Title: The Task
Directed by: Alex Orwell
Starring: Alexandra Staden, Victor McGuire and Marc Pickering
Running time: 94 minutes, Rated R
Six people are abducted off the streets and taken to an abandoned prison only to be told they are the newest contestants of a not-yet-aired game show that they had auditioned for several months ago. They must complete several tasks and spend the night in the prison in order to win the game; the catch is that you only win if you survive.
So this group of 20-somethings are in a prison, and like the short lived MTV game show Fear where it’s supposed to be the producers playing mind games with the contestants and there’s really nothing to fear, which is revealed to be b.s. and there’s really the ghost of the sadistic warden picking off the contestants and crew. Did I spoil the twist? No, because it’s all given away when you watch the trailer; the rest of the movie is just filler.
The DVD extras include the trailer and a featurette with cast and crew interviews.
The film reminds me of that episode of Tales From the Crypt starring the late Morton Downey Jr, however that episode was actually scary and it summed up everything in a half an hour. There were too many characters, and they were all greedy, vapid schmucks whom you don’t really care about anyway.
To summarize, it’s an un-scary horror film with a tired recycled plot.
Total Rating: D-
Reviewed by JM Willis
