Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.5
Overall		2.5

Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 11, 2022

One of the things that often set the murder mysteries of, say, Agatha Christie apart from the rest of the pack was that Christie regularly provided readers, and by extension viewers of any film or television adaptations of her work, with a whole retinue of potential suspects. That often made for one of Christie's defining structural elements, the so-called "Moishe the Explainer" moment late in any given mystery where someone like Hercule Poirot or Miss Marple would tick off that list of suspects, giving a potential motive and even at times a murderous technique they might have utilized, before discarding them and moving on to the next person assembled in the room. Unfortunately Deadly Games doesn't offer the same assortment of presumed suspects, and its slash and dash killer is pretty obviously one of two characters (which won't be spoiled here, but you're put on notice as to content included after the jump, below). That may remove at least some of the putative suspense from an enterprise that was obviously fashioned to be part of the "slasher" craze of the 1980s. The result is intermittently interesting, perhaps more so in terms of the subtext between those two aforementioned characters who are probably the only "real" potential culprits, than for any of the other material in the film, including a couple of supposedly horrifying murders.

A woman ultimately identified as Linda Lawrence (Alexandra Morgan) returns home at night to her isolated desert mansion and promptly goes out in her courtyard where she caresses her newly naked breasts. Hey, it was the 1980s, and writer-director Scott Mansfield obviously had an eye toward a potential demographic for a horror film, namely teenaged boys. Linda has already seemed to notice something peering through the nearby sagebrush, but shrugs it off, to (of course) her eventual demise, even though it's her own panicked stupidity that leads to it. Her sister, who has an insanely long name but goes by Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) shows up in the wake of her sibling's death, and quickly reunites with a bunch of ostensible "friends", even if many of them might seem to be somewhat aged versions of so-called "mean girls". Suffice it to say that if there is a dearth of suspects in this film, there are at least a bevy of buxom potential victims, and unsurprisingly deaths begin accruing.

Now the fact that some of the women depicted in the film may come off as deserving to be murdered, something that may actually make them suspects for some enterprising armchair sleuths, Deadly Games doesn't really pretend to offer more than two likely choices for the culprit. Before that duo is divulged (so last potential spoiler warning should be noted for those who care), there are a couple of interesting quirks about this otherwise at times rote outing. The first is that the two likely suspects share a love of a supposed board game which has a Universal Classic Monsters element, which may offer a bit of "meta" enjoyment for some. But stylistically, there's more than a hint of giallo in at least some of the presentational aspects, including lots of shots of black gloves and even black outfits (if not trenchcoats).

Now, on to those aforementioned two characters, who actually share something other than the love of a certain (fictional) boardgame, namely service in Vietnam, which has both physically and emotionally scarred at least one of them. That guy is local movie house projectionist Billy Owens (Steve Railsback), who seems to be suffering pretty seriously from post traumatic stress disorder, as well as recovering from a ghastly wound that has left his face disfigured. His best and perhaps only friend is local cop Roger Lane (Sam Groom), who would seem to be the very model of a modern hero, although the film documents he may have a darker side as well.

Without posting any outright spoilers, and disregarding whomever it is who is revealed to be the killer, it's the relationship between Billy and Roger that actually gives this film a rather interesting and probably homoerotic subtext, at least from Billy's angle. Railsback is really interesting in this role, and it may be instructive for horror fans to compare his work in this film to Scissors. The film does offer a couple of examples of what some might think of as stunt casting, including June Lockhart as another member of the Lawrence family and Dick Butkus (!) as another town resident.

Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Deadly Games is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Arrow Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. The back cover of this release mentions a "brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative", and the insert booklet Arrow has provided contains a bit more information:

Deadly Games is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.85:1 with mono sound.

The original 35mm camera negative was scanned in 2K resolution at Company 3 in Burbank. The film was graded and restored in 2K at the American Genre Film Archive (AGFA) in Austin. The original mono mix was remastered from the original sound negatives at Deluxe Audio, Los Angeles.

All materials were made available ay BayView Entertainment.

The presentation has a number of nice strengths, including a generally robust accounting of a nicely suffused palette. Fine detail levels can also often be quite good, as in the texture on the knit sweater in screenshot 1 or the pattern on the suit jacket in screenshot 2. There are some deficits to note as well, though, including a couple of sudden downturns in image quality for a moment or two, including one noticeable moment during the first scene showing Billy and Roger playing the board game. Clarity noticeably falters, with a much coarser and even pixellated grain field, with some passing crush on Billy's black turtleneck which makes his head look disembodied for a moment (see screenshots 17 and 19 for a couple of frames from this sequence).

Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Deadly Games features DTS-HD Master Audio Mono audio. One of the recurring motifs in the film is some extremely heavy breathing by a phone calling maniac (predating Scream by a few decades), and that element, while ultimately kind of unintentionally comedic, resonates very well, as do a number of other sound effects. An interesting score is also well represented. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Audio Commentary with The Hysteria Continues


• Sooty's a S**t (HD; 24:15) is a fun and funny interview with actress Jere Rae-Mansfield.


• Practical Magic (HD; 21:39) in another enjoyable piece with special effects and stunts coordinator John Eggett, who has some amusing anecdotes about his career and the film to share.


• Image Galleries

  Promotional

  
  

  Behind the Scenes

• Trailer (HD; 1:58)

A well appointed insert booklet contains an interesting essay by Amanda Reyes entitled "The Games People Play: Exploring the Midwestern Gothic in Deadly Games". Additionally, packaging features a slipcover.

Deadly Games Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Deadly Games may have more bubbling just beneath the surface than might immediately be apparent, but it frankly could have delved those depths even more than it does. The kill scenes are probably not going to be gruesome enough for the more gore obsessed horror fan, and the film's attempt to work in quasi-comedic aspects doesn't always connect, but there is a really interesting if unavoidably overheated performance by Railsback as the possibly demented Billy. Video has occasional hurdles to overcome but is generally solid. Audio is fine and the supplements interesting, for those who may be considering making a purchase.