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Slashers
IMDB Entry, official site

If I were to say that this is the movie that The Running Man could have been, would you consider that a good or a bad thing?

I think it's quite a good thing.

Slashers is set up as a Japanese reality TV gameshow where six contestants run from three Slashers for a cash prize. The slashers chase them through the danger zone composed of a hodge podge of generic horror film style settings. The slashers themselves are a variety of horror mainstays, such as the chainsaw wielding redneck Chainsaw Charlie, a ghoulish southern minister, Preacher Man [both charismaticly played by Neil Napier], and the mad surgeon Doctor Ripper. The movie is supposed to be the first foray of the show into America, and as such all of the contestants are American's who have come to Tokyo to compete.

The contestants are also a mix of stereotypes with the ex-marine tough guy, weasely computer programmer, stupid model, innocent cute girl, tough guy bouncer and extreme sport tough girl. None of the acting is particularly strong from this crew, but it serves its purpose, and if there had been an oscar caliber performance that would have upset the overall feel of the film, which does quite a good job of imitating the low budget feel of J-pop gameshows.

To keep the feel of the gameshow throughout the film, most of the action takes place in one long tracking shot with a steadi-cam, with cuts hidden by flickering lights and runs through darkened corridors, it is relatively seamless and edited together quite well.

This is to horror films what Kaiju Big Battel is to wrestling.

Give it a try if you like campy/gory films with a sense of humor about themselves.