Death Game (1977)

Fresh and Exciting

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

They really, really don't make them like this any more. Truly a product of a confused 70s mind, this mega-lo-budget and badly shot home invasion flick is preposterous on many levels, but manages (only just) to remain watchable to the end.Plot: Two random girls first seduce, then terrorise a random guy in his house.What this film really needed in order to achieve the necessary darkside edge it seemed to be wanting, was for Girl 'A' and Girl 'B' (uh, what were their names again? let's call them... Trixie and Marigold) to be a lot more menacingly deranged than they were. It's like the director probably told them to "act all crazy now, gals" and their response was to behave like a couple of 9 year olds at a pillow-fight party who just had their first taste of alcohol, instead of getting all nasty and evil like the storyline would suggest.The result is a one-note film that features a lot of squealing, cackling, howling, and trippy drugged out sequences that make even less sense than was probably intended, and which gradually lull the watcher into a kind of acceptably bored hypnosis. The ending will then jolt you back to reality, and make you wonder what you just saw.If you have an especially strong appreciation of 70s bad-sploitation then add an extra star to my rating, if you are a normal person then minus 3 or 4 stars.

Slightly better than average thriller has a pair of lesbian tramps (Locke and Camp) begging off home-alone father (Cassel) for a phone call and a dry place to stop during a thunder-storm, becoming unwelcome house guests when they resort to sadistic games that taunt their host, threatening to implicate him for statutory rape and destroy his family.Quirky is the main adjective that comes to mind when describing this basement horror cheapie. Locke and Camp (who used body doubles for much of the nudity) make a frightening pair, while Cassel (who used a voice double) has little to do but lie on the floor bound and gagged, begging for his life while the two misfits trash his house. The film is essentially just the trio, with one brief and memorable exception from a delivery boy.Aside from the spa orgy, Cassel's ridiculous over-dubbing and the corny (but admittedly catchy) soundtrack, the film is also memorable for its outrageous conclusion. If you saw that coming, then you might be as twisted as these two ultra-vixens. A tense and violent mind warp, but worth a look if you're open-minded.

It's a bad movie from the 70s about killer lesbian hippies taking on the establishment. Sort of like a "Thelma & Louise" without any feminism. Both painful and compelling, the film had tense and giddy, while also wishing it would just end.And then the end came and I was utterly baffled and amused. The final 10 seconds of the movie over, I blurted over and over, "What the hell was that?" I backed up, watched it again.Then I forced my girlfriend (who had not seen the movie) to watch it."That is pretty weird," she said.Pretty weird? It makes no sense at all! Wow! If you enjoy odd, bad film, I think you'll love this movie. Even when it's at its worst, it's fun. There's the 1970's moustache "wakka-chikka" aspect. Then there's the campy screaming semi-naked young women. And then there's the goofy, straight-faced, comical horror movie aspect.Given the ending, I assume the people making this film knew they were joking. They had to know. Or else they thought the ending was deep. I don't know. But I am forced to admit that I really, really enjoyed this film a lot.

A really twisted film where two psychotic young lesbians (Sondra Locke and Colleen Camp) turn a middle-aged man's life upside down when they invade his home and harass him while his wife and kids are out of town. This starts off very much like the ultimate male sexual fantasy at first, but ultimately turns into a demented nightmare.Amidst all the ensuing mayhem and insanity, this could have used more sexual depravity and titillation to make it more effective. As it stands, these teenagers are more irritating than anything else. Yet this is still one bizarre experience and certainly a sight to see, at least once. I've never seen Sondra Locke show so much range, at least not in any of the movies I've seen her in up to this point. Colleen Camp has some good moments of lunacy.I kind of liked that goofy theme song about "My Good Old Dad" which pops in and out during the course of the wackiness. And in my opinion, the ending is perfect.