Deadly Games

1982 "Only he will hear your scream!"
4| 1h35m| R| en
Details

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 are rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan befriends local cop Roger and reclusive cinema projectionist Billy — but soon finds herself in the killer's sights.

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Reviews

Redwarmin This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place
Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism
VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Toronto85 The film starts off as any proper slasher film should - with an opening scene murder. The quality of the VHS I have is poor, so I couldn't see everything that happened during it, but it was a good attempt at creating intensity. After the first kill, we get introduced to the police investigating the crime as well as the victim's sister Keegan (a reporter) who had left the town years prior. A lot of the middle portion of the film is Keegan seeing some old friends who still live in town and reconnecting with them. There are some scenes with a creepy theatre manager named Billy mixed in as well to create suspicion. The town's main police officer is also a suspect, and some of the movie is spent showing the female lead (Keegan) falling for him despite the fact that he is married. A few of the other women in the town are killed off leading to Keegan facing off against the murderer.Deadly Games could have been so much better. It has some great things going for it; a killer wearing a black ski mask, cool movie title, decent plot... but the makers of "Deadly Games" add so much unnecessary filler that it becomes quite a bore. We get scenes of the character's playing sports and having a party, which are really pointless by the end of it all. There is also one strange choice by the director of "Deadly Games", for some reason he has Keegan act as if she doesn't even care that her sister died. She just comes back to town and is all cheery with her friends and mother. Oh, there is this strange two minute musical montage of Keegan and the two suspects playing a board game, pretty much the only connection the film has to it's title next to the fact that we see the killer playing around with the board game on one or two occasions. They could have done so much more with it, but they didn't.Acting wasn't that bad, I like that the Keegan character is different from your regular/ordinary slasher film heroine. The ending was ridiculous and insulting in a way. You spend the whole hour and a half watching it for.. that? Anyways, I'd recommend this strictly to horror completests. It drags on way too much, and because of that you lose focus and lose interest.4/10
Coventry Much more frightening than the actual movies themselves is the fact that one continues to discover slasher movies that were released in the 1980's! This decade truly is an inexhaustible source for low-budgeted and inane horror pictures that often ended up in oblivion shortly after coming out. "Deadly Games" is such a prototype example of the – righteously – forgotten 80's slasher! The plot and characters are derivative, the killings are unimaginative and the attempts to insert humor are downright pitiable. Tension apparently was an unavailable option as well. The plot drags slowly and spends way too much time focusing on bimbos and losers cheating on each other. Past halfway in the film I still hadn't figured out which characters are sleeping together whilst they aren't supposed to, and who the hell cares about that anyway? The strange murder of a voluptuous town girl (sadly, the hottest chick dies first) reunites a group of old friends and makes them speculate together about what could have happened. One of them is a copper – though not a very convincing one – investigating the case, one girl is the wannabe cynical sister of the first victim and all the rest are dispensable dorks. There are plenty of bone-headed who are waiting, no … BEGGING to get slaughtered but nothing happens. At a certain point, the ultimate low point of the film, you're actually watching at how three of the characters (one of them being the copper) sit in a theater and see a film … for several long minutes! What's the freaking point?!? And why can't that chick stop talking to herself or at least realize her jokes and one-liners are totally not funny? If the theater scene wasn't painfully dire enough yet, they carry on playing a board game and football whilst the most abysmal 80's song can be heard. How is this relevant? And you, you stupid cop, shouldn't you be looking for the killer? In case you haven't noticed yet, "Deadly Games" is one of the worst and most redundant slashers of the entire 80's, and that's saying something, since we mentioned the inexhaustible offer before. It doesn't even deserve to be called a slasher, as the slashing is next to none! This is a pile of steaming rubbish about a bunch of losers struggling with midlife crises whilst still in their early thirties. Avoid like the plague.
TonyDood This is a pretty messy movie. I saw it on cable when I was young and new slashers appeared every week on cable. It appealed to me at the time because the character who played "Keegan" was spunky and interesting, and the premise was, if I understand it correctly (somehow hinging on a gay subtext...?) unique for its time. There was also little else to watch back then.The story, such that it is, involves the murders of young women in a town, and the solving of those murders by the spirited Keegan, who has just moved there, and at least starts OUT as a character that isn't an empty-headed cliché.But who can tell what's going on? This movie just flaps along, presenting one disjointed scene after another, and characters you're never encouraged to care about in scenes that fall flat and look drab and ugly. The presence of the dynamic and almost always insanely fun Steve Railsback (soon to appear in "The Devil's Rejects") is barely noticed. It all becomes dull as a white color crayon very quickly with no gore, no tension, no logic and no story to speak of. This is why God invented the fast forward button. Or better yet, the "Stop" button. Put in another movie--any other movie--and enjoy a good evening's entertainment.I have a feeling this was cobbled together from the remains of several other movies somehow, like how Roger Corman's "Hollywood Blvd," which this resembles in a weird way, was assembled. I hadn't seen this for years, saw it for a buck on VHS and promptly recorded Scooby-Doo cartoons over it so it would have SOME value anyway...
gridoon I somehow thought this movie would turn out to be an undiscovered treasure, but no such luck! Visually murky and poorly plotted, this is basically an oh-so-familiar retread of "Halloween", though the director shows some talent and tries to surpass the limitations of the script. The lousy ending does not help. (*1/2)