The Horror Show
The Human Race
by Stevie Kopas
Imagine waking up in a mysterious place, crowded with strangers, and a little voice inside your head…it’s your voice…but you’re not talking to yourself…somebody else is in your own head. The voice explains the rules of the sick game you’ve suddenly become a part of… “Get lapped twice, you die. Step off the path, you die. Touch the grass, die. Race…or die.”
The Human Race borrows elements from other horror movies and integrates them in such a way that you’re not distracted by the often overused tropes. The “kidnapping”, the “strangers forced to participate in a game”, the “killer hidden amidst the group of survivors”, “killing others to survive”, and the list goes on. However long that list of borrowed elements might have been, The Human Race is unique in its own way for several reasons. One of my favorite things about the movie, is that throughout, you have this feeling that an alien force just has to be involved. But the directors and writers don’t make it corny or over-involved. They leave the assumption making up to the viewer and right up to the very end, you’re still wondering exactly what the hell is going on. (But don’t worry, you do finally find out, and it’s not disappointing.)
When the film first starts, you’re introduced to military buddies Justin (Paul McCarthy-Boyington) and Eddie (Eddie McGee). Eddie is a disabled veteran, and speaks to disabled children at the school where Justin works as sort of an “inspiration” to them. Later on, the two friends are seemingly “abducted,” along with a bunch of other people and forced to participate in a race that is actually life or death.
These abductors (I’ll refer to them as that from now on) definitely do not discriminate. There are people of all races, ages, shapes, sizes, both genders, and what I found especially interesting was the inclusion of people with disabilities. There are deaf people, people missing limbs, in wheelchairs, etc. I thought this was fantastic and not something I’ve seen done before. Especially since the film portrays the “fit” as the assholes who will hurt anyone (including children and pregnant women) and the disabled as the triumphant. None of the characters in this film are safe. And I truly appreciated that.
Some of the acting of the secondary characters was a bit sub-par, and sometimes the dialogue felt forced and unbelievable, but I was able to look past it because I truly wanted to know who the hell the abductors were, and why this was happening! If a film, despite its flaws, can make me care about the story in such a way as this, then it’s a good film in my eyes.
Eddie truly was my favorite character, and I think it was meant to be that way from the start for everyone that watches The Human Race. The ending is fantastic and even a bit comedic. There are small bits of extremely subtle comedy strewn throughout the film, as well as some heavy sci-fi elements, but the violence, gore, and insights into the monsters inside all of us humans make for a well done low-budget horror film. (There are also a couple of truly fantastic kill scenes.)
If you’ve got the itch for a fun horror film with a different take on the “death by elimination” film, then The Human Race comes highly recommended from me.
Stevie Kopas, HMS
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