Cruel World (2005) Online

I found that this movie had a very original storyline. A little bit of 'Real World' mixed with 'I Know What You Did Last Summer'. This was an Indie movie at best. It seemed more surreal when it came to the 'cruel' scenes of murder, as far as acting. Everyone's acting was exactly how anyone would react in the situations they were put through. Especially, when it came to the meet and greet sessions pool side. Edward Furlong plays a great villain in my book. The Asian girl kicked ass fighting for her life. Thats the way to do it. If I was put in that situation and I knew martial arts I would use it too. The action was well placed, and the music kept you thinking, "Uh oh, somethings getting ready to go down." Whats best about this movie is that the music didn't overtake the dialogue and action in this film. I recommend this movie for all Indie film buffs. Watch and Enjoy!

I saw this at Screamfest where it was playing as the opening night movie. Having not heard anything about it before, I was surprised by how cool it was. Totally unpredictable from start to finish. The crowd went crazy from laughing, to gasping, to yelling at the screen. I told some friends about it who are way into Ed Furlong. He was awesome. Scary fun. A total trip. Let's face it, reality television is totally played out. I recommend it for anyone who loves to hate reality TV! I'm a girl, but have to admit that Jaime Pressly looked hot ;) I'm trying to find out who did the music at the end, because it sounded like someone famous. No spoilers, but the ending made me wonder if they're gonna do part two.

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.

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.

Dear movie-goers, How I wish somebody had warned me not to watch this movie... That's why I'm trying to do the same for you. DON'T watch it. It's sooo bad you won't believe, without even being bad enough for you to laugh at it. It's really a movie that insults any possible gray-cell you have. I watched it at a Movie Festival in Portugal, FANTASPORTO, a Festival specialized in horror-sci-fi-alternative movies, therefore you could be expecting almost anything from the selection of movies. But this one is just a plain teenage slashing movie, and just so that you won't think that my appreciation of the movie is due to my general taste in movies, I can tell you that compared to any "I know what you did last Summer", or "Halloween", or such, those movies are works of pure cinematic art compared to "Cruel World". I'm sorry if I'm not being very clear about why I didn't like it, but I wouldn't know where to start: could it be because there is not a drop of originality whatever? No plot? Because the actors suck? Because the director has no idea of the difference between a movie and a cucumber salad? Or maybe the totally misplaced soundtrack? I don't know... Edward Furlong, what happened to you?

This film is a rare gem! It's b-grade horror exactly how it should be done! The fact that a bunch of celebrity wannabes would do whatever an all-powerful voice told them to do is DEFINITELY believable and the young Jaime Pressly (from My Name is Earl fame) is a sight to behold!

Edward Furlong plays the role of a deranged killer perfectly and as the story unfolds you may even find yourself sympathizing with him just a little bit... (awwwwwwwww) This is not your typical horror flick - you'll have no idea who will and won't survive!

It's no Terminator II but then again there isn't nearly as much money behind it so give the small guys a go and check this one out!

Plenty of gore for the sickos out there and plenty of tense moments for suspense fans and well made film for the budget - horror fans look no further than CRUEL WORLD

This is what needs to happen on most reality shows.. then they might actually be watchable. Eddie Furlong captured the essence of a lunatic with great passion and enthusiasm. I've seen this movie about a hundred times now, and will probably watch it 100 more; its just one of those movies that never gets old. I don't think they could have hired a more perfect cast to fulfill this original heartwarming film. This movie is full of quotes that will be remembered throughout film history. Quotes such as "You win some, you lose some." and "Im the bad boy your mother warned you about.", and who could forget "I want Jenny.". If it was possible I would rate this movie an 11 out of 10, and would nominate Cruel World for BEST MOVIE EVER MADE.

If you like terror, blood and sex, then here's a shocker to sink your teeth into. Cruel World kicked ass. I recently purchased this DVD at Best Buy and i loved every minute of it. It had a killer cast to die for. Im a huge fan of Edward Furlong and he was at his menacing best. Picture hot college students including Susan Ward (The In Crowd), Laura Ramsey (Venom and The Covenant) and Sanoe Lake (Blue Crush) and six other gorgeous co-eds, pitted against the diabolical Edward Furlong in one of the most gruesome slasher films today. This movie really rocked! It's like Saw meets Fear Factor. I strongly urge anyone who comes across this film to check it out. Its definitely a party movie and reality TV at its best!

Two brothers somehow sucker a bunch of young people into believing they're part of a reality game show in which they do whatever challenge the mastermind comes up with. Eventually it becomes apparent that the stakes are life and death, and the contestants start getting killed off, sometimes by each other.

Perhaps the craziest part of this movie is Edward Furlong as the lead, Philip Markham, who overacts at every turn as he screams at the contestants from his control room, where he chain smokes and eats gas station food. His performance is not one of his finest, but given that he appears to be past his prime at this point, he does deliver something that is, at very least, entertaining (not always for the right reasons, though).

As others have pointed out, Markham is a fairly lazy killer. Mostly he just yells a lot. It is often up to his simpleton brother, Claude, to carry out the dirty work for him.

The big question is whether or not the flick is worth seeing. Well, for me, the movie came with four others in a small package that was located at the bottom of a bargain bin. Given what I paid for it, it wasn't too bad.

Philip (Edward Furlong) is a reality show loser who decides to set up his own reality show with nine contestants who will be killed off one at a time. Fairly standard stuff. Edward Furlong brings an added dimension to the feature, but not enough to save a mediocre script.

Available on DVD multi-packs.

Guide: F-word. Brief sex. No nudity

CRUEL WORLD is a very silly little comedy horror film made on an indie budget. The setting is a mansion in the Hollywood hills, where a typically maladjusted Edward Furlong (yep, the kid from TERMINATOR 2) takes a bunch of airheads hostage and forces them to play in his deadly game show. The acting is very cheesy and the story non-existent; just endless bikini beauties paraded around mixed with the occasional disappointing gore scene. Pity Furlong - who I like - for being reduced to this level.

Edward Furlong reaches critical mass in this roll, which is buttered with gargantuan heaviness. Though the story is famished for what anyone might term logical structure, Mr. Furlong seems hungry to chew his way through every scene. Some might think he's becoming too big for such movies, squeezing into them like 5-pounds of marbled pork in a two-pound sausage casing. But I think he's a dollop of awesome; a soupçon of superb; and the thick, calorie-laden icing on what might otherwise be a rather slender cinematic cake. It doesn't matter that the director seems to have "written" this while shooting it, nor that the film runs out without any explicable ending. It has the enormous talent of Edward Furlong, who feasts on the meager dramatic opportunities as if they were a banquet.

The formula for Horror is very simple. Outrageous characters, creepy music, blood, and lots of beautiful people, but Cruel World is one of those rare Horror films that actually has a story worth telling. After being scorned on a reality dating show, Philip Markham (Edward Furlong) has decided to create his own show. A fear factor type competition with a one million dollar reward. The only problem is when you lose the game, you lose your life, a stipulation the contestants weren't previously aware of. This was a fun film for me, because not only is it original, but it has a cast full of seldom seen 90s teen idols. My regular readers know by now that I consider Edward Furlong to be one of the hardest working, most under appreciated actors in all of Hollywood, but to be honest, he wasn't anything special in this film. Furlong's character is one of those evil geniuses that really seems to be all bark and no bite. The true stars of this film are the lesser known contestants like, Andrew Keegan and Sanoe Lake. The contestants are all oblivious and watching them trying to figure things out under the guise of winning a competition was really clever. The contestants and the competitions are really what helps to distinguish this film from all the other slash films. While including the four elements, and finding a lot of reasons for the pretty people to take their cloths off, there is actually a better than average story here and an experienced cast. The combination of the two make this film much more entertaining than the slasher films you've become accustom to. While I was disappointed in the fact that Edward Furlong couldn't carry this film in the way I've become accustom to seeing, there were still plenty of great performances and exciting moments. If you're a big Horror fan like I am, and you're looking for something a little bit different, give Cruel World a try.

First off I've watched a LOT of badly made cheap 'horror' films and this is not the worst I've seen. In fact, the plot is interesting, the acting reasonable and the dialogue could be worse. However, there are a number of faults with this movie that would prompt me to dissuade anyone from watching it. My biggest issue comes in the form of characterisation. The group of would be reality show stars starts off as a mixed bag of people with seemingly good representation of various ethnic/cultural groups, but, they are horrendously stereotypical e.g. the Asian contestant is the shy, intelligent one whilst the gay character generally fits in with many other movies' portrayal of the token joke character (whom we later find is also backstabbing and generally less decent than any other male character...figures). Furthermore, the story is often lacking in structure, the so-called tasks that contestants must face are not well thought through and this generally leads to boredom throughout. Overall I'd say this film started relatively well and ended much the same as any other cheap and tacky horror movie, I wouldn't bother with this one again and to be honest wish I hadn't in the first place.

"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 gave this movie a 1 out of 10, only because 0 is not an option. First up, it's an attempt to cash in on the popularity of reality television. Just like Series 7: The Contenders - which is brilliant, or House of Nine - which was still pretty good, you get a reality TV show based on people having to kill each other to win. Except this movie is crap. It relies too heavily on flashes of gore - which, to be honest, are not much - especially to justify the claims of sadistic gore - and little on any actual thought process. I'm not gonna go into details and post any spoilers - watching the movie itself will spoil any self respect you might have. All I will say is that Ed Furlong was ridiculous in Terminator 2; he was a complete douche bag in American History X - which means that he can only really go up. Except, he filmed this movie and established a new low for himself.

This movie was thrown together without any attention to story line.

It was a sorry excuse for cinema with no surprises and no excuse to be made in the first place.

The slashing and thrashing scenes were dreadfully predictable and this movie is void of any merit. It was an independent effort that should not have been made.

I liked the premise of making fun of reality shows but in turn, the movie gave us less cinema and drama than most reality shows in the first place.

Somehow it achieved the best promotion for reality TV I've ever seen.

Mike Wagner

What can i say positive about this movie? Absolutely nothing. Acting was completely crap, storyline was completely crap. The only good acting probably came from Edward Furlong which was slightly believable as a psychopath, but other than that this movie was the biggest waste of 90 mins I've ever seen. It is violent, though nothing u wouldn't have already seen watching The Devils Rejects, which beats this movie by very far. SPOILER: Some of the violence in this movie was actually laughable, in a sick kinda way, when the blonde cowboy kid runs towards the fence, gets electrocuted and ends up flying right off it, looked almost comical. Agree with me you may not, but one things for sure, this movie absolutely sucked.

Two moron brothers create a reality series in which nine people live in a house full of cameras and compete against each other in challenges, the winner gets a million dollars at the end, but if they get voted out or lose a challenge they die. Horror movies based on reality TV are very common and they always seem to be the same thing, cameras, retarded murderers etc. The movie was entertaining but the plot wasn't at all original, much like the way the contestants die no creativity, making it very cliché. The acting was acceptable though to put in a good point, the biggest star Jamie Pressley doesn't have a big role in the film, even though her name is plastered all over the DVD cover. It was also lame that the Asian character pulled out Kung fu moves *sigh* poor steryotped Mikko. 4/10

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.

Disposable twenty-somethings, each a stereotypical self-absorbed kid with designs on winning a cool million on this reality show which is a cross between Survivor and Real World, find themselves in quite the dilemma:the producer of the show they represent is a deranged sicko, his psychopathy a result of his dismissal on a "Bachellorette" type of reality show, using his equally nutty brother, who hangs on his every command, to carry out a massacre, because you see once a contestant is eliminated or "voted off", they really are ELIMINATED.

The film's sole novelty is seeing Edward Furlong as the nutcase producer, who opens the film stalking Jaime Pressly(..I guess she was friends with the director or something, stopping by because she owed him a favor, I guess), successful in getting revenge for how she duped him in front of millions of viewers for another. Furlong sits in this room, watching monitors placed throughout the mansion and it's grounds, his voice barking orders and teases to the contestants, before and after they discover what happens once you are a loser.

The games become more and more clever and violent as times goes by(..not enough to satisfy, however), the remaining survivors trying to form a plan to escape their unfortunate predicament. The cast chosen are all attractive, with athletic, toned bodies, their attitudes and mores appropriate for each stock character, represented by the actors / actresses without a hint of depth..they are designed specifically one-dimensional, representing the hunky bad boy, hick cowboy, Latina chick with an attitude, gay and slightly chubby goofball, shy Asian girl with martial arts skills, black intellectual(..his dialogue, particularly when he speaks "scholarly" is as artificial as it gets), hot beach bunny who comes from money and is easy to seduce, etc.

Don't worry, the film also provides the viewer with the token blonde "final girl" in Laura Ramsey(..one of the new horror "it girls", having starred in such recent flicks as "The Covenant", "Venom", and "The Ruins") so that all the slasher guidelines are fulfilled. The violence is tame(..the usual beheading, followed by the head roll down a hill, an arm taken off, finger hacked away, all presented in such a way that look completely underwhelming) and I think one can tell that most of the money went to Furlong instead of proper make-up effects trumping our desire to see these characters die in a properly horrible manner. We aren't even given any nudity as I guess these girls were too prudish to bother flashing us some skin for burdening ourselves through this crap. The film's goal is obvious..a black comic parody on reality programming, and using the slasher template as a means to kill off these greedy partyers who enjoy the lavish location before terror descends upon them. Furlong is often remarking to himself, inside his "headquarters" regarding what his future victims discuss with themselves, and his character, devilish grin intact, peeps on the sexual(..and bathroom) activities of the females. The reactions of the characters as they are terrorized might amuse, since I'm sure many of us have fantasized, in times past, the demise of these immature reality show types who back-stab and bemoan each other for financial gain or if just for the hell of it. Susan Ward is your eye candy for the movie, the sex pot who gets a little "off the top" when she attempts to escape from the grounds. A constant is near-escapes and how Furlong, time and again, prevails to stop them in the nick of time. Daniel Franzese is Furlong's unstable, mentally handicapped and easily manipulative brother Claude. Another movie pointing out poor Furlong's faltering career.