Game of Death

Make no mistake, the plot for "Game of Death" is nonsensical, implausible and even downright imbecilic. On the other hand, it's also the most original, refreshing and straightforwardly efficient plot for a gory horror flick that I've seen in a few years. Lately, I admit, I've been whining and complaining that practically all gritty/gory horror films nowadays are about repulsive cannibalistic & inbred families entrapping a bunch of wayward teenagers and submitting them to extreme torture. The idea behind "Game of Death" is refreshingly different and I feel obliged to give it some extra appreciation for that reason. The style and vision of the directors' duo (Sebastien Landry and Laurence Morais-Lagace) is also very energetic and tinsel, with flashy opening credits and entire sequences/montages that look like footage from a typically 80s video game. The film starts with a group of young Millennial teenagers doing their thing: drinking by the pool and surrendering to their hormonal lusts. They stumble upon a seemingly harmless and vintage board game called "Game of Death" and naturally don't resist to play. After "donating" drops of their own blood via the finger, the game determines that they must murder 24 people, or else they'll die themselves. Obviously they laugh away the concept at first, but things get dead serious when heads start exploding out of the blue. The script doesn't bother to explain, so I won't either, but somehow the game registers the murders they are committing and counts down until the next head-explosion. Some members of the group turn into psychopaths with brutal survival instinct, whereas others become philosophical martyrs. I've read about comparisons between this film and "Scanners" or "Battle Royale", but that's only because heads are exploding. The simple truth is that "Game of Death" is a fun & undemanding stand-alone horror quickie. The film is extremely gore, with lots of fake blood and mediocre CGI-effects, fast-paced and blackly comical. The girls look yummy and the whole thing is finished after barely 75 minutes, what could you possibly expect more from a silly B-movie?

A bunch of youngsters play a mysterious game in which u either have to kill a person every one hour or the player's head will explode. Nothing new here. Even the kills aint inventive. When it comes to the screenplay, nothing new. At least the makers shud have focused on creating some tension or suspense. Apart from the watermelons exploding scenes n some pretty faces, this film is a total time waster. It has some lousy shaky cam stuff n pov shot scenes.

If you've seen the trailer or read the synopsis, it should already be pretty obvious why this movie is inherently bad. The premise, while somewhat original, is preposterous, the lines and performances are frequently cringe worthy, and its overall vibe is just dumb. However, it does look surprisingly good given an obvious low budget, and it manages to walk a fine between not taking itself too seriously and intentionally being bad. Overall, it just feels like a bunch of kids got together and had a great time pouring fake blood on each other, and if you have an appreciation for a gratuitous bloodbath, it's not impossible to enjoy that on some level.

The good: the director has influences that are evident, sporadically. Carpenter, King and Cameron maybe even some Tarantino type style can be seen here and there. Mixed with some animation that makes for humor, intentional or not. The bad: the script is horrible. The acting is sub to the point that you wonder if that is intentional too. The idea has been done before with most horror movies involving youth. There's a message to be unpacked, but the delivery of the movie is so bad...do you want to unpack it?

Medicore film of obnoxious teens who find a game and then have to kill people or else they die. Tries to bring some ethical and moral aspects to the situation, but given the plastic and superficial nature of the characters, the moral aspects of the film fall flat. Excessive gore in the beginning, sexual behavior that is pointless, and then other odd elements that bring nothing to the script. Ho hum.