Review: 'The Human Race'

Title: THE HUMAN RACE
Year: 2014
Director: Paul Hough
Writer: Paul Hough
Starring: Paul McCarthy-Boyington, Eddie McGee, Trista Robinson

Writer/director Paul Hough wastes no time with THE HUMAN RACE. Right from the start he throws you into the middle of the action catching you off guard much in the same way he handles the characters within the film. We meet a few characters, spend a little bit of time with them and then a white flash appears on screen. Once the flash is gone we discover that a group of 80 people have somehow been transported to some type of fenced off area. What exactly is going on is unclear, but we know it’s bad.

The 80 people all come from very different backgrounds. We see a mix of races, genders, ages, people with disabilities etc. Suddenly each person begins to hear a voice in their head. The voice explains that everyone is a race against each other with a few simple rules: if you are lapped twice, you die; if you step off the path, you die; if you touch the grass, you die; race, or die. Confused, one poor girl steps onto the grass. Big mistake.

The girl begins to shake a bit and then her head violently explodes. Blood flies everywhere. In a panic the remaining 79 people begin to race. A few more unfortunate souls slip into the grass and come to the same gory ending as the girl. As racers begin to die we hear the voice counting down. We soon realize the voice is counting down for each person that dies. The goal is to get from 80 to 1.

After the first lap around the “track,” which is basically an outlined course down a few sidewalks and through a house, school and prison, two of the racers develop a plan. They learn that if they hold up in either the house, school, or prison you won’t die. They decided to hold up shop there and stop everyone else as they enter. They plan is to buy some time until they can figure out what is going on and how they can get out.

THE HUMAN RACE is really a game of survival. All these people, most of whom don’t know one another, must compete against each other to survive. They don’t know who put them in this situation, but they’ve seen what happens if you don’t follow the rules. This is when the dark side of human nature really begins to kick in. When people are pushed against the wall, they’ll do whatever it takes to break free.

Going into too much more plot detail would spoil the movie and I certainly don’t want to do that. There are some similarities here to something like BATTLE ROYALE. Essentially people are fighting to the death and they have no idea why. The ending, along with the overall fun factor, is what really elevates this movie above some of the low budget limitations and flaws.

The movie is pretty brutal at times. Heads are exploding left and right with blood splattering everywhere. The bummer is that this is mostly CGI, although it ain’t bad CGI, and its really just heads exploding. These “racers” rarely die in other ways. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good head explosion, but mix it up a bit.

The actor is a little rough around the edges. You come to expect this from most low budget horror/scifi entries, so this isn’t a huge deal. No one is awful, but no one is great either. It is interesting to see former Big Brother winner Eddie McGee out there. It’s not every day you see a one-legged actor and he actually does a good job. Probably the best of the bunch.

As far as I know this is Paul Hough’s feature debut and it’s a pretty impressive debut. The movie flies by without ever letting up. The 80 plus minutes are always interesting and fun. Hough throws you into the action right away and keeps you there until the finish. He takes an idea without familiar elements and gives them a fresh take. The final result of THE HUMAN RACE is a film that may be imperfect, but still very awesome.

Rating: 4/5

*THE HUMAN RACE is out now in select theatres and available on iTunes and VOD.