As an attempt to do a bad exploitation film in the style of a bad art film, this pathetic German import may possess some curiosity value. But that’s not enough to justify an exercise in multiplying the cynicism of a fourth-generation reality-TV show by the ugliness, slickness, and lack of entertainment value of a direct-to-video thriller.

A psychological experiment set in a simulated prison divides 20 male volunteers into guards and prisoners. Provoked by the unruliness of an unremarkable cab driver/journalist who becomes one of the prisoners (Moritz Bleibtreu, the boyfriend in Run Lola Run), the guards immediately degenerate into Nazis (the film’s lone anthropological insight, which it delivers with no attempt at nuance or plausibility). Violence and humiliation escalate predictably, as does the self-promotional aggressiveness of director Oliver Hirschbiegel’s technique. Add periodic flashbacks to the hero’s one-night stand with a bereaved woman whose car he collided with and you have a numbingly stupid film. In German with English subtitles. (114 minutes)