Death Game

source: Death Game

It's actually a real shame that this film wasn't better, as it features a story line that does a good job of turning the tables on the common exploitation theme of men brutalising women, and it's also quite scary if you put yourself in the position of the lead character! The basic plot revolves around George; a 'happily married' man who picks up two young girls and seduces them at his house. However, after giving him some information that he REALLY didn't want to hear, George finds himself at the girls' mercy. The film has just three central performers, and while many other films work well from this sort of base; this one doesn't, or at least; not really. Director Peter S. Traynor doesn't really have enough ideas to keep the film entertaining throughout; but luckily, The Seducers does have its moments. The majority of the film is suitably sick and twisted, and the two central women are nasty enough to make the film a nightmare for most men. The Seducers is nowhere near as malicious as many similar seventies thrillers; but its decent enough entertainment for fans of this sort of thing. Unfortunately, the stretched plot ultimately lets it down - but it's an interesting film at least, and I somewhat enjoyed it. Just a word of warning, though – you'll have trouble getting the theme song out of your head!

It's the end of a hot day. I'm tired, ran my six miles in ninety degree heat, threw down a couple of cold ones and figure I'll knock off another flick from my Mill Creek Mystery Collection. At an hour and a half I figure I can get through this without falling asleep and still have the stamina to do a review here. Usually I'll read a few other posts, positive and negative, and then offer my own thoughts. By the way, 'johnmorghen' and 'asgbeat' are the ones to read on this board, I'm only offering my paltry two cents. That song - please pry me off the ceiling. Every time it came on I wanted to groan and correct the lyrics - it should be 'DEAR old Dad', not 'good old Dad'. A bit of a misnomer though, George (Seymour Cassell) didn't seem all that dear or good to me. But gosh, how was he going to explain all this to the wife and kids when they got home? Especially the delivery guy in the fish tank. George probably should have taken his lumps calling the cops, no fifteen or sixteen year old would have had the street smarts to pull this one off. But it wasn't their first time if you can believe the script. Jackson (Sondra Locke) says to Donna (Colleen Camp) after George's first getaway - "They always take the bait don't they?" All the while I'm waiting for George to do the manly thing and take out the pair of bimbos, but it was just too maddening. Which is why I take exception to some other reviewer comments disappointed with the ending. For what Donna did to the cat, it was poetic justice to be taken out by the SPCA truck. And a whole lot more satisfying than the end of "No Country For Old Men", if you know what I mean.

A text prologue warns us that we should not allow evil to enter our house, but I think the more apt word is "entropy." Good grief, what slobs these two babes are! George (Seymour Cassell) is alone in his San Francisco office and his monstrously expensive home in Tiburon while his wife and child are away in San Diego. Two girls (Sondra Locke as Jackson and Colleen Camp as Donna) knock on his door, asking directions. Well, it's raining, and they're shivering like two drenched pitiful kittens, and they're not sure of the address they're looking for, and, what with one thing and another, George invites them to come in and partake of his pizza by the fire. All three of them wind up in George's bath tub and there follows about five minutes of mostly undifferentiated nudity in double exposure, triple exposure, quadruple exposure, and dodekakuple exposure. They spend the night in a threesome and the next morning the girls fix him breakfast. But something has gotten slightly cockeyed because Georgie's guests gobble everything down with their fingers and pour ketchup and syrup all over the linen and -- "You eat like ANIMALS!", George exclaims and tells them to get out. In his dreams. Now, don't get me wrong. Sondra Locke is an extraordinary looking young blond with cobalt-blue eyes and Colleen Camp bounces around like a superball. You gotta say, they breed 'em mighty cute down there in Shelbyville, Tennessee, where Locke comes from, and they breed 'em with bodacious tushes too, as we can't help but note after the first five or ten minutes. But when the girls go berserk, so does the movie. The film is thereafter bathed in a garish green light. The pair put on ghoulish makeup and make gargoyle faces at themselves in the mirrors. They brain a delivery boy and then drown him to make sure. They cuss up a storm and smash windows and furniture. They have one of those scenes in which two people sit across the table from one another, licking food and then jumping each other's bones. And Georgie? They first render Georgie unconscious with mace (which contains nothing that you can't find in that little red bottle of McIlheny's Tabasco sauce in your kitchen cabinet), tie him up, pour flour and milk all over him, subject him to a psychotic trial, put him through one of those Tolstoy-type semi-executions, slap him around, dress up in outlandish costumes, then prance out on him and his virtually destroyed upper-middle-class home, and are dispatched by a delivery van ex machina. As for the acting, it's as if someone had told Georgie, "First act polite to these girls, then act panicked after you're tied up." And to the girls: "First act shy, unwilling to impose on anyone, then act crazy." And that's it. The photography and location work are straight out of a 1970s * movie. I'm not sure that suggests a total lack of skill. It takes effort and talent to turn San Francisco ugly. The score gives us two Leitmotivs. Georgie's is some pop tune with lyrics about "being free" and "giving in." Jackson and Donna's is a catchy rinky-tink thing called "My Good Old Dad." I approve of the moral lesson behind the story, though. There are some things you should simply not give in to, even though they might look like a lot of fun at first. All very educational.

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.

I think there was this period in the 1970's when film makers decided that films didn't actually have to make sense if they had nudity in them. The plot line is a wealthy businessman's wife leaves for a medical emergency, so he's left alone on his 40th birthday. He lets in two drifters who happen to be hot blonds and bat-guano crazy. Except only one of them was hot. The other was Sondra Locke. (Shudder) After sex in a ridiculously large bathtub, they spend the rest of the movie torturing him and us. Just watching it was painful. Grainy film work, bad sound, bad lighting, annoying music. I almost wonder if this was some kind of horrid prank played on someone. More surprisingly, the leads actually had careers after this. Even Sondra, although she had to latch on to Clint Eastwood to do it.

How bad is this Turkey? Let me count the ways! First off, I'd like to agree with another poster that there isn't much to spoil! Second, Sondra Locke must have forgotten to destroy at least one copy of this film because I think Clint Eastwood finally realized he'd been taken for a ride by this no talent loser. I had to apologize to a friend of mine for wasting their time showing it. This is a waste of celluloid. Seymour Cassell, if you're reading this, find the rest of the copies and destroy it! I have to disagree with only the last part of what another poster said that this teaches you to lock the doors, don't answer the phone and don't answer the door if 2 beautiful blonde girls show up. Don't rent a movie with Sondra Locke! Colleen Camp made up for her sin, Seymour Cassell has rebounded. This woman (Locke) can't act. Neither can I but I don't call myself an actor.

This 1977 cult movie has two crazed lesbians (Sandra Locke & Colleen Camp) appearing at the home of wealthy socialite Doctor George Manning (Seymour Cassel), in hope of help in locating a residence they can't seem to find. But these two have other plans in mind, when they find out George's wife is out of town, they end up taking control of the residence, tying up the George, killing a delivery boy while destroying the place all in one evening. Bizarre and disturbing movie, but the two get there just reward in the same bizarre way as the movie ends. Most will either dislike it right off or get caught up in this ludicrous movie after about 30 minutes into it. Either way some even consider this a cult classic. Larry Dodson

There is a lot of talk of torture these days. That's all this movie is. It's about a good person who makes a bad decision. Because of his kindness, he becomes vulnerable to two psychotic women. From then on its a just-for-kicks assault on him. I don't know at what point you do something about it. There is a wife and child out there somewhere; he has great feelings of guilt and fear. But there should have been some times when he could have acted. The movie seems to be somebody's joke. I suppose in the wake of the Manson murders, we had a bit of a fixation on the likes of these two. Nevertheless, why would someone make a film like this? What appeals does it have except for sadism. The conclusion is totally unsatisfying, but that could have been remedied with an obvious plot twist. Oh, well. Another hour and a half of my life.

...Imagine this. On one dark, rainy night, two sexy young blonde girls show up on your doorstep, soaked to the skin. They feed you some sob story about being lost and, being the trusting gentleman that you are, you invite them in. Once inside, the flirtatious girls waste no time striping seductively to their underwear. One thing leads to another and before you know it, the three of you are in your hot tub.... This might sound like every red-blooded man's fantasy but the next morning things turn nasty. Those sweet girls turn "psycho girl" on you. They tie you up, slap on some freakish make-up and proceed to inflict their sickening mind games on you. Will you live to regret your night of three-way nookie? That is basically what this film is about. It is no masterpiece of drive-in cinema but well worth seeing if you enjoy those kinds of low-budget movies. Fans of Nikos Nikoladis' 'Singapore Sling' might also want to give this a look. Both films have the same basic premise and some might come to realise that 'Sling' is not so original after all. Although do not go expecting the same amount of sleaze as 'Sling'. Also, look out for one of the best 'what-the-hell' endings you will ever see.