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The Starving Games
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Wikipedia article
{{Infobox film
| name = The Starving Games
| image = The Poster for The Starving Games.jpg
| caption = Theatrical release poster
| alt = A chicken roasting on a fiery spit
| director = Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
| producer = Peter Safran
| writer = Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
| starring =
| music = Timothy Michael Wynn
| cinematography = Shawn Maurer
| editing = Peck Prior
| studio = The Safran Company
| distributor = Ketchup Entertainment
| released =
| runtime = 82 minutes
| country = United States
| language = English
| budget = $4.63 million
| gross = $3.8 million
}}
'The Starving Games' is a 2013 American parody film written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Peter Safran. The film parodies 'The Hunger Games' and it stars Maiara Walsh, Cody Christian, Brant Daugherty, Lauren Bowles and Diedrich Bader. It is the first film in Friedberg and Seltzer's long-running partnership to be distributed independently. It was released simultaneously in theaters and video on demand by distribution start-up Ketchup Entertainment. The film was released on November 8, 2013 to critical and commercial failure.
Plot
Kantmiss Evershot practices archery in the forest, but her boyfriend, Dale, surprises her; the arrow accidentally hits the Wizard of Oz. They return to District 12, where children afraid of getting picked for the Games injure and mutilate themselves to avoid selection. At the Gathering for the 75th Annual Starving Games, President Snowballs explains his reason for separating America into districts as well as ridiculous prizes for winning. During the drawing for District 12's contestants, Petunia, Kantmiss's sister, tricks Kantmiss into volunteering when she gets picked by crying fake tears. Dale tries volunteering as well, but the town idiot Peter Malarkey beats him to it.
When the Games begin Kantmiss grabs a backpack and tries fleeing, but Seleca, the Games' producer, sends Angry Birds to attack her; she defeats them and squashes the Annoying Orange in a Fruit Ninja parody. Peter teams up with a group of contestants led by Marco, who aim to kill Kantmiss. Kantmiss climbs up a tree using stairs. Marco tries to kill her with a spear but it kills one of his allies instead. Kantmiss sits atop and gets her face covered in bird poo. They flee when she knocks down a beehive using a chainsaw but instead the beehive falls on her own head and she gets severely stung. The venom causes her to hallucinate being a Na'vi. She is slapped back to her senses by fellow contestant Rudy; they team up, vowing to kill the other contestants first. After the halftime show is played, Marco again tries to kill Kantmiss, but Rudy kicks his shin. Marco then kills Rudy.
Wanting to spice up the Games, Snowballs decides to implement a lesbian love story, but learns Kantmiss is the only woman left; thus, only a straight romance is possible. After it is announced only a couple can win the games, Kantmiss tries to team up with Marco over Peter, but Seleca fakes being killed to convince her to find Peter instead. Kantmiss kills all of the contestants but Marco, and flees with Peter to a cave. As Peter starts to have a fever, he reveals that he had been stalking Kantmiss for most of her life. Since Kantmiss is keeping her distance from Peter, Seleca offers to send medical supplies to treat Peter if she gets more intimate with him. Kantmiss has sex with Peter, which is televised. Dale is disgusted by this and storms the Starving Games arena, expressing his hatred for Peter.
The next day, Kantmiss and Peter attack Marco, but Snowballs orders Seleca to send in the Expendables. An armed Dale arrives, kills them, and asks Kantmiss to come back with him. When Kantmiss orders him to leave, he breaks up with her. Marco holds Peter hostage, but Kantmiss shoots a loaf of bread into his eye, killing him. Seleca then announces there can only be one winner again. Peter tries convincing Kantmiss to commit suicide with him by ingesting poisonous berries, to deny those in charge the satisfaction of them fighting to the death. Instead, Kantmiss kills Peter with an arrow, telling him shit aint personal. Afterwards, Nick Fury and the Avengers show up, with Fury saying he wants Kantmiss to join the Avengers team as a replacement for Hawkeye. Then the Avengers all die after stepping off their platforms and onto mines.
Parodies
Films
* 'The Hunger Games' (2012) (main parody)
* 'Avatar' (2009)
* 'The Avengers' (2012)
* 'Oz the Great and Powerful' (2013)
* 'Harry Potter' franchise (20012011)
* 'The Fast and the Furious' (2001)
* 'The Hobbit' franchise (20122014)
* 'The Expendables' (2010)
* 'Sherlock Holmes' (2009)
* Monty Python
* 'Office Space' (1999)
Real life people
* LMFAO* Taylor Swift
* Psy
* Tim Tebow
Games
* Angry Birds* Fruit Ninja
Cast
* Maiara Walsh as Kantmiss Evershot
* Cody Christian as Peter Malarkey
* Brant Daugherty as Dale
* Diedrich Bader as President Snowballs
* Lauren Bowles as Effoff
* Chris Marroy as Stanley Ceaserman
* Theodus Crane as Cleaver Williams
* Nick Gomez as Na'vi Guy
* Kennedy Hermansen as Petunia Evershot
* Rob Steinberg as Gandalf
* Aaron Jay Rome as Oz
* Matthew Graham Wagner as Harry Potter
* Kyle de Kay as Ron Weasley
* Sarah Reid Vinyard as Hermione
* Jade Roberts as Sylvester Stallone Look-a-like
* Joseph Aviel as Arnold Schwarzenegger Look-a-like
* Eric Buarque as Bruce Willis Look-a-like
* Gene Williams as Chuck Norris Look-a-like
* Jason Stanly as Jason Statham Look-a-like
* Gralen Bryant Banks as Nick Fury
* Jordan Salloum as Hawkeye
* Trenton Rostedt as Thor
* Ian Casselberry as Skyblu Look-a-like
* Shawn Carter Peterson as RedFoo Look-a-like
* Gabby Gremillion as Taylor Swift Look-a-like
* Bryan McClure as The Annoying Orange
Box office performance
The movie was a box office bomb, with only $3,889,688 earned against its $4.5 million budget.
Reception
'The Starving Games' received overwhelmingly negative reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 0% based on 9 reviews, with an average score of 1.60/10.
Joe Leydon of 'Variety' called it a "stillborn spoof" and "desperately unfunny". Scott Foy of Dread Central rated it 1.5 out of 5 stars and wrote, "The printed word cannot fully express my dismay at having experienced this latest alleged comedy". Gabe Torio of Indiewire wrote that the film "is as terrible as you think it is". Max Nicholson of IGN called it "a horrible, horrible piece of cinema that needn't be watched by any person ever." Fred Topel of Crave Online rated it 1.5 out of 10 and called it "more of the same, only worse."
See also
* 'The Hungover Games'
* 'The Hunger Pains'
References
Buy The Starving Games now from Amazon
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