Death Game BluRay Review

From The Grindhouse Cinema Database

Revision as of 19:32, 9 September 2022 by Pete (talk | contribs)

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The Film

Peter S. Traynor’s DEATH GAME is a movie I had only seen once several years ago in a terrible, blurry VHS quality version. Recently I received the new BluRay edition from our friends at Grindhouse Releasing. First off, I have to say that the 4K transfer looks absolutely gorgeous. It really was like seeing the movie for the first time. The cinematography by David Worth (Bronco Billy, Bloodsport) is breathtaking and makes the movie so visually striking and lush.

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The story, which takes place in the home invasion subgenre (Fight For Your Life, The House On The Edge of The Park) provides a nice twist. Instead of male criminals, this time it's two beautiful women (The Swinging Cheerleaders' Colleen Camp and Willard's Sondra Locke) who are the intruders with Seymour Cassel (Faces, Minnie & Moskowitz, Rushmore) as their hostage. Cassel plays George, a San Francisco area businessman whose wife has left town on a family emergency. He is alone on his 40th birthday on a dark rainy night when he discovers two young beauties, Jackson (Locke) and Donna (Camp) at his front door after they get stranded. He invites them in so they can call for help but things soon take a steamy turn and they have a menage a trois. As the film progresses, the tone between the three main characters goes from innocent to erotic to maniacal. The two women are eventually revealed to be out for retribution due to traumatic events in their past. What begins as two women looking for shelter turns into a sadistic attack on the patriarchy.

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While I think much of the movie works well, other parts get a bit over the top and silly. Once their true motive is revealed, Colleen Camp and Sondra Locke are truly in full blast frenzy as Jackson and Donna, the bisexual lovers/psychotic babes from hell that take over George's safe personal space. This provides elements of dark humor and unhinged mayhem. Regardless of any flaws it has, it definitely holds your attention and keeps you on the edge of your seat throughout the running time. One aspect that is really important to realize about the film is that it was made in about 2 or 3 weeks on a small set with a very low budget yet looks just as amazing as any Hollywood studio film from the time. It makes you wonder what Peter Traynor might’ve done next if he had continued working in film with bigger budgets. It turns out that this was a bad experience for him (including an on set battle with Seymour Cassel) and he moved on to other things because of it.

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The new Grindhouse Releasing BluRay comes with some great special features like two audio commentaries, one with superfan Eli Roth (who remade the movie as Knock Knock) and star Colleen Camp, and other with writer/producer Larry Spiegel & DP/Editor David Worth. In addition there’s interviews with cast & crew, trailers and more. I now own almost all of Grindhouse Releasing’s titles and this is another gem in the collection I would highly recommend to film geeks.

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BluRay Review

PICTURE: Presented in (2:35:1) 4K High Definition - As far as video transfers go, this is another stunner. The original Death Game video that had been released was bottom of the barrel. Grindhouse Releasing found the original camera negative to breathe new life into this forgotten, underseen 70s thriller. Now film fans can see it the way it was meant to be seen. In gleaming high definition with vibrant photography that was so good it got David Worth notice from major filmmakers like Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood.

AUDIO:

SPECIAL FEATURES

  • AUDIO COMMENTARY with Eli Roth and Colleen Camp - Eli and Colleen have a lively discussion about the production of the film and go through the trials and tribulations of bringing it all together. It was a quick shoot and Colleen was fresh off the 1975 film SMILE and new to the movie biz. Her energy and devil may care attitude certainly showed on the screen. Director Peter Traynor was making his directorial debut, his vision was strong but on set tensions between him and Seymour Cassel was a negative which led to a very unbalanced performance and ultimately had to be saved in the editing room by David Worth who also served as cinematographer, mediator and even provided the voiceover for Cassel's performance when the actor refused to do the ADR.
  • AUDIO Commentary with Larry Spiegel & David Worth -
  • INTERVIEWS with Director Peter Traynor, star Colleen Camp, Producer Larry Spiegel, DP/Editor David Worth, screenwriter Michael Ronald Ross -
  • AUDIO INTERVIEW with Sondra Locke'-
  • EXTENSIVE STILL GALLERIES & GRINDHOUSE RELEASING THEATRICAL TRAILERS
  • LINER NOTES BOOKLET by cinema historian David Szulkin
  • THE FINAL WORD:
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