DEATH GAME (1977)
2-Disc Deluxe Edition Blu-ray
Label: Grindhouse Releasing
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: R
Duration: 87 Minutes
Audio: English DTS-HD MA 2.0 Dual Mono with Optional English Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.39:1)
Director: Peter Traynor
Cast: Seymour Cassel, Sondra Locke, Colleen Camp
In Death Game (1977), a cautionary tales based on a proverbial "true story", businessman George (Seymour Cassel, Rushmore) and his wife Karen (Beth Brickell) live in San Francisco in a home of luxury and seem to have a fantastic, loving relationship with each other. It's George's 40th birthday weekend and they have plans to celebrate, but an unexpected family emergency involving one of their children draws his wife away from town, which leaves George on his own for the weekend. It's that first night while George is alone listening to his hi-fi stereo system during a heavy and thunderous downpour that he hears a knock at his front door. Answering it he discovers Jackson (Sondra Locke, Willard) and Donna (Colleen Camp, Deadly Games), a pair of soaking wet young women who say they're lost, travelling on foot, and are in need of a ride. He unwisely but well-meaningly invites them in and offers to let them warm up by the fireplace while they wait for a friend to come pick them up. That friend never arrives, but the girls end up peeling off their clothes and jumping in his hot tub, then make some aggressive moves on him, inviting him into the hot tub. The at-first faithful husband attempts to dissuade them, kindly rebuffing their advances, but after being a few minutes of being rubbed, kissed and tugged he gives into the sexually dynamic duo and they engage in a threesome in the steamy waters of the hot tub.
The next morning he wakes up half expecting (hoping) that the girls might have left during the wee hours of the morning, but they have not, they're in the kitchen making as mess as they prepare breakfast. A threesome and breakfast, that's cool, but as their seated around the breakfast table the girl seem to become more aggressive towards him, unprovoked, suggesting that their sex act constituted statutory rape, taunting and teasing him, and making it clear that they do not want to leave anytime soon. As George attempts to get them to leave they become more unhinged and aggressive towards him, devolving into violent sadomasochistic games that escalates with George spayed in the face with mace, tied-up and wildly abused. It's a nightmarish and manic weekend, and one that eventually claims to life of a poor grocery delivery guy who ends up conked upside the head with a fire-poker and dumped headfirst into a coffee table fish tank, left to drown much to George's horror, as he pleads with the women not to commit murder, perhaps realizing that when they cross that line he's next.
It's a surreal and deranged bit of exploitation cinema with the girls destroying the house and holding a hysterical kangaroo court to decide George's ultimate fate. It's an intense series of scenes that are bathed in eerie green light and the young women painting their faces like crazed children with George's wife's make-up, making them appear all the weirder and scarier. I absolutely love this film, it's so off-the-rails in the final third having built up from softcore male fantasy to a truly frightening nightmare about a seemingly decent guy who is punished for his weakness in the face of sexual temptation. The wacky Crazy Mary, Dirty Larry style sudden-impact comeuppance at the very end might ruffle some feathers but I thought it was a fine finish to a maniacal and madcap romp.
Locke, Camp and Cassel are so engrossed in their characters that it's scary, and they were seemingly open to all avenues of mayhem during filming, with their unhinged performances giving credence to the accusation of drug use, tripping out, hysteria, and open hostility mentioned in the bonus content, but it didn't sink the film, in fact I think it made it better and harder to look away from.
Audio/Video: Death Game (1977) arrives on region-free Blu-ray from Grindhouse Releasing in the original 2.39:1 aspect ratio, restored in 4K from the original camera negative. I've only ever seen this film previously on a pretty cruddy DVD edition so seeing this so beautifully restored is quite a shocker. The image is gorgeously restored and quite clean, there's a stray vertical line but otherwise it's quite pristine with a velveteen layer of film grain. The colors have a great luster and are well-saturated, with some very pleasing depth and clarity. Those scenes with the eerie green lighting emanating from the fish tank coffee table look terrific, with the off-kilter lighting further adding an element of lunacy and menace to the already unhinged performances. The shadow detail and contrast are also fantastic, there's so much to love about this new transfer, it's quite stunning.
Extras on the first disc start of with a pair of brand new commentaries - first up is the Audio Commentary by Colleen Camp & Eli Roth who like in the accompanying interviews clearly have a great rapport and friendship. Camp's enthusiastic and quite detailed in her recounting of the making of the film and her interaction with her co-stars, which makes it quite a informative and fun listen. She also has some great stories about the making of Bruce Lee's Game of Death! The second more technical track is the Audio commentary by producer Larry Spiegel & cinematographer/editor David Worth is also quite good, particularly if your keen to learn about the challenges of low-budget movie-making in the 70s. Also included on the first disc are some very cool Easter Eggs which I'll touch on further in the review.
Onto the second Blu-ray, a disc dedicated to extras and more Easter Eggs, we get more deep-diving bonus junk, starting off with a delightful hour-long Colleen Camp in the Moment is an interview with the co-star conducted by Eli Roth. They talk about how they first met, Camp coming on as a producer for Roth's remake, Knock, Knock, her early career and first-hand account of making the film. She also talks a bit about her appearance in Apocalypse Now, her thoughts on doing nudity in film, and what it was like working with Cassel and Locke.
The 110-min Ruthless - The Peter Traynor Story is an interview with director also conducted by Eli Roth. Its a career-spanning talk that starts from Traynor conning his way into the insurance game before moving onto real estate, and then into making movies, and producing Steel Arena. It's a pretty candid chat with lots of colorful stories about the often challenging making of this film.
The late Sondra Locke appears via a 14-min Audio Interview with co-star Sondra Locke conducted by Mike White of The Projection Booth Podcast with the actress discussing her time making the film, her displeasure with the changed script, and her unhinged feelings about Traynor as a director, and the films she made with Clint Eastwood. Also included is the 44-min Complete Audio Interview with Sondra Locke that gives more time to her early career and other film appearances.
Game Changers is a 55-min Interview with producer Larry Spiegel and cinematographer/editor David Worth who talk about the dysfunction behind-the-scenes with Worth being brought on as cinematographer when the original DP was fired, then editing the film and then ADR-ing all of Seymour Cassel dialogue when, after nearly coming to blows with Traynor on set, the actor refused to come back during post-production.
The last of the interviews is the 44-min A Tale of Two Scripts, it's a pleasant a chat with with screenwriter Michael Ronald Ross who talks about the wildly different versions of the script which underwent sever changes before becoming what it is on film We also get a set of Extensive Image Galleries that cover Production Stills, Peter Traynor Artwork, Promotional Materials, VHS Releases and Grindhouse Releasing Cover Art; and over 50-min of Grindhouse Trailers including some treasures I've yet to see like Hollywood 90028, Love Is Deep Inside, The Captive Female, The Ice House, Scum of the Earth and Impulse.
It's Grindhouse Releasing so you know there's a ton of easter eggs tucked away in the menus! These listed here are the ones I was able to find, and there's a possibility there are more, but I dug around those menu quite a bit. We get a pair of USC Med Center promos directed by Peter Traynor, both featuring Ricardo Montalbán plus a creepy mime; a Mercury Lincoln promo narrated by Sir Laurence Olivier he directed; plus an additional 2-min clip with Michael Ronald Ross talking about how he discovered Eli Roth's remake Knock, Knock, plus newly restored trailers for Death Game and The Passion Pit, and a Coleen Camp print advert. Those are all certainly cool, but the kicker for me is a bonus feature-length film - that's right, a fully restored version of kindred spirit Little Miss innocence (1973) in HD! It makes for an interesting double-feature with the main film as they are quite similar in theme.
The 2-disc Blu-ray set release arrives in an clear, oversized Scanavo keepsake with a Reversible Sleeve of Artwork with the original illustrated poster artwork on one-side and a quite striking new piece by painter Dave Lebow that is easily my favorite Grindhouse Releasing artwork thus far. The keepcase is housed inside a embossed side-loading slipcover with the new Dave Lebow artwork. Inside there's a 24-page Full-Color Booklet with rare photos and liner notes by cinema historian David Szulkin that digs DEEP into this film, the behind-the-scenes stuff, the making of, the way cinematographer saved the film not once, but three times, taking on editing and dubbing duties! Its great stuff with some terrific behind-the-scenes images peppered throughout.
Special Features:
- Spectacular new 4K restoration created from the original camera negative
- Audio Commentary by Colleen Camp & Eli Roth
- Audio Commentary by Larry Spiegel & David Worth
- Colleen Camp in the Moment: Interview with cult movie legend Colleen Camp conducted by Eli Roth (60 min)
- Ruthless - The Peter Traynor Story: Interview with director Peter Traynor, conducted by Eli Roth (110 min)
- Audio Interview with co-star Sondra Locke (14 min)
- Complete Audio Interview with co-star Sondra Locke (44 min)
- Game Changers: Interview with producer Larry Spiegel Interview with cinematographer/editor David Worth (55 min)
- A Tale of Two Scripts: Intervie with screenwriter Michael Ronald Ross (44 min)
- Extensive Still Galleries: Production stills (25 Images), Peter Traynor Artwork (25 Images), Promotional Materials (23 Images), VHS Releases (9 Images), Grindhouse Releasing Cover Art (44 Images)
- Grindhouse Releasing Trailers: An American Hippie In Israel (3 min), The Beyond (3 min), The Big Gundown (2 min), Cannibal Ferox (2 min), Hollywood 90028 (2 min), Cannibal Holocaust (2 min), Love Is Deep Inside (2 min), The Captive Female (2 min), Cat in the Brain (2 min), Corruption (2 min), Family Enforcer (2 min), Gone with the Pope (2 min), I Drink Your Blood (3 min), The Ice House (3 min), Massacre Mafia Style (2 min), Pieces (33 sec), Scum of the Earth (2 min), The Swimmer (2 min), The Tough Ones (4 min), Death Game (3 min), Impulse (1 min)
- 24-page full-color booklet with rare photos and liner notes by cinema historian David Szulkin
- Embossed slipcover with new art by esteemed painter Dave Lebow
Easter Eggs:
- Easter Egg: Little Miss Innocence (1973) - feature length films in 1080p HD with Dolby Digital (81 min)
- Easter Eggs: USC Med Center "Cast Care" Promos directed by Peter Traynor featuring Ricardo Montalbán(1985) (17 min)
- Easter Egg: Additional Michael Ronald Ross Int. Segment (2 min)
- Easter Egg: Restored Death Game Theatrical Trailer (2 min)
- Easter Egg: Collen Camp Advert
- Easter Egg: The Passion Pit Trailer (3 min)
- Easter Egg: Ford Mercury Lincoln Promo narrated by Laurence Olivier (5 min)
- Easter Egg: USC Med Center Promos directed by Peter Traynor featuring Ricardo Montalbán (1985) (11 min)
Death Game (1977) is a pretty stunning and trippy slice of home invasion cinema, pre-dating later films that bare witness to it's influence, particularly Funny Games and The Strangers which are kindred spirits. If you've not seen it previously you're in for a treat, and if you've seen it before you've never seen it like this! The film is bonkers and this new 4K restoration from Grindhouse Releasing is an absolutely stunning release that is over-stuffed with excellent extras, definitely one of the best releases of 2022!
Screenshots from the Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray:
Easter Egg:
Little Miss Innocence (1973) - feature length film.
