If you're going to make a movie that lambastes crappy reality TV shows, you should be sure it's not going to suck so much it'll make the audience wish they were watching a crappy reality TV show instead. That's a lesson these filmmakers obviously never learned, because they churned out a film that makes VH1's Flavor of Love look like Masterpiece Theatre.This astoundingly idiotic story goes wrong from the very beginning. It's about a group of college kids who think they're participating in a reality show for a million dollars but are really the subjects of a madman's murderous scheme, where getting voted off the show means getting helped into an early grave. But before we get to any of that, the first 10 minutes of so of the movie is spent bizarrely focused on the backstory of the madman. It turns out the insane Philip (a bloated and doughy Edward Furlong) had been a contestant on a reality show like The Bachelorette, where he was rejected. So, Cruel World starts with Philip showing back up and killing the woman who rejected him (Jaime Pressly) and the other guy she picked (Sam Page), and THEN the college kids arrive and the actual plot of Philip killing them begins.I'm not sure I've ever seen another horror movie that starts out by not only explaining exactly who the killer is and what he's doing, but also immediately kills off the characters that should be his main target. It's like watching an episode of the original Star Trek where Kirk and Spock get disintegrated by the Klingons in the first scene and the rest of the show is watching a bunch of those guys in red shirts getting picked off one by one. I'm not sure if these filmmakers thought they were being clever by doing it this way or what. The effect, though, is to rid the story of any possible, mystery, suspense, tension or intrigue.The only way to recover from that sort of colossal storytelling mistake would be to make the slayings of the college students incredibly violent and compelling and the satire of crappy reality TV shows tremendously clever and sharp. None of that happens. What the viewer gets are unbelievably feeble pastiches of reality show conventions like "alliances", "elimination challenges" and "drunken hook-ups". The satirical extent of the script is to have characters reference specific reality shows in their dialog. There's also practically no sex or nudity in this movie and the violent scenes are so pathetic it's like watching Gargamel try and kill The Smurfs.The college kids in Cruel World are so shallow and contrived, they make Spencer and Heidi from The Hills look like characters out of Tolstoy. I can't really tell if any of them can act or if they're just natural douchebags. Edward Furlong, however, is genuinely pitiful. He looks and performs like a cleaned-up homeless guy who's still under the influence of various chemical substances. Furlong doesn't need to be making a movie about reality TV shows. He needs to be on a reality TV show - the one where celebrities go to rehab. The kid from Terminator 2 turning into this kind of a shambling mess is a more amazing transformation than Arnold Schwarzenegger becoming Governor of California.Cruel World is so atrocious, it's not like it was made by people who had never made a movie before. It's like these filmmakers had never seen a movie before. Or a play. Or a book. Or even a puppet show. This is the type of film where 6th grade dropouts watch it and say "I could make something better than this". So, unless these filmmakers were all 5th grade dropouts…they should really be embarrassed by this disaster.Unless you're planning to show Cruel World to a child actor as a cautionary tale (watch out or you could end up like Edward Furlong!), there's no reason for anyone to rent this DVD.

The cover of the Blu-ray for this movie proclaimed that Edward Furlong is fun to watch. You'll notice this isn't really praise for the movie itself. There's a reason for that: The movie is pretty damned stupid. Furlong does create a rather unique sort of serial killer character, but there's a reason this hasn't been done before. He's a master of ceremonies who does barely any killing himself, nor does he set up elaborate traps or make contestants kill each other for the most part (which would have made more sense thematically). He has a dumb goon do the killings on his behalf. The goon never really makes any sense in terms of his motivations nor does he tie into the themes of the movie in a discernible way.Furlong's character is presumably supposed to be a commentary on the exploitative nature of TV production. It isn't very subtle, but this is a slasher film, or at least tries to be, so I won't begrudge them that. The only other characters of any significance are the contestants, who are of course a bunch of whiny idiots who only care about being on TV and all consciously adopt personas based on previously successful reality TV stars.This sounds clever in theory, but doesn't work in principle. This is partly because the villain mainly sits at a monitor yelling stuff into the intercom, partially because the actors are mostly bad and partially because many of its points that it seems to be trying to make about reality shows get lost in ridiculous set-ups. There are some legit criticism to be made here, but the movie mostly misses the mark. It doesn't help that I wasn't sold on its resolution either because of the writing or the the acting. I'm going to go ahead an give this a three, because the movie did seem to be making some effort to be good, just not enough.

"Cruel World" is a thoroughly disappointing slasher without too much going for it.**SPOILERS**Arriving at a secluded mansion, Jenny, (Laura Ramsey) Bobby, (Andrew Keegan) Ashley, (Susan Ward) Mikko, (Nicole Bilderback) Ruby, (Sanoe Lake) Jack, (Joel Michaely) Collin, (Brian Geraghty) Gina, (Aimee Garcia) and Techno, (Nate Parker) learn they have been selected for a reality show to take place there, and set upon trying to form alliances between themselves. When the games start the next day, they immediately start to question the meaning and intent behind them, as they're not traditional reality show games. When it dawns on them that the losing contestants aren't been sent home but actually being murdered by the psychotic host, Philip Markham, (Edward Furlong) who is using the format to avenge his humiliation on an earlier reality show, and when the games get deadlier and their numbers dwindling, they try to get out of the situation alive.The Good News: There was a few good points to this that did make it watchable. The games that are played, which are far removed from the normal kind of games on reality shows, are enjoyable for that reason. From the trapped-in-a-coffin one, which is inherently creepy and a lot of fun, to the sword-fight and the balancing act game, this one has a ton of fun games that they play and are responsible for most of the fun parts during the film. Even some of the crazier ones, from the race around the house wearing prison outfits and a gigantic ball-and-chain around their ankles or a midnight paint-ball fight, without really showing anything too graphic, are somewhat fun just because they, like the others, have no real point to being here but provide some fun nonetheless. It's also a lot easier to get into them since they do manage to take up the majority of the film's running time, almost to the point of exclusively all else, and the fact that they have such a high priority is a great factor. The deaths we get in here, while not at all that graphic, do provide the basis for a really decent body count, as there's an impaling with a sword through the stomach, a decapitation, an arm lopped off, a slit throat and several thrown into a pool and drowned, which are a lot better than they sound but still don't have a whole lot of normal slasher goodness to them. The last plus here is the fun finale, which is an extended chase through the house and adjoining grounds which make for a couple thrilling mini-chases, a great death and some other surprises. All these here are what make the film entertaining.The Bad News: There was a couple really severe flaws to this one that hold it down. One of the biggest, and perhaps the single most egregious one to be had, is the fact that this one features a killer that is so lazy he can't be bothered to get his hands dirty and do the actual work himself. Despite appearing clearly as the mastermind behind the whole situation, which is really quite easy to see, the fact remains that he spends the majority of the time hiding out in a control room smoking and barking orders at everyone, from his henchman or to the contestants, and really only has a direct hand in one of the deaths, which is done through a gunshot no less. Granted, there's two earlier ones but still, the bulk of the kills, which is the contestants, is handled by a henchman, making it appear as if the killer is too good and mighty to get down to business when it counts, and that makes it quite easy to be completely unafraid of the killer when he acts like that. It's also not hard to do that when it's clearly visible that the women are much more physically intimidating than he is, as the few times he gets to interact with them the women are shown to not be that much smaller, merely inches, than he is, and these just do wonders for the credibility of the killer in here. Another big factor to this one is the fact that the games on here don't make much sense. Granted, they're fun to watch, but as the characters rightly point out, there's no rhyme or reason to what they're doing, which is just more confusing when it's never once brought up as to what he's trying to do here. Strictly seeking revenge for the humiliation should've ended with the early kills with no reason to go after the ones here for the show, yet nothing comes out as to what the purpose of the events here mean. The last flaw to this one is the fact that there's so much censoring going on it really sticks out in here. The constant teasing of the nudity gets really old, especially when he comments on it from the monitors but doesn't show it. From the proposed lesbian experience in the hot-tub, which shows them running off pulling off their shirts, cuts to his comment then back to show them already in there covered up is a big tease, and a shot of them topless sunbathing is again commented upon rather than shown, and there's also the film's tame kills to count towards that as well. These here are the film's real problems.The Final Verdict: Not a whole lot really going on for this one, as there's just too much going against it for the few positives to really stick out. Really only give this one a shot if you're into the reality-TV slashers or a fan of the creative side, otherwise this is best to be avoided or approached with extreme caution.Rated R: Graphic Language and Graphic Violence

I'm one of those people who try very hard to see the good in everything, even movies, and this film "Cruel World" deserves far more credit than it seems to get, as it is actually rather good. Part of the reason people seem to think it is terrible may be because, whether intentionally or not, the film sets about mocking Reality Television (which is a major part of the film), so while you may watch the film and think that it is rubbish, perhaps that is what the creators want you to think.The premise of the film is an interesting one. A jilted loser, Philip Markham (Edward Furlong) of a bachelorette-style reality show seeks revenge on the woman who turned him down (Jaime Pressley), by killing her and her hot husband (who doesn't appear to be credited unfortunately), then starts his own reality show, where one by one the contestants are killed off - usually by Markham's dimwitted brother, Claude, leaving only the "final girl" (Laura Ramsey). The reality show is presumably fake, that much is not revealed, but it is similar to "Big Brother" in which the nine contestants are all in a confined house and are made to do tasks which determine who gets "sent home".The contestants are certainly a varied group of people, and most have distinct personalities, which is nice to see. Laura Ramsey plays the "final girl" Jenny, and though she is nice, as per usual in many horror movies (horror is one of several genres that are merged in this film), she is rather bland. However, it would seem that Laura Ramsey is off to a nice start in her acting career. Andrew Keegan, in yet another obscure film, plays the "hero", Bobby, and does so with his usual gusto. The lovely Nicole Bilderbeck as Mikko puts up the best fight in her death scene, but her role is relatively small, which is a shame, as for someone who made their debut in the smash hit "Clueless" she hasn't really had as big a career as the others, (she was great in "Bring It On"), but as usual she gives a terrific performance.Sanoe Lake makes her first on screen appearance since "Blue Crush", though one might wonder why she bothered, as she gets nothing to do. Brian Geraghty is terrific as the hot Southern boy Colin, who surprisingly shows the most humanity in the film, especially when placed in a "kill or be killed" situation. Joel Michaely on the other hand plays the terribly annoying gay Jack, who you cannot wait to get "voted off". As far as Edward Furlong goes, playing the villain, he does eccentric well. Daniel Franzese however sure is a step down from his role in "Mean Girls". And as for the lovely Jaime Pressley, she adds a touch of sophistication to the film, and as usual gives a terrific performance.Even if you don't believe that the film is smarter than it sets out to be, at least enjoy some near-mindless fun for 90 minutes.