The Prize of Peril

The Prize of Peril (1983) — watch online on iFILM, a French sci-fi thriller directed by Yves Boisset and starring Gérard Lanvin and Michel Piccoli.

A live TV show pits five armed hunters against one unarmed volunteer across city streets and empty lots. Survive long enough and collect a fortune. Unemployed François Jacquemart takes the bet and lasts longer than expected — until he starts noticing that the escape routes, the helpful strangers, even the near-misses feel a little too well-arranged. The producers don't want a winner. They want a story.

The film landed four years before The Running Man and traced the same idea with colder intent, adapted from Robert Sheckley's 1958 short story. Boisset built a thriller, then punctured it — what looks like action is really a film about television eating reality whole. Stream The Prize of Peril (1983) online on iFILM.