Slayground

Peter Coyote ("E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial") plays Stone, a criminal who participates in the theft of an armoured car. Unfortunately, he and his accomplice (Bill Luhrs, 'Ryan's Hope') are forced to hire a young punk / speed demon (Ned Eisenberg, "The Burning") as a last-minute replacement for their original getaway driver. Then, after the theft, the punks' reckless driving results in the death of a young girl. Her father is understandably furious, but he doesn't go through any normal channels. His first thought is VENGEANCE, and to that end he hires a hitman to eliminate the three men. But this is no ordinary hitman. Just killing people is not enjoyable enough for him; he must first taunt his victims and toy with them, before turning them into macabre works of art. Stone flees to England, to hook up with an old friend (comedy legend Mel Smith, "The Princess Bride"), but the hitman naturally follows him there.

Directed with some competence but no real style by cameraman Terry Bedford, "Slayground" is no great shakes when it comes to the cult crime thriller genre. Loosely adapted from a Richard Stark (Donald E. Westlake) novel, it does benefit from its very bleak atmosphere and its use of locations. The amusement park finale delivers some good suspense and imagery, and the action scenes in the beginning are well executed. The violence isn't overdone, but it is potent and effective. The film, however, earns some debits for a screenplay that is only so-so, and a music score that is at times terrible.

Coyote is good in the lead, with Smith scoring in a change-of-pace dramatic role. Billie Whitelaw, Mrs. Baylock in the original "The Omen", *is* admittedly wasted in a minor part as the proprietress of the amusement park, who feels protective of Smiths' character Terry. Familiar faces in supporting roles and bits include David Hayward ("Nashville"), Kelli Maroney ("Night of the Comet"), Clarence Felder ("The Hidden"), and P.H. Moriarty ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels"), but it is the late Philip Sayer ("Xtro") who is the most memorable element of the picture. He gives us a truly creepy and twisted pursuer who often speaks in a whisper, and we never do get a good look at his face. He truly becomes a relentless "shadow man".

This remains somewhat obscure 37 years later, but fans of crime fiction might want to seek it out and give it a try. It's flawed, but still fairly interesting.

Six out of 10.

Starting in New York and ending in Blackpool, SLAYGROUND is an unusual crime thriller which was quite a flop when first released (it was one of the few films Thorn EMI not only distributed but produced also) and was never seen by that many people. Based on one of the "Parker" novels written by Richard Stark (POINT BLANK and PAYBACK were also based on this series), SLAYGROUND stars Peter Coyote, British comedian Mel Smith (from Smith and Jones), in a rare dramatic role, and Billie Whitelaw. If you like tough crime thrillers, track it down.

The movie is based on Donald Westlake's (Writing under the Pseudonym Richard Stark) classic crime suspense novel SLAYGROUND, featuring the sociopath profession criminal, Parker, from a series of books with that same character. The director of the movie apparently decided he didn't like the books or their main character. In this stupid and clichéd thriller, he uses neither. More or less, the director or producer, whoever made this inept decision, simply took the title of the novel and cooked up a script bearing no relation to the book or any in the series, in order to suite what they believed would be something better. If you're looking for the Parker from the Richard Stark PARKER novels, forget about it. He's been replaced by a small time hood who spews out lines like, "I'm a thief, not a killer." "I'm afraid." "I've never killed anybody." I'm sure if you're a fan of those novels you don't need to hear anymore. I've saved you from wasting your money on this abysmal take on SLAYGROUND. It's a shame, too, because the book would have made a classic movie, but they chose to film something else.

Roughly based on one of Donald Westlake's crime novels, a businessman hires a hitman to track down and kill a trio of robbers responsible for killing his daughter in a hit-and-run accident during an escape from one of their heists. Stylized cinematography but short on plausibility, which is typical of these 1980s low-budgets.

I've read a few of Donald Westlake's Parker series, but not the one that this movie of the same name is based upon. I'm quite sure however it bears little relationship to this weird movie, with the Parker character having a name change to Stone for some reason.

Slayground was strangely marketed more as a slasher film, rather than crime genre. But upon release it tanked spectacularly even given the fact that it was never likely to be splash release material. There is simply no disguising the poor production standards of the film, especially the sound and ordinary lighting. But the worst sins occur with the "story", though calling it that, is almost giving it too much of a compliment.

Stone is part of a gang who rob an armoured car in the most unlikely of places. In escaping, their driver hits another car killing it's occupants, a mother and her ice skater child. The vengeful husband and father contracts a relentless hit man only identified as Shadowman to take revenge on the gang members. And the story carries on from there, climaxing naturally enough with Stone facing off against Shadowman in the Slayground, which is bizarrely in England, after a switch in continental locations , half way through the movie. (I'd just about bet my house on this not occurring in the original novel.)

Here's the thing. There is never any explanation given whatsoever as to how Shadowman tracks down, let alone knows who the gang members are. This just happens and it's on with more important things besides logic. The action, by the way is poorly filmed and choreographed, with many of the murders occurring off screen. We are just privy to the less than shocking results. Characters just exist primarily as cannon fodder, with few given much in the way of back story, including Stone. Oh Yeah! He has an ex-wife.

Peter Coyote better known for his supporting characters, rather than lead roles plays Stone unexceptionally. British comedian Mel Smith pops up as a past Stone associate who was thought to be dead (Don't ask!) by all and sundry, except Shadowman (of course) and actually does a pretty convincing job as an ex-crim trying to go straight. But this is real bottom shelf stuff. The best Parker adaptions I've seen are the 3 starring respectively Lee Marvin (Point Blank). Mel Gibson (Payback) and Jason Statham (Parker). I wouldn't really bother getting involved with this stinker.