Deadly Games: Special Edition Blu-ray Review

THE MOVIE — 1¼/5

Plot Synopsis: A masked maniac with a penchant for a monster-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice is rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan (JO ANN HARRIS) befriends local cop Roger Lane (SAM GROOM) and reclusive projectionist Billy (STEVE RAILSBACK) – but soon finds herself in the killer’s sights.

Review: With the successes of Halloween and Friday the 13th, the early to mid 80s was awash with low budget slashers like Final Exam, New Year’s Evil, He Knows You’re Alone and The Prowler to name a few, some with varying quality and others forgotten but with the advancement of restoration work in the digital age, find new life on Blu-ray and even 4K Ultra HD courtesy of the boutique distribution companies like Vinegar Syndrome and Arrow Video.

The latest one I’ve watched is Deadly Games, a giallo-like slasher released in 1982. This is a film that starts with some promise, along with gratuitous nudity in a day-for-night shot no less, and some decent suspense, only to be squandered for the remainder 90-minutes. The film features a few annoying characters including a female lead in Jo Ann Harris who’s supposed quirks is just bizarre as she often talks to herself, not that she’s unattractive, but she lacked any charm to carry the film. However, it’s not that the male lead with Sam Groom was any better; had the personality of a sponge.

Deadly Games was the writing and directorial debut of Scott Mansfield though he would only direct one other feature film a year later, some comedy called Imps* featuring vignettes one starring Linda Blair. Technically speaking, his direction here wasn’t terrible and instead it was his screenplay that was the culprit. Add to that, you have some odd situations like Keegan who’s staying at her sister’s place despite she was murdered; but beyond that, there was a door window that was broken and left unrepaired, and a way for somebody to enter (plus the glass hadn’t even been swept up). A little thing, perhaps but it struck me strange in addition to a pointless scrimmage game of football that didn’t really add anything to the characters.

In the end, Deadly Games is just another poorly produced slasher movie from the 1980s and a rather dull one at that. I suppose there are a couple funny bad moments and maybe watching amongst friends would lead to a fun time, but otherwise this is one to skip.

SPECIAL FEATURES – 2¾/5

This “Special Edition” release comes with a matted and titled-embossed slip cover and inside is a nice 24-page booklet. The inside artwork is reversible.

Audio Commentary — “The Hysteria Continues” provides the track here as they have in the past, mostly from what I can tell on Vinegar Syndrome releases. The folks here tend to do commentaries on these indie horror films and try to find the bright spots while still acknowledge the shortcomings. It’s still fun and worth a listen.

Interviews:

• Soot’s a Sh*t (24:15) — Actor Jere Rae-Mansfield
• Practical Magic (21:39) — Special Effects and Stunt Co-ordinator John Eggett

Only two new interviews, not sure if they were unable to even locate the writer-director (I had a difficult time doing a Google search) or none of the other actors wanted to acknowledge appearing in this, but this is in the better-than-nothing category. Both of them give their accounts on working on the project and other bits of information on their careers.

Also included is an Image Gallery with never-before-seen production photos and promotional material, the Original Trailer (1:58) and the Who Fell to Sleep original screenplay available via the BD-ROM drive.

VIDEO – 5/5

AUDIO – 4¼/5

OVERALL – 2½/5

Deadly Games was more deadly boring than anything else. The characters were generally annoying and the kills on the duller side. This is your typical ‘forgotten’ horror-slasher born out of the early 80s.