Make it a Game Night with Deadly Games, Now on Blu-ray from Arrow
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1982’s Deadly Games, written and directed by Scott Mansfield, is an early and unique entry into the start of the 80’s slasher film craze. Recently restored from the original negatives, Deadly Games sets the standard for every stalker POV shot in all the horror films that came after it.
Mansfield’s vision of a masked slasher who chooses his victims by playing board games and rolling the dice is an odd choice but works exceedingly well with the stalking portions of the movie. Mixed with the strong character-driven scenes, it creates a nice balance that is an enjoyable watch which unfortunately loses most of its steam towards the final act.
Pretty much just a simple straight forward slasher of that era, it was interesting to see Steve Railsback play a troubled Vietnam Vet coming off the heels of his most wild performance of Charles Manson in 1976’s TV mini-series Helter Skelter. He gave this role a sinister tone instead of an unhinged crazy maniac as he did with Manson.
Originally airing on SHOWTIME, the film then made its way into the drive-in theaters and eventually was lost to time until the negatives were found, cleaned up, audio restored, and released to Blu-ray to the masses for the first time since the 1980’s. Arrow Video used all the footage that was available to pack the contents of the disc with as much as they could for this Special Edition.
- Brand new 2K restoration from the original camera negative
- Original uncompressed mono audio - Optional English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
- Brand new audio commentary with The Hysteria Continues
- Sooty’s a Sh*t - a brand new interview with actor Jere Rae-Mansfield
- Practical Magic - a brand new interview with special effects and stunt coordinator John Eggett
- Extensive image gallery featuring never-before-seen production photos and promotional material
- Original Trailer
- Original screenplay under the title Who Fell Asleep [BD-ROM content]
- Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Ralf Krause
- FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Fully illustrated collector’s booklet featuring new writing by film historian/author Amanda Reyes
Not the best 80’s slasher film but certainly not the worst, Deadly Games deserves a spot on your horror collection shelf.