Death Game

There are no doubt dozens of untapped cinematic gold mines out there just waiting to be discovered and this is one of the best. Check out the premise: one rainy night a family man is alone in his home when two beautiful teenage girls appear at his door, apparently lost. They ask to come in to use the phone and he lets them in. Little does he know what awaits. For the next forty-eight hours, the girls have the time of their lives torturing him with sexuality and violence. They tie him up, beat him up, humiliate him and trash his house.

Sondra Locke, perhaps best known for her Clint Eastwood movies, is phenomenal as the brilliantly disturbed lead, Jackson. She is rageful and calculating and in complete control. Little touches like the ringmaster outfit she dons and the "horns" she draws on her forehead with lipstick make her character the epitome of sexy as well as undeniably frightening. (I hope to find someone like her someday-minus the psychotic tendencies, that is.)

Well known vixen Colleen Camp plays Donna, Jackson's lover and cohort. Obviously the female in the relationship, Donna has a more playful, little girl appeal about her.

Although this movie was not improved for DVD, has horrific sound quality(Seymour Cassel's voice was dubbed with someone else's), and is too dated with it's disco montage, it is quite a little treasure. I rented it a couple years ago and fell in love immediately, particularly with the Jackson character. With all the stupid remakes of today(like Psycho!), it's a pity something like this slips through the cracks. Death Game (a.k.a. The Seducers, a.k.a. Mr. Manning's Weekend) is good and deserves higher recognition.

By the way, this flick is based on a true story. Oooooooohhhh!

A nasty little affair, Death Game features cute-as-a-button Colleen Camp and not-quite-as-attractive-as-the-aforementioned-fastening-device Sandra Locke as a couple of giggling psychos prone to violence and clotheslessness that converge on poor sucker Seymour Cassel. After getting his ass kicked by his wife in croquet, Seymour is left all alone at home. On a dark and stormy night soon after, Sandra and Colleen show up lost and wanting to use the telephone. They warm themselves by the fire, Seymour serves some hot chocolate, and Colleen gets some "really great vibes." The festivities begin innocently enough with Seymour making the wet and soapy with our heroines in a (thankfully!) prolonged hot tub sequence set to the tune of some seventies wacka-wacka guitar. The next morning they make breakfast and chew with their mouths open. Seymour throws them out, but they return and spray him with mace, tie him up, slap the stuffing out of him, and make a general mess of the place. As the film progresses, these freewheelin' chicks display their penchant for bondage, shrill conversation, sloppily applied makeup, and fondling each other. They whack a delivery boy with a fireplace poker and drown him in a goldfish bowl. The babes hold a mock court and sentence Seymour to "death at dawn!" The sleaze is applied indiscriminately and by the bucket loads, highlighted by plenty of nudity by Camp (and Locke as well, if that appeals to you). A gut-wrenching theme song about "good old dad...the man who made me what I am today" is repeated ad nauseating. The film was directed by Peter Traynor and features lots of lovely shots of the San Francisco area (just what I needed). The conclusion is an out-of-nowhere knee-slapper. All-in-all, it's an appalling jaw-dropper that I recommend unreservedly for those who can stomach it. "This motion picture is based on a true story. It should serve to remind us that fate allows no man to insulate himself against the evil which pervades our society."

Locke and Camp are awesome in this movie. Too bad the movie let them down. The DVD is terrible. Poor quality that I think can be blamed mostly on the print and original filmmakers and some on the manufacturer. The movie itself, Cassel's voice is dubbed over by somebody else, editing needs to be redone, sound needs to be redone, and I don't know if it was wear, filmstock, or not using a real cinematographer, but I'd like to see them go back in time and re-shoot the whole thing with quality work. The great work and beautiful bodies of Locke and Camp deserve it. They both pull off some really crazy, sexy, and chilling moments in what overall could have been a great tale of a married man's fantasy night becoming a nightmare. I could say there needs to be an updated remake, but they wouldn't get it right.

The DVD, needs to be redone. I don't think they were working with much of a source, but they caused some of the problems I saw, I.E. pauses at the chapter breaks. Plus, I think there is something on the screen, once you get into the movie, that may have been on the source but looks like something that possibly scanned in with their equipment. It is as if there is a screen between the movie and your TV screen and it has a glare on it.

ANYWAY, at least it is a cheap DVD. If you think this will be the only release of this film on DVD buy it cheap now. At least you get to see it and hey, the cover is kinda cool looking. If your hoping, as I am, that there will be a better release some day then you can pass this one by.