Death Game / Murder Rap (DVD Review)
Region: 1/Number of disc: 1 (Double Sided)
Available from VCI Entertainment
Death Game (1977)
Directed By: Andrew Fleming
Starring: Anthony Overman, Michael Ronald Ross
Rated: R/Region A/1:33
George Manning, a happily married and successful man, discovers two seemingly sweet and angelic young girls on his doorstep. He invites them in out of the rain to use his telephone and like a fantasy come true; George is seduced by these two voluptuous young vixens. But in the tradition of “Fatal Attraction,” the party’s not over yet for “poor Georgy” who is now trapped in the clutches of two savage torturesses. Can George escape alive from this forty-eight hour hellish nightmare of kinky torment and brutality?
If anything can be said about Death Game, it would be that the film is as creepy as it is weird. It is a very haunting film in some ways and seems to be right at home with the fans that love a horror films that fully does fill like a hybrid with exploitation. Creepy is hard to come by in a horror film. I don’t know if it is the date of the film or just good film making, but the movie does manage to attach that vibe to it. It won’t be a film for everyone, but it is a cult film for a reason and has some traits that work very well for it. This is a film fans of Jess Franco might be very proud of.
Murder Rap (1987)
Directed By: Kliff Keuhl
Starring: John Hawkes, S. Kathleen Feigny, Coquina Dunn
Rated: UR/Region A/1:33
Murder Rap is a love story filled with mystery and suspense, deception and murder. When Christopher (John Hawkes – “Identity,” “Perfect Storm”) a young audio fanatic, accidentally records a brutal murder, his pursuit of the killer lures him into a sinister plot of revenge and deceit. “Murder Rap” makes references to “Body Heat,” “Blow Out,” “Double Indemnity” and “The Jagged Edge” where relationships are based on fatal facades and things are not what they seem.
This is an alright movie for fans of action, but I don’t think it did very much for me overall. The movie isn’t badly made, or really “horrible” by any means. You just know, however, when something isn’t your cup of tea and this film just wasn’t my cup of tea. It does have OK acting for the time, but just lacks anything that stands our or memorable. The movie could have used something to spice things out, but it just doesn’t have that. Action fans might be the ones to seek this out, but us horror lovers will find it lacking.
– Trailers
