The Murder Game

This film is complete and utter garbage, I found myself watching it after seeing an above average review on a horror forum.

Every single thing about murder game was bad, I cannot think of one thing that was remotely good about this film. The acting, the effects, the plot(lack of) and the actors(where do they find these people) and the location(whole thing looked like it had been filmed in someones garage). They could have at least upped the gore and thrown in a lot of gratuitous nudity which might have helped but I doubt it. I don't know who's been paid off but there a few above average reviews of this film around and it makes no sense, some even say how in touch the makers are with the real horror fan, a classic homage to traditional slashers, they must have watched a different film.

Budget horror is great but rubbish like this will probably put people of funding it!

So it isn't a disappointing high budget production full of eye candy! It is a simple story made with a low budget that is very good! Not original,but surprising enough! There are some some twists that cannot be predicted! I have to admit that after seeing the intro I thought that the movie wasn't going to be good! This due to really bad acting from some characters! But once "The murder game" starts you will be able to ignore that! It is obvious that these actors aren't experienced! But even so they should at least learn to act natural! One example! Two girls discover that one of their friends is murdered! One girl starts to cry the other reacts like she didn't even know the guy! Later when another friend arrives who is shocked by this fact gets the response to get over it because they already been through the whole process! Maybe this was meant to be funny! But if I would find out that one of my best friends has been murdered I wouldn't get over it in a few seconds! If this was done better than it would have made the movie more thrilling! However this bad acting is more than enough compensated by the wonderful plot! People who like slasher/ horror movies will get a kick out of this movie since it does a good job in playing with certain elements of this genre! Especially the satisfying ending! "The Murder Game" is a very entertaining thriller that is worth watching!

I have a thing for contemporary slasher films that have an 80's type feel to them. Films like "Sleepaway Camp," "The Slumber Party Massacre," "The Mutilator," "My Bloody Valentine," and even the original "Friday the 13th" rarely get made anymore, so it is always a pleasant surprise when I run across a recent film that has that is unforgiving in the fact that it is a 100% pure slasher film and doesn't try to be anything different. "The Murder Game" is one of those films. It reminds me of the more recent DTV film "Death Clique" and the 80's "Hide and Go Shriek." Unfortunately, something was lacking that doesn't make it as an effective of a film as those two.

The film centers on a group of friends who invent a "murder game," which is similar to hide and seek. One of them is elected to be the killer based on drawing a specific card. The others have no idea who the killer is and the group splits up and the elected killer "kills" anyone he finds. Whoever can figure out who the killer is first win. Their parents don't approve of the game (I can't imagine why) and forbid the group to play it. Being teenagers, they find a way around this by deciding to sneak into a large storage warehouse one night and play. Unfortunately, they are not alone, as a mysterious killer almost immediately begins disposing of them in some pretty bloody ways.

The Good: As I mentioned, this film does not apologize for being a slasher film, and a pretty brutal one at that. The action comes fast; they are very few "drawn out" scenes. The setting is very claustrophobic and provides a nice, creepy atmosphere. Think about it...a storage warehouse is a perfect location for a slasher film. Once the warehouse goes dark, I really liked that there was a red hue to the film...it really provided a nice, unsettling touch. The murders are actually pretty graphic. We get axings, throat-slittings, decapitations, and brutal stabbings. Overall, the tone if this film is very effective and I hate to keep mentioning it, but fans of the 80's slashers should be somewhat pleased. Also, the killer's identity is a surprise and I didn't have it figured out. I wouldn't call it a "twist," but when it is revealed who the killer is, you should be somewhat surprised.

The Bad: The dialogue is terrible. There are some extremely cringe-worthy things uttered by these teen characters, including a reference to "Abbott and Costello" that I found baffling. Do many teenagers even know who Abbott and Costello are? There are too many attempts to throw in some "light humor" but it falls flat because (1)it's terribly written (2) the actors who say it are terrible in their delivery and (3)no sane person would utter these things when they think their friends are being slaughtered. The acting is also very uneven, and I am not sure it is because the actors knew the lines they were saying were horrid or because they are truly bad actors. I tend to think it is a little bit of both. Not to mention that none of the characters are particularly likable or fleshed out, so it's not a big deal when the start being picked off. There are also some pretty bad clichés, such as the red-herring outsider and the ending, which again, has been done before many times and was somewhat unrealistic here.

Overall, not as good as some are saying on here, but certainly not as bad as other are saying. I say this film is pretty average, but does have some positive things going for it. You could do a lot worse (trust me....I watched two other DTV horror films the same night I watched this one and this was BY FAR the best one).

My Grade: C

Shocking,i know!! Acting was a bit cheesy at points, gore was overkill, but the twist at the end got me! Of course i entered this, jaded as all get out with teen slasher horror (oh, btw, one guy is balding,so that was terrible casting,as these were supposed to ve high schoolers. He looked like their teacher) but that twist!! I liked the game concept,but the plot hole of the game is "what happens if you kill the killer before the killer kills all?" overall, i ended up enjoying the revelations and ultimate outcome. Not the worst movie i have seen lately,and i've been watching a ton,so there is that.

I have seen a LOT of films this year, but very few of them even come close to this film. It fools you into thinking it's starting out simple enough, but once it gets moving, HOLD ON! Plot twists, surprises, red herrings, the works! And you'll NEVER guess the ending. It just moves like greased lightning. It's got sexy good looking people, one of the smartest scripts I've seen in a while, and directing that is right in tune with the big Hollywood blockbusters. I had a chance to chat with director Robert Harari, and he's a man with a plan. He knows what good film-making is and all the tech stuff, but even more importantly, he knows how to make a film work. His chops are razor sharp. It was like watching The Empire Stikes Back. It hits its groove, takes off, and never lets up for a second. And just when you think you have it all figured out, it turns out to be something else. Really, really GREAT film-making.