Riding the wave of the slasher boom in the early 1980s, Deadly Games directed by Scott Mansfield is a lowkey game of cat and mouse between a sadistic killer with a penchant for board games and the women of the local town. Journalist Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) returns home after the mysterious death of her sister. During her homestay, she befriends local cop Roger and his best friend Billy (Steve Railsback) who is a cinema projectionist. However, she soon finds herself in the grasp of the maniacal killer who has been stalking and murdering the women in the community.
Relying on the character development of the female protagonist and supporting characters, unfortunately, this decision takes away from the underlying fact that Deadly Games is meant to be a slasher.
Following the success of John Carpenter’s Halloween (1978) and Friday The 13th (1980) directed by Sean S. Cunningham, a whole series of pale imitation slashers were released, hoping to recreate the commercial success of their predecessors. Whereas a lot of other slashers went for the extreme gore and borderline sexual exploitation sensibilities, Deadly Games (not to be confused with the 1988 Christmas themed slasher of the same name) shies away from showing too much skin or guts. Relying on the character development of the female protagonist and supporting characters, unfortunately, this decision takes away from the underlying fact that Deadly Games is meant to be a slasher. There is little to no tension, due partly to the film’s inclusion of stereotypical montages set against hilariously 80s music.
Steve Railsback is the MVP of Deadly Games, playing the creepy lonesome Billy, although any sort of real backstory or raison d’etre, including the inclusion of his board game, just gets a bit lost in the duration of the film. The restored 2K movie would however be very at home in the collection of any 1980s Slasher movie aficionado, especially with the two extra features interviewing actor Jere Rae-Mansfield and the special effects and stunt coordinator John Eggett.
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DEADLY GAMES – YGRAINE’S ARCHIVE
