Oh reality shows. And movies about them. It's kind of hard to shock us now, because so many shows do just about anything possible. That said, Human Zoo tries. It tells the story of a show broadcast on the interwebs where contestants see how long they can stay in solitary confinement to win a million dollar prize.

Robert Carradine is in this as The Producer. He's finally taking a page out of his dad's book, showing up in movies for a few moments just so they can put his name on the poster. Here's hoping we see more of this soon.

If you like seeing people be degraded in prison cells, then this film is for you. After seeing Japanese reality shows like Prize Contest Life on Susunu! Denpa Shonen, where a man named Nasubi was quarantined by himself with no clothes and forced to enter contests to survive for 15 months while 17 million fans watched, this seems like a normal day.

"Human Zoo" has a pretty cool concept but somehow the film loses the ability to manifest Seymore's vision. The story starts out by really dragging on the runtime with pointless character introduction and "faux contestant intros" which could have been sped along to allow for more development of the actual reality show story. Plus choosing a solitary confinement theme where everything is dependent upon the actors ability to portray an authentic psychological conflict and deep emotional outburst on a level that will connect with audiences is a big risk.

In this risky reality show concept a lot of the film becomes encumbered by clunky improvisational melodrama that very few in the cast seem capable to project convincingly. Still there are a few stand out actors who seem to have a grasp on what is being asked of them and really sell their characters. Those were the moments I really got into the story. Plus about 50 minutes in it becomes clear what the true goal of this social experiment really is meant to be.

As far as horror elements, there is no real aspects of risk/reward that would allow for true suspense. There are deaths but they fall a bit flat because there is no build up and no real feeling of anxiety that holds you to the scenes of death to allow any sympathy for the characters. Mostly it all just plays out like actor sizzle reels. "Human Zoo" falls short of expectations but as always check it out for yourself. Just go in forwarned.

There is no story. You kept waiting for something to happen to the contestants when they quit (something to earn the "horror" genre this so-called movie was given)....but nothing. Reminds me of a teen age date night where things get exciting, only to get blue balled in the end.

I truly feel dumber now after seeing this movie.