Review of Mazes and Monsters (1982) by Zane T — 17 Jun 2011

Forget the cover art of this movie, there is no maze and the only monster is some silly Sleestack looking rubber mask creature that is a figment of Tom Hanks' deranged mind. This movie was made back in the early 1980s to capitlize on the growing fears that people had about 30 years ago that nerds playing Dungeons and Dragons would go nuts and commit suicide or homicide, when in fact, all they did was not get laid for the next 10 years.

Hanks plays a troubled college student, even though he was pushing 30 when he made this made for TV dreck of a movie, who still hasn't gotten over the fact that his older brother ran away years earlier and is now off the grid.

His parents picker and argue and they don't want Hanks playing Mazes and Monsters, a D&D style game. But he goes to fictional college and meets some nerds played by Chris Makepeace, a teen prodigy, and Wendy Crewson, who is obviously too hot to play a role-playing game, and some other guy who eventually falls in love with Crewson once Hanks has gone schizo.

And that's what he does. It's nice to see Hanks playing what is basically a paranoid schizophrenic who walks around New York City thinking he is in some fantasy land and fighting these green monsters when all they are are street punks.

This was based on what was believed to be then real confirmation that a teen prodigy had gotten lost in the steam tunnels of his college playing D&D (heard that one?) when actually he ran away from home and made up the rumor himself and later killed himself.

The moral of the story is that games are bad, imagination is bad, and do what your parents always tell you even when they're alcoholic, narcissistic blowhards who think by telling you to call collect, they are being compassionate.

See it for Hanks' early performance as a weirdo and the hilarious idea that playing a game can lead to destruction.