Steve Railsback (famed for his unhinged performance as Charles Manson in 1976’s TV mini-series Helter Skelter) is at his sinister best as a troubled Vietnam Vet in 1982’s Deadly Games – a tale of madness, murder and adultery from writer/director Scott Mansfied. A masked maniac with a penchant for a horror-themed board game is playing his own twisted game with the women of a small American town. Each time the dice is rolled, another victim meets a grisly end. Returning home to mourn the death of her murdered sister, Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) befriends local cop Roger and oddball cinema projectionist Billy (Railsback) – but soon finds herself in the killer’s sights. Originally entitled Who Fell Asleep, Deadly Games is an intriguing early ’80s slasher oddity which benefits from focusing as much on the development of its female-led cast as it does on its scenes of stalking and slashing. Available for the first time ever on disc, Arrow Video is proud to present this long-overlooked creepy gem in a brand new restoration from the recently-unearthed camera negative!
For thoughts on Deadly Games, please check out our discussion on The Video Attic here.
Video Quality
Deadly Games comes to Blu-Ray courtesy of Arrow Video in its original 1.85:1 sourced from an excellent 2K restoration of the original 35mm negative. For a film that has mostly been forgotten, it is really great to see this presentation looking so great with domestic locations that sparkle in high definition with natural grain intact and nicely resolved. There is a fantastic amount of detail present with nice textures on the clothing and production design. The new transfer shows off a great amount of depth and enhanced detail. There are certain moments during the presentation that take a bit of downturn in quality in terms of clarity, most likely due to the state of the original film elements. Black levels are mostly deep but a few shadowy scenes struggle with crush and detail. The contrast is well defined, and there is virtually no print damage to be found outside a few stray moments. Arrow Video has done a really strong job with this transfer for a film that has not been given much love over the years.
Audio Quality
This Blu-Ray comes with a DTS-HD 1.0 Master Audio mono track in the original English (with optional English subtitles). Dialogue sounds perfectly clear without sound effects or the music trouncing on important information. The film employs some distinct sound effects in the form of breaking glass and heavy breathing that are given the appropriate weight within the mix. The film is more of a straightforward dialogue-driven affair with only sporadic scenes of violence where the track springs to life. The score comes through nicely in relation to the competing sounds. This presentation presents everything accurately with pleasing fidelity and without damage or other unwanted issues.
Special Features
The first-pressing of the Arrow Video Blu-Ray of Deadly Games includes a booklet featuring the essay “The Games People Play: Exploring The Midwestern Gothic in Deadly Games” by film scholar Amanda Reyes. This piece provides a great analysis of the film in the context of the middle-America setting, its themes, the focus on adult characters and more. The booklet also contains the details of the restoration. The on-disc special features are as follows:
- Audio Commentary: The collective known as The Hysteria Continues delivers a fun and informative commentary track in which they discusses the era in which this film was released, the sexual liberation overtones of the narrative, how the film was marketed, the performances in the film, the tonal shifts within the film, how this feature connects stylistically to future works and more. The atmosphere of the track is very conversational as if you have a group of well-informed friends over for a movie night.
- Sooty’s A Shit: A new 24-minute interview with actor Jere Rae-Mansfield in which she discusses the evolving nature of the title, the creation of the board game from the production design team, her approach to performing, terrible auditions, making herself busy during scenes, how the final version of the film differs from what was originally intended, the botched nature of the rollout and more. This is a really terrific interview that should be considered a must-watch.
- Practical Magic: A new 22-minute interview with special effects and stunt coordinator John Eggett in which he discusses going from a military career to a film in career, his amusing entry into the film business, some early projects he worked on, his work on Deadly Games, the ending stunt, the horrific ways in which he found out certain stunts did not work and more. There are some fascinating stories shared within this one.
- Trailers: The two-minute trailer is provided here. This oddly features the final shot of the movie.
- Image Galleries: This disc provides galleries for promotional and behind-the-scenes materials.
Final Thoughts
Deadly Games is a unique slasher film simply due to the fact that there are no teenagers in sight. The decision to explore the underlying darkness and dysfunction of a small town creates some compelling moments, but the inconsistent tone keeps this from being something truly special. Certain characters act goofy in a way that stretches believability, and the film runs out of steam as it reaches its conclusion. There are specific attacks in the movie that get your pulse racing, but in the end the domestic interplay between friends is more interesting than anything else. Arrow Video has released a Blu-Ray featuring a very pleasing A/V presentation and an array of special features that really up the value of the overall package. This will likely appeal to those who are devotees to the slasher genre.
Deadly Games is currently available to purchase on Blu-Ray.
Note: Images presented in this review are not reflective of the image quality of the Blu-Ray.
Disclaimer: Arrow Video has supplied a copy of this disc free of charge for review purposes. All opinions in this review are the honest reactions of the author.
Dillon is most comfortable sitting around in a theatre all day watching both big budget and independent movies.
