About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

As mindless and contrived as most reality shows.



Pros

• A fun concept

Cons

• An improbable concept
• Corny, overacted villains
• Clichés upon clichés
• Not scary nor particularly thrilling
• Jaime Pressly appears for only 15 minutes.

Description

• Starring Edward Furlong, Jaime Pressly, Andrew Keegan, Daniel Franzese, Laura Ramsey, Susan Ward, Sanoe Lake, Aimee Garcia
• Directed by Kelsey T. Howard
• Rated R
• DVD Release Date: April 8, 2008

Guide Review - 'Cruel World' DVD Review

The Movie

Cruel World recognizes that reality television is ripe for parody, but unfortunately, so it Cruel World. It takes an intriguing concept -- a madman running a fatal reality show with unsuspecting contestants -- and turns it into a dull, dumb retread of every other horror movie.

Philip (Edward Furlong) is a loser who was jilted on a Bachelor-like dating show by Catherine (Jaime Pressly) and now seeks revenge by not only killing her, but also by setting up a fake reality show and offing the kids who take part. The reasoning is a little skewed, but I guess you can reason it away by the fact that he's bat-poop crazy. Fans of Pressly should be aware that, although she headlines the film, she appears for only about 15 minutes. The rest is devoted to Philip and his dim-witted brother Claude bumping off the contestants one by one.

I think everyone can relate to the desire to kill reality show personalities, so Cruel World has a premise that keeps you watching, but it misses an opportunity to craft interesting "games" designed to kill the loser.

Instead, the contests are bland, realistic reality-styled games (run a race with shackles on, eat cow innards) in which the loser is carted off elsewhere and secretly killed. As Philip explains, "When you get voted off this show, you get voted off for good!"

The contestants aren't immediately aware of the behind-the-scenes death toll, so we're subjected to them going through the standard reality show rigmarole -- forming alliances, drinking, hooking up -- except that none of it is "real."

For a movie with a high body count, the kills in Cruel World are matter-of-fact, and it trots out every horror cliché: cartoonish villains, hapless cops, passive victims, logistical improbabilities and a lame ending that promises a sequel -- the scariest reality of all.

The DVD

No special features.

Movie: D
DVD: F