Connie regarding his being helpless to resist, to no avail. Dawn finds her way to Tony's room to find him already dead. Tony's wife, Michelle, lashes out at Dawn, who pleads for understanding, pointing out her own pregnancy-- Dawn is nearly ready to give birth to her baby. An amusing scene shows Dawn getting a checkup with a local physician, and a nurse aide asks Dawn to sign an autograph. The aide gives a big grin as she's presented with the autograph.LIndsey's parents drive her to Franklin's house and get her psyched up to make the kill. She runs to take Franklin down. She chases him into high brush grass and a shot rings out. Lindsey comes stumbling back to her parents' car, wounded but alive, and without her handgun.Dawn calls Jeff and asks to see him. As she arrives at Jeff's house, Dawn promises Doria that she will not harm Jeff; she's just there to talk. The interview promos, complete with re-created re-enactments, show that Dawn and Jeff are old high school flames who did a Gothic video art project together. They still feel close to one another. Jeff tells Dawn that he'd rather die at her hand than one of the other contenders. Still, he's afraid of being killed, and so he tells Dawn how she can acquire some barbiturates; Jeff has needles that she can use to administer a lethal injection.As Lindsey is convalescing, her parents find her making love to her boyfriend, Nathan. Lindsey's father has a letter for her. It's shown that Franklin and Dawn have received similar letters. An unknown benefactor is offering to take them to safety. The contenders accepting the offer should go to a particular concession stand at a nearby mall and wait.Dawn arrives first, concerned about the message being some sort of trap. Franklin goes there hoping to score a kill against one or more of the other contenders. Lindsey arrives, taking the offer at face value and looking to escape, though she still has a 9mm handgun with her. As Dawn hides out of sight but able to see the concession stand, now closed for the night, Franklin arrives. Franklin spots Lindsey coming up a mall escalator and approaching the stand. He hides behind the stand and waits. Dawn spots the intended ambush and shouts a warning, but it's too late. Franklin clobbers the teenage girl with his crutch and begins to beat her savagely in front of her horrified family and onlookers. Lindsey manages to pull her gun, and fires at Franklin, but the gun's safety jams. Franklin knocks the gun out of Lindsey's hand and beats her to death as people must stand by and watch. Franklin begins to make a hateful speech toward everyone, including those who would be watching on TV, when he's killed by a shot from a high-powered rifle. The shooter is Connie, who sent the letters as a trap, just as Dawn had feared. Dawn chases Connie all the way back to her apartment and corners her in the bathroom, but just as Dawn is ready to shoot Connie, her water breaks and she goes into labor.An amusing scene plays out where Dawn must beg for a truce with Connie, and for Connie's help in delivering the baby, who Dawn protests is an innocent life. Connie reluctantly agrees and calls for an ambulance before administering aid. Complications arise as the baby's feet start to come out first; a breech birth that can lead to severe birth injury or even the baby's death. ER workers on the phone manage to talk Connie through a procedure that keeps the baby unharmed until paramedics arrive to complete the delivery.In the meantime, Jeff and Doria have a tender last night over dinner and drinks, holding each other, as Jeff waits for Dawn to return.The next scenes show Dawn at the hospital with her baby, and Jeff waking up from unconsciousness at the same hospital, Doria watching over him. Promo interviews show that in violation of show rules, Jeff prepared his own suicide with Doria assisting him. However, Jeff's cameraman called paramedics who saved Jeff's life. Jeff becomes angry, knowing Doria let them into the house. They fall into an emotional argument where Doria accuses Jeff of still being in love with Dawn-- and yet, at the same time, a closet bisexual, before walking out on him. Doria gives Jeff his gun back and dares him to kill himself.Connie stealthily walks through the hospital to deliver another lethal injection. It's Jeff's room she goes into, but Jeff is ready for her. They wrestle over Jeff's gun, and a shot rings out. Dawn hears the shot and goes to investigate. Jeff has killed Connie, and he stuns Dawn with the announcement that he feels a new lease on life and doesn't want to die anymore. He manages to rush out of the hospital while Dawn struggles with her feelings over him versus her need to kill him as he's the only other contender left. The scene also implies that Jeff is the father of Dawn's first baby, which she had to abort, which in turn got her thrown out of her family's house.After promo interviews, and end-of-show coming attractions, Dawn and Jeff are seen meeting at a local football field to finish the conflict. If Dawn kills Jeff, she'll be able to retire from the show a free woman and reunited with her baby. If Jeff kills Dawn, he'll become the new reigning champion contender to face off against five challengers next season.The two face each other, guns drawn, and suddenly announce their love for each other. They beat their respective cameramen unconscious and escape together. Viewers help police and shot promoters track the two, now wanted fugitives.Dawn and Jeff stage a desperate gambit, taking the audience of a movie theater hostage. Dawn's demands are simple: return of her baby and safe passage out of the country.Show announcers say that all the remaining footage ended up deleted due to technical error but has been painstakingly re-created and re-enacted through actors. A show announcer arrives at the theater to turn Dawn and Jeff against each other. The crying of Dawn's baby is played through the theater's speakers as the announcer says that Dawn can have her baby if she kills Jeff here and now.Jeff suddenly reverts to wanting Dawn to win and to be with her baby. He chooses to give up his life for the sake of the woman he loves. Jeff closes his eyes, and tears roll down Dawn's eyes as she starts to squeeze the trigger.But it's Dawn who falls dead before the movie screen. Jeff wasn't the one who killed her.Doria is seen at the back of the theater holding a smoking gun. She tells Jeff that she still loves him. Jeff looks coldly back at his wife and says it's too late. He puts his gun to his temple and takes his own life, putting himself beyond the reach of the law.End of season finale promos show Dawn's baby in the care of Dawn's sister, and Doria in prison, facing execution for murder without being a registered Contender. She boldly and bitterly accuses the public of being the true killers.The final promo announcement is that five new challengers will soon be selected to face off... against the new reigning champion Contender.The camera pans in on Jeff in the hospital, his head bandaged. He opens his eyes, understands he's still alive, and disgustedly says, "Shit."

Tags: murder, cult, absurd, satire, melodrama, romantic, home movie

Review:
Like `Survivor,' the name of the game here is, well...survival; but with one significant difference from any of the shows you've seen on television:  The winner in `Series 7, The Contenders,' written and directed by Daniel Minahan, will be the only one from among the contestants still standing at the end of the show, meaning `alive.'  Yes, that's right, the object of the game here is to eliminate the opposition, as in `kill' them-- by whatever method available.
Or, more notably, be the `one' who is able to do so.It was inevitable that this film-- or one like it-- would be made, given the way television has been saturated with `reality,' the past few years.
And since it had to happen, at least it was born of, evolved and guided by the artistic capabilities of Minahan, who has crafted and delivered a gripping, thought provoking satire that reaches it's apex of effectiveness hours, or even days, after the film has ended; because for anyone with any scruples at all, this film will linger in the memory like a phosphene caused by rubbing the eye, and it'll take that long to even begin to sort out the myriad implications of it all.
A film cannot seem this true-to-life and entirely natural without a lot of hard work that includes technical knowledge, an eye for detail and an impressive grasp of human nature; Minahan didn't just walk onto the set one day and crank out such an accurate duplication of a `reality' show.
Watching this film is something akin to watching Jim Carrey early in his career doing Henry Fonda, or Kevin Spacey doing Christopher Walken or Pacino; it's the kind of professional impersonation/interpretation that just doesn't get any better.What makes it so enthralling is that Minahan so succinctly captures that documentary look and feel of what has become a `genre' of television, and like the best of them, he lets you get to know the contestants-- through interviews and `mini-bios'-- before the bloodbath begins, so that you can pick your favorites and put your money on the one you think has what it takes to win.
These days it is difficult to satirize reality TV and reality video because material like THE LITTLEST GROOM, THE AMAZING RACE, BOOT CAMP, SURVIVOR and BUMFIGHTS already exist.SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS is an ultra-efficient rendering of the imagined next step in reality programming in which "contenders" must kill in order to survive.To their credit, the filmmakers never step outside the game itself.Clever graphics, voice-overs and reality-style camera-work achieve a high level of illusion.
Set in the near future, SERIES 7 is cleverly constructed as a marathon of seventh-season episodes of "The Contenders," a hit reality show in which contestants are selected via state lotteries and given guns with which they're expected to hunt down and kill their fellow contestants (although they're free to use their own weapons and be inventive).
Her fellow contestants/adversaries include prim but ruthless ER nurse Connie (Marylouise Burke of MUST LOVE DOGS and A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION); teenage Lindsay, whose well-meaning but overbearing parents (Mom is played by Donna Hanover, TV personality and Rudy Giuliani's ex!) coach her for the show as if she were trying out for an athletic competition; unemployed asbestos-removal worker Tony, who's trying to use this cruel TV twist of fate to unite his family; crazed conspiracy theorist Franklin; and Jeff, an artist who's dying of testicular cancer -- and who also happens to be Dawn's high school sweetheart.
SERIES 7's authentically television-like feel is augmented by its story being told entirely through such TV conventions as bumpers, interviews, voiceovers, cutaway footage, dramatic re-enactments of events by doubles, and exciting tag lines ("Real people...in real danger...in a fight for their lives!").
But the film's brilliant craftsmanship wouldn't be nearly as effective without the power of the fine cast's performances, particularly Brooke Smith; her riveting performance makes Dawn the emotional center of SERIES 7: THE CONTENDERS.
Surpassed My Expectations in Every Way. This movie is for people who like their comedies so black that the light from the screen can barely escape the film's gravitational pull.Fortunately, I'm one of those people, and I found the film to be hilarious beyond my wildest dreams.
Most importantly, the movie is presented exactly like a reality show which eventually draws the viewer into suspending their disbelief and accepting the ludicrous world these characters inhabit.
Finally, the icing on the cake is that as ridiculous as everything is, you realize that American society isn't too far off from this extreme today, and that gives the film the added bite of seriousness that propels it above being simply entertaining and makes it a true satire, This film is even more impressive considering the fact that the idea was conceived 5 years ago before the reality craze began.I encourage people to watch Series 7 once, it's destined to become a cult classic.
That's what makes reality television such a joke, and so in a roundabout way of saying things the performances here are good because the actors are good at capturing the melodramatic mannerisms of the contestants at large.
Merritt Wever and Glenn Fitzgerald do an equally good job as the teenage girl and the cancer patient, the former being the most likable person in the cast and the latter having all of the best lines and being the most interesting of all the characters.My favorite thing about this film, however, has to be the momentum of it.
There are films out there that are sick and that you never really WANT to watch again, but at the same time you feel you should and can't help but feel the need to sit through it, but Series 7: The Contenders plays all of it's cards in one sitting and as a result you really don't feel any desire to absorb any of it.
This film is many things - an insight into the future of Reality TV - a very funny black comedy - and a touching story of people forced beyond the edge of reason.Recommended if you love or hate Reality TV shows, the film is set as back to back episodes of series 7 of The Contenders, an American show where the current champion and five randomly selected challengers have to kill or be killed - and the winner gets to appear in the next series.Proof, if proof were needed, that a good film with a good script does not need well-known actors to be a success..
Unfortunately, the plot is hugely flawed and fails to make a definitive statement.The director fails to decide if the movie should be satirical or a series look at reality t.v taken to the nth degree.
`Reality TV' is founded on P T Barnum's famous dictum `Nobody went broke underestimating public taste.' `Series 7  The Contenders' simply takes the idea to its extreme  a program where contestants hunt each other down, not in the wild, but in suburbia, the survivor being declared the winner (oddly, the only prize seems to be survival).
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.
The movie dragged on for what seemed like an eternity, whether this was an intentional ploy by the makers to encourage audience participation in wanting to see the 'contenders' killed I do not know.Filmed in the style of Blair Witch meets The Running Man (the actors trying to act like they're not acting and killing each other) and using what looked like hi-8 as a medium, this movie did have a promising start.In between the scenes of tension or action were several bio's of each of the contenders.
Series 7: The Contenders The best part of watching people kill each other on TV is betting on who the winner will be.By the way, the returning champ in this dark comedy is not a sure bet.If Dawn (Brooke Smith) survives the next round of the kill-or-be-killed reality show The Contenders, her and her unborn baby will go free.However, included in the other 5 random contestants is Dawn's ailing ex-boyfriend (Glenn Fitzgerald) who wants her to be the one who terminates him.Meanwhile, the other contestants accumulate weapons and begin stalking the title-holder.Things get worse when Dawn goes into labor.Narrated by Will Arnett, this 2001 satire of the-then fledgling genre is told entirely through reality camera lens - a method that can be comical and constrictive on the narrative.Fortunately, the violence and soundtrack help round the edges.Incidentally, if contestants sang while killing, this show would be even bigger.Yellow Lightvidiotreviews.blogspot.ca.
Up until the end, it felt a bit similar to Battle Royale (2000), though both movies have their own style and methodology.In the end, with the people cheering on the killing, and looking on not in shock, but in awe that the camera is on them, this may be targeted more against the culture that creates such reality programming, rather than the program itself.
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.
There have been many films about a killing game but this one takes the premise to new heights of preposterousness with contestants running around town, calling people out, shooting at each other in public, etc.
While no mention is made of time one can only assume that this is the America of some terrible future where television companies have acquired the power to force randomly selected individuals to compete on the show.The film is well made and therein lies the rub; it is EXACTLY like a reality TV show and I personally have never managed to sit through more than ten minutes of shows like "Survivor" or "Boot camp"..
The basic plot is that you have 1 raining champ and 6 more people chosen at random to take part in a kill or be killed shown, This movie really takes the mickey out of the current trend of 'Real Life' shown like Big Brother, The contestants do not all want to be in the show, the are picked at random and have no say in the matter, If they don't play one of the others will kill them.
While watching the movie I got flash backs of things like the blair witch project in the way it was filmed and because of this it is unlikley that we will see the actors that where in this in anything else for quite a while, even though they all did very well..
With all the current furore over shows like "Big Brother 2" and "Survivor", et al, it was interesting to see a film tackle the topic of just how far is too far to push the reality-show genre.Simply put, you'll either love or hate this film.
With the glut of these "reality" shows on T.V. lately, it was only a matter of time before a movie like this came out.
The primary error with the film is that despite trying to look like a reality TV show, you never get the convincing feeling you're watching one.
Brilliant idea, you think but when characters such as Tony (Kaycheck) are stupid enough to remain in their homes despite knowing they're in the game, only leaving when they come under fire from other competitors, you know you're watching something that has something to say on a certain subject (reality TV) but is not putting in enough effort to make it a subjective experience.There is a distinct lack of empathy (perhaps deliberately so) towards Dawn (Smith) when she tells us her father is 'buried around here, somewhere' before insulting him.
So we are to believe the government is promoting the use of firearms as a means of entertainment instead as a means of protection  which is also in bad taste.I know it sounds like a contradiction but the most disturbing things amongst all this low budget but high realism violence are actually the scenes with Jeff (Fitzgerald) and his wife and how certain elements within his life affect the overall situation of the game.
These elements help create a briskly told, interesting character study of why we as people enjoy watching reality shows.Brooke Smith is really good as Dawn.
I hereby decree that the gal known as "The Chick In The Hole in 'Silence of the Lambs'" shall now be known as "The Chick In The Hole in 'Silence of the Lambs'" AND "The Kick-Ass Pregnant Chick in 'Series 7: The Contenders"!Anyway, as for the rest of the movie: I really hated the nurse character (that's a good thing), and I liked the crazy old man (who they forgot to give a back story), as well as the goofy high school video project segment.
I couldn't stop myself from truly believing in the reality of these fictional characters.The director mentions that he re-edited the movie to give it more Fox Sports like editing and lots of loud sound effects in between scenes during the swishpans.
I was actually annoyed by the violence, by the need to show me the whole real tv broadcast, by the absence of a good plot, only to tell me things about TV I already knew.DO NOT WATCH this movie take your time to drink a beer with your friends, read a book, listen a song, kiss your girl/boyfriend, stay home, work, wash your toilet, do anything you like more or less!.
I just got back from the Wisconsin Film Fest screening of Series 7 and I can't get to sleep because I am still laughing.This movie, savage and at times brutal, is a hilarious take on the "reality" series of today.
It stayed true to form like a reality series by giving us personal interviews, life changes, family issues, background stories, "live" events, and even the "cheesy" touching music during those "very special episodes."The cast and crew nailed it with what they set out to do.
Halfway through the film I turned around to see if the rest of the audience were as thrilled to have stumbled upon such a gem and discovered that Kevin and myself were the only people who had sat it through.Series 7 is certainly dark and maybe it has a very particular taste of comedy, but I really find it difficult to believe that anyone would not find it wonderfully funny and masterfully acted by a great ensemble of unknowns.
What this film has going for it (opposed to most low budget movies)is the people involved seemed to actually give a damn about it.The cast is superb, the camera work and lighting is way above what I expected, the writing superb and the sick parody of existing realty shows is outstanding.
In short: totally watchable A large portion of the movie is made up interviews from the contestants (the bits I normally fast forward on real reality shows) but they are well acted, superbly scripted and totally engaging.The production team hasn't tried to over-extend itself and makes skillful use of pre-shot footage and the cut sequence graphics are simple but clean.It reminds me of the UK Office in that a lot of the acting is very subtle, characters faces are calm masks but their hands (just visible edge of shot) tremble with anxiety.Don't expect slow motion, explosions, CGI or bullet-time.
A reality TV series (The Contenders) randomly selects people to attempt to kill each other; only one will survive.
It forces the viewer to observe himself and his own act of viewing; as I watched, I became caught up in the television series, and had to stop myself and say 'waitaminnit, this is a movie.' The parody of reality TV is vicious, and actually much more complicated than at first it appears.
Of course this won't ever happen (I hope) but this film (shot on high-definition video) shows how it might look.The acting is just great...especially Smith and Glenn Fitzgerald as another contestant.
however, an exception is to made with this film 'series 7 the contenders.' i despise reality shows in any format and feel myself lessoned whenever i watch one.
I thought the film was going to be like a real movie, just the same old stuff, but SERIES 7 is much different.The whole segment where they were telling the people that they were picked for this show or whatever was pretty fake looking, because they're chasing some guy and he's all scared and stuff, but as soon as they slap a gun in his hand...this look comes over his face and it just kinda says "yeah, I understand now".
This is a great film about a hypothetical reality TV series where randomly selected members of the public have to try and kill each other.
Who's going to win?The movie is of course a satire of all of the (increasingly extreme) reality shows on TV.
At no point does the film deviate from pretending to be a TV series, which allows the viewer to get the intended feeling of a show rather than a movie.The characters in this TV `show' are small parodies of the real ones you see.
This movie is amazing in how much like MTV's Real World or CBS's Survivor, it shows that people will do allmost anything when they have a camera thrust in their lives.
Turns out it has all the elements of a great movie, awesome believable and compassionate characters that you can actually care about, a really cool, moving story line, and a few rather unpredictable twists (course having read The Running Man i kinda had a feeling how it was going to end.)  This is a must see people!
In an obvious attempt of a satire on the reality phenomenon of television, this movie failed big time.