Tag: The Assassination Game

OK, all one really needs to say is "This is a film about college kids shooting each other with rubber tipped dart guns." If you are looking into a movie with that premise for anything other than breezy entertainment, you need to raise your standards.

That being said, this is a pretty good film. Linda Hamilton, as another commenter said, was really honing her craft here, and many of the skills that she demonstrated in Terminator were beginning to be displayed. Her simultaneous edginess and softness with occasional sultry looks are well worth a view. Carradine is passable as a lead as a wannabe "front page", but like all the Carradines, not very memorable.

Finally, it is worth noting that Michael Winslow has some enjoyable scenes as a TAG contestant who entertains himself and others with his very commendable skills as a sound effects specialist. He would eventually go on to great fame in the Police Academy movies 2 years later.

Not much in the way of technical expertise displayed here by Nick Castle, who played the Shape in Halloween (though he probably had no budget to work with). Most enjoyable for me was the boom mike that appeared in a classroom scene above Linda Hamilton's head. This however was his first directing role, and it had moments of greatness in it that showed his potential.

Underrated Pretty good for a B movie.

Mixing in the comedy is what made it a fun movie. If it had been made as a pure thriller , then it would have sucked. Just as most in the 21st century do

Jay.

The execution of "TAG: The Assassination Game" may be primarily comical and light-headed, the concept is extremely ingenious and would easily lean itself for a harsh and disturbing thriller. It's actually quite regrettable that writer/director Nick Castle (an acolyte of John Carpenter, which is made clear through many details throughout the film) opted for the more comical and all-revealing approach, as you can't help thinking this premise held a lot more potential. "TAG" is the name of a game organized on campus grounds and it's a gigantic hype in universities all across the USA. The participating students dispose of toy guns and receive the profile of another participant together with the assignment to "kill" them. Of course one of the players, who can't stand losing too well, takes the game a little serious and starts taking out his targets with genuine bullets. Most of the film, however, revolves on the game circuit of the lovely Linda Hamilton, as well as on her romance with the school newspaper journalist Robert Carradine), so it takes an awful long while before anyone ever realizes there's a crazed killer on the loose. "TAG" isn't exactly suspenseful, since the identity of the killer is never kept secret and – let's face it – someone going completely bonkers over losing a stupid college game isn't very convincing. There's also a severe lack in body count and the murders themselves aren't very spectacular. Still, it's a fun idea and the film has a few highly memorable moments and eccentric characters, like Carpenter (see the link?); the creep who keeps hold of the score. Linda Hamilton looks beautiful and very sexy in this one, although she smokes like a chimney unfortunately, and it's also the debut film of Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator).

Considering that every bad 80's slasher movie ever made seems to have a cult following these days (including, God help us all, the Sleepaway Camp trilogy), I find it highly ironic that a well-made, suspenseful, and entertaining film like this is now virtually forgotten. TAG has a great premise. It has some great b-movie talent including Robert Carradine, Bruce Abbot, erstwhile porn starlet Kristine DeBell, and a young Linda Hamilton. It was even directed by Nick Kastle, the man who played the Shape in the original Halloween. The problem with this movie, no doubt, was that, much like the original Halloween, it contained little blood and gore. After Friday the 13th in 1980 this was just not permissible (Halloween itself probably would have sunk like a stone had it been released five years later). So this great little movie is forgotten today while pointless dreck like Sleepaway Camp lingers like an unflushed turd in a poorly ventilated bathroom. There's just no justice in the world.

Jaded viewers imposing current film standards and expectations may want to look elsewhere, but if one has an appreciation for 80's movies and other movies of this type and pace, then it's clear that Tag has aged well for what it is. Tag is a dark comedy-thriller that takes place on a college campus during the 1980's. Think of something along the lines of Terror Train (1980 with Jamie Lee Curtis), except with comedy and a tongue in cheek quality to it, at least in the films first half.

TAG, The Assassination Game (1982) is a great little film that has gained a strong, though seemingly small fan following over the years. I've watched it many times since I discovered it in the early 80's (after which I got a few people together in my high school so we could hunt each other down with rubber band guns –not recommended). A lot of people simply don't appear to know much about this dark comedy/thriller. Most people who've seen this film give it decent reviews, but the reviews themselves are few and far between. So, here is a little more information about this great flick. The plot is simple. At a college campus the latest pastime is a game called TAG. TAG players are given lists of targets (consisting of other players in the TAG group) that they chase after all over the large college campus with fake plastic suction tipped dart guns. The last man or woman who hasn't been hunted down and successfully tagged in the end, wins. There are a few rules to this campus game (game play stops at 12:00 midnight, etc.), but that's about it. It's all a fun pastime with a chance to meet new people. That is, until things go wrong.

The reigning champion (played wonderfully by Bruce Abbott in his first film role) gets so upset over getting tagged and losing that he decides to use real bullets instead and continue on with the game. The movie is a decent paced 80's film with a noir like tongue in cheek quality to it that develops into the dark and serious, contains a fair amount of suspense, and pulls it all off with nice style for a little film. Its ending is serious, but with a wink, and an homage to those noir films of yesteryear. It also shows that gore, tons of violence, etc., is not necessary to make a good thriller. Though I've never seen anything else really like TAG, there are a few other movies that one might like if they like it, such as Silver Streak (1976), and Foul Play (1978). I hope some day TAG gets remastered to DVD. Till then, I guess its out of print VHS tapes. TAG, was written and Directed by Nick Castle. Castle was involved in helping his friend, Director John Carpenter write Escape From New York, and TAG was Castle's first Directing project. Castle would later go on to direct more commercially honed films (for that time period) such as The Last Starfighter, The Boy Who Could Fly, and others. He's still working today. He was also the original man behind the mask in Halloween.

Having already been in a number of films before TAG, (most notable to me is The Big Red One as a cigar smoking writer named Pvt. Zab), Robert Carradine appears in Tag as a dashing cigar smoking journalist who falls in love with the movies heroine. After TAG, Carradine went on to do Revenge of the Nerds in 1984 as Lewis Skolnick. He's still active in his long career.

Aside from a couple of TV roles and minor work, TAG is Linda Hamilton's first real film. Her role as Sarah Connor in Terminator (1984) was still two years away. One can tell from watching her in TAG that she already had a good grip on her craft. She's beautiful here, and thankfully we would see a lot more of her skill and beauty in the years to come, and still do. (Incidentally, Bruce Abbott apparently did "get" Linda Hamilton in the end after all, in reality that is. They were married from December 19, 1982 till they were divorced in 1989. They had one son together Born October 4, 1989, Dalton Abbott.)