This is one I’ve been waiting to talk about for some time now. It’s one of the final three releases from the newest round of After Dark Originals, and it’s called The Task. The folks out at Lions Gate sent out a copy of The Task for us to review, and I’ve been looking forward to it since the first I heard about it. The only one I’m looking forward to more than this one is Re-Kill, and hopefully we’ll be getting that one in later on too.

The Task, meanwhile, follows a new kind of reality show in which players find themselves stuck in an abandoned prison. But if they can survive the night, cash prizes await them. So when six college students find themselves competing in The Task, they’re pretty excited about the opportunity to make some big money for one night in an empty prison. But as they go throughout their night, they discover the prison isn’t as empty as they thought it was. And what’s waiting for them in there may well get them all killed.

It’s an interesting premise, and I’ve long been of the mind that more horror needs to have a reality show theme. Frankly, reality shows are only about a step or two removed from being horror movies anyway, so why not go all the way.

They do some nice spooky bits here; for instance, stay on edge when you see the adorable bunny go hopping along, because it’s going to get downright unnerving. Especially if you’re a coulrophobe. But that’s as far as we go with that one.

The actual play mechanics of The Task are almost identical to MTV’s old game show, Fear, though significantly more will happen on The Task than MTV’s mostly tepid little game show could bring out. It will be a bit over the top in some places, and a bit disjointed in others, but one thing is abundantly clear: this will easily be one of the biggest, baddest parts of the After Dark Originals line yet. Maybe Re-Kill can top it, I don’t know, but even if it can’t, this is going to make a spectacular second place finisher.

And in the grandest tradition, there will even be a twist ending…a multiple twist ending, in all honesty, which is the kind of thing I’ve come to expect from After Dark Originals fare by now.

The Screenhead Ten Scale gives The Task a nine out of ten, with only a few disjointed and poorly realized parts standing between it and absolute perfection. What is here is excellent, though, just not quite perfect.