Dangerous Game

Ozploitation thriller Dangerous Game is a case of style over substance: director Stephen Hopkins (A Nightmare On Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Lost in Space) achieves some impressive visuals and executes a couple of cool set-pieces, but the film is derivative and often quite ridiculous, the characters repeatedly making really bad decisions solely to further the plot.

The premise for Dangerous Game is reminiscent of several other films: 1984 horror The Initiation, 1986 B-movie Chopping Mall (but without the Killbots), and slasher Hide and Go Shriek, which was also released in '88. A computer nerd (with really bad fashion sense) proves his hacking skill to his friends by opening the security door to a department store. The youngsters enter the place to have a snoop around, unaware that they have been followed by a psychotic cop with a grudge. What follows is part slasher/part survivalist thriller, as the kids must defend themselves against the violent, deranged cop (fortunately, the store has a fairly extensive shotgun department).

Highlights include a vertiginous scene on a ledge and the killer leaping across several display units as they fall like dominoes (although whoever arranged the units like that should lose their job!). Flashy direction (gliding camerawork and dizzying crane shots) and superb cinematography by Peter Levy ensure that the film is great to look at, but with the teens repeatedly splitting up and never taking the opportunity to incapacitate their attacker when the opportunity arises - and only the one death - the film is quite frustrating at times.

4/10.

Slick handsome thriller about a group of teens who break into a department story for the thrill of it all, but find themselves falling victim to a deranged police officer whom the teens caused to lose his job earlier that day. While this slasher is exciting and generates much suspense (while building up characterization too), at times I felt like I was watching a Die Hard ripoff.

Rated R; Violence.

An exceptional performance from Marcus Graham as the crazed Jack... A movie that will keep you on the edge of your seat and always guessing as to what happens next. A must see for lovers of true blue Aussie Films.

This is the story of a maniac cop who, for some reason, has it in for a young college stud and his mates. After they report him to his supervisor who in turns suspends him pending psychiatric evaluation, he finds an opportunity to psychology torture them when, on a bet, the kids hack into a department store's security and unlock the door. Only, they get locked in the store, along with the weirdo. Murder and mayhem are afoot, and the kids are running around trying to survive until morning when they may be able to escape.

'Dangerous Game' would have been a successful cat-and-mouse psycho thriller probably if it was set in a different location. The thought of psychotic cop chasing around a bunch of innocent teenagers in a department store just didn't work. Especially when he comes face-to-face with his flinching prey quite frequently and yet, does nothing serious quite often. There was no real confrontation as would be sufficient for this kind of story, and may've worked better if say, for example, the teens were loose in the neighborhood and left to fend for themselves against this weirdo (especially if that took a few days while he makes them increasingly paranoid...although granted, even that is clichéd).

What a shame, too, that it could not have been a better thriller, considering a funky cast of young Australian characters. Even a light hearted adventure despite the madness of the villain interspersed through the picture might have even made it a more satisfying picture. Instead, it started out fresh, and sure did have plenty of action sequences, but wound up verging on the ridiculous.

Back in the 1980's when you wanted to watch a cheap and cheesy little B movie, the only label that really delivered the goods on the home video front was the late great home video company Medusa Home Video(anyone in the U.K who might happen to read this review will instantly recognise the name) Medusa Home Video thrived on releasing some really good and seriously off the wall movies that would never ever see the light of day.

If it's was Italian action movies(Warbus & Blastfighter spring quickly to mind) then it was sterling efforts emerging from down under, some might not have been very good, but you can never fault the overall commitment when it came to movies like Kadaicha, Out Of The Body.

It is true what they say, for every miss-fire, you will inevitably discover a little gem, and as such Dangerous Game certainly delivered the goods.

At the time I wasn't familiar with the name of Stephen Hopkins(then again who was) but after this movie Mr Hopkins received the call from America and made a few decent genre movies(Judgment Night, Nightmare 5 & Predator 2) but with his directorial debut, Hopkins much like Russell Mulcahy displayed with Razorback, that even if you had next to nothing in the way of a budget, you could more than make up for in the way of style.

That is not to say that the film had many flaws attached to it, Yes its true that the movies plot revolving around five teens being terrorised by a maniacal cop is in any way original, but it does help if you have the actor Stephen Grives playing the crazy arm of the law, who through every scene we get to watch and feel the emotional breakdown of this troubled law enforcement officer.

It's been many many years since I last watched this movie, but it takes a certain something about a movie for me never to forget about it, Sundown - The Vampire In Retreat is one such movie as is Steve De Jarnatt's killer thriller Miracle Mile.

What is that one thing you might ask? Well it takes a few things, a decent concept, some really good dialogue and as always some barnstorming acting. With every thriller you have to have a really good villain, and not since Inseminoid has Stephen Grives had the chance to exercise his acting chops but equipped with some exceptional dialogue, his freak out speech when he toys with Marcus Graham's character Jack and that of Kathryn when he realises that they have never seen a dead body before just rocks! When I had the movie in my collection, I always had to rewind that one scene just to hear every line of dialogue.

What of the rest of the cast, yes it's true that Grives is the star of the show as the Irish cop working down under, but the young cast more than hold their respective own, Miles Buchanan(Bliss) as the computer nerd who holds a serious torch for Ziggy(Sandy Lillingston) and Marcus Graham who for the majority of the movie is the main aim of psycho cop Murphy psychotic attentions.

Whilst not a very bloody movie, it does deliver, the Medusa Home Video cover was always the coolest and whilst this movie has all but fell beneath the radar, if you can find it, check it out and get ready to experience antipodean horror in your life.

Ps, the ending promised a sequel, thankfully such a thing never materialised.

A Dangerous but very true 10 out of 10 for this lost little Australian gem