Deadly Games (1982)

Sometimes your instincts steer you right and sometimes they steer you wrong. And sometimes you aren’t quite sure about the end result. That happened to me with Deadly Games, a film released onto shiny disc format that, much like my says of browsing in the video stores, drew me in with an intriguing cover design.

The plot is very simple. A masked killer is picking off women in a small town. He also seems to spend a lot of his time playing a home-made board game that can help direct his urges (I guess). Can Roger (a police officer, played by Sam Groom) and Keegan (Jo Ann Harris) catch the killer before it is too late, and before Keegan suffers the same fate as her sister? And is it anything to do with the strange Billy Owens (Steve Railsback)?

With some gratuitous nudity early on, and a couple of impressive and deadly set-pieces interspersed throughout the runtime, Deadly Games is certainly a film that most slasher movie fans will want to check out at least once. Whether it is worth a repeat viewing, however, is a different matter entirely. There’s something worthwhile here, an attempt to play by the rules while also toying with viewers, but there are also numerous scenes that have characters chatting to one another in a way that feels like it is just being done to pad out the runtime.

Writer-director Scott Mansfield doesn’t have much in his filmography at all, and this was his first film, but he shows a certain degree of competence when it comes to a few of the more memorable moments. There’s a swimming pool scene here that ranks up there alongside the best in the genre, for my money, and it is clear that Mansfield tries to make the most out of what he has available to him. If only Mansfield the writer was as good as Mansfield the director, this could have been a minor classic of the sub-genre.

Harris is a fine leading lady, although she’s weighed down by the weaker performance from Groom. Railsback does just fine, despite the limitations of his role, and certainly adds value to genre fans. Elsewhere, the cast is eclectic enough to include Colleen Camp, Dick Butkus, Denise Galik, Saul Sindell, and many others. Very few people are doing their best work, but most of them are just fine for what the movie is.

A mixed bag of good and bad, with most of the bad coming from the script, what you have here is a lesser slasher movie that has enough curiosity value, and strangeness, to make it worth your time.

6/10

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Disturbing Behavior (1998)

Disturbing Behavior is a film that I have a lot of fond memories of. It came along when I was just starting to upgrade my movie collection from VHS to DVD, the trailer was a great one, and it just kept intriguing me until I could finally get my hands on a copy. Of course, almost inevitably, I was left a bit disappointed when I finally got to see it, but a recent rewatch actually shows that it holds up as one of the better teen thrillers to come along in the '90s. It may be slick, and it may Katie Holmes failing at being a bit tough and edgy, but it's also impressively subversive throughout.

James Marsden plays Steve Clark, the new kid in town (with his younger sister, played by Katharine Isabelle), a young man who stands almost at the exact halfway point between the more rebellious kids and a group of teens who are so well-behaved that it's spooky. When he's warned about events int he local area by Gavin Strick (Nick Stahl) he shrugs it off as paranoia, the kid obviously smokes too much weed, but that doesn't spoil their friendship, especially when he gets to spend time with Rachel (Holmes). Unfortunately, it turns out that Gavin is the only one who realises the horrible truth of what's going on, and before you can say "Stepford teens" things get dangerous for Steve and Rachel.

Written by Scott Rosenberg, and directed by David Nutter, this is a film that contains a surprisingly high number of really great moments, many of them jarring nicely with the rest of the teen thriller framework. Even the opening sequence, which starts out like so many other teen movie moments, takes a very dark turn, and should clue viewers in to the fact that they're about to watch something that may not be as advertised. And the scene with Lorna Longley (Crystal Cass) trying to seduce Steve is one that won't be forgotten any time soon.

Marsden is just fine in the lead role, although he's never been leading man material (sorry to say, I like the guy but it's true). Holmes is okay, I guess, but a bit laughable at times with her desperate attempt to portray someone cool and tough. Stahl is the highlight, as sweet and likable as he is jittery and helpless. The rest of the young cast, including Cass, Isabelle, A. J. Buckley and Chad Donella all do fine work.The adults, including Bruce Greenwood, Steve Railsback and William Sadler, are all good, with the latter particularly amusing in his role (a man who knows a lot more than he lets on).

You may not end up liking Disturbing Behavior as much as I do, but I recommend giving it a try, especially if you've avoided it over the years because it looks like "just a teen thriller". It IS that, but it's much better than many others that have been released in the last two decades.

7/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Disturbing-Behaviour-DVD-James-Marsden/dp/B00004D37A/ref=sr_1_1?s=dvd&ie=UTF8&qid=1394042971&sr=1-1&keywords=disturbing+behaviour

Alligator II: The Mutation (1991)

Remember Alligator? That was a fun movie, wasn't it? A fantastic creature feature that holds up as a great piece of entertainment today. I may not love it quite as much as I used to, but I'll always have a soft spot for it. Well, this loose sequel doesn't reach the standard of that first movie, but it gives it a good try.

Joseph Bologna stars as David Hodges, one of those rare movie cops who doesn't always play by the rules but, goddammit, gets the job done. When he's not being shouted at by his boss (Brock Peters), or making his wife (Dee Wallace) roll her eyes, he's trying to investigate deaths and find evidence with which to nail slimy businessman Vincent Brown (Steve Railsback). When it looks like a giant alligator is munching on people, nobody can quite believe it. Despite his own reservations, Hodges heads out, with a police officer named Rich Harmon (Woody Brown), and is determined to stop whatever he comes up against.

It may never be as funny as the first movie, but Alligator II: The Mutation certainly maintains a healthy dose of humour throughout, thanks to the script by Curt Allen. Bologna gets to rattle off plenty of sarcastic one-liners and the film revels in the more cliched moments instead of trying to swerve around them. It's an approach that works, for me anyway. The movie may not win any awards for originality or believability, but it's consistently FUN from start to finish.

Director Jon Hess does okay with the material, running through the standard "creature feature" bag of tricks and also reusing some stock footage from Alligator. It helps that he has a decent cast to work with, almost every one of them improving their character.

Bologna is great in the lead, all attitude and no regrets. Wallace is good, though underused, as his wife, and also the woman who helps uncover the truth. Brown is amusingly "wet behind the ears" during the first half of the movie, and he also gets the best, and most bizarre, line in the movie when chatting to the lovely Holly Gagnier (playing the Mayor's daughter). Peters is great fun as the angry Chief Speed, Railsback is a decent villain and Richard Lynch steals almost every scene that he's in as Hawk Hawkins, a good ol' boy who thinks that he knows what he's up against when called in to deal with the alligator.

If you enjoyed Alligator then you should enjoy this sequel. It's the same, but different.

6/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Alligator-The-Mutation-DVD/dp/B000089AT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1378401735&sr=8-1&keywords=alligator+2