Review of Game of Death (2017) by Kristofer H — 12 Apr 2017

Proper Perspective: Murder Jumanji with a bunch of unlikable kids trying to survive a kill or be killed scenario. There is not much more to this movie and they delivered exactly what I was expecting; silly nonsensical violence. Let's talk about Game of Death...

Official Synopsis: Kill or be killed is the golden rule of the Game of Death. Sucks for seven millennials who ignored that rule. Now each one's head will explode unless they kill someone. Will they turn on each other to survive, or will this sunny day be the last for the innocent people of their middle-of-nowhere town?

Plot: That is a bloated official synopsis. A group of seven friends are having a small house party and stumble across an old game, The Game of Death, which once started requires everyone to either kill or be killed.

Take: This was the last flick I took in at the Phoenix Film Festival this year and while it was not the best, it was exactly what I expected. It is violent. It is silly (or dumb). And the movie did exactly what it was trying to do with a run time that was a little bloated, like the official synopsis.

With ease the filmmakers could have trimmed 10-20 minutes off the runtime.

The best part about this movie were the practical effects and the device they used to punish the players of the game when a kill was not made in a timely manner. You are not going to see this movie. SPOILERS: The game takes a bit of your blood, then tells you how many people need to die to win the game. You can kill each other or random people. They get 24 kills. Before the group realizes this is a real thing the timer runs out and one of the players' head starts to expand, change color a little, and then explodes (not unlike Belko, but enough like Belko for me to mention it here). This ultimately happens a few times and then the brother sister combo of Tom (Sam Earle) and Beth (Victoria Diamond) start seeking out people to kill to save themselves.

If you watched Degrassi you'll recognize Sam Earle.

At times the movie gets too artsy and self-serious. The dialog is bad. There is also a gross incest storyline throughout the movie that gives Cruel Intentions and Game of Thrones a run for their money on that corner. The incest corner.

I'm not sure you'll get a chance to ever see this because it is being optioned as a TV Show after it finishes the festival run. So, yeah.

Recommendation: Other than the runtime being bloated, the incest storyline, bad dialog, and plot that is fairly familiar, Game of Death is not the worst way to spend 90 minutes of your time. Good luck finding it in theaters if this is your jam...

At a pitch meeting, "I have an idea for The Purge meets Jumanji with annoying teens." Sold.