BA_Harrison I really must thank Eli Roth: Knock Knock, his diabolically bad remake of '70s thriller Death Game, has given me an appreciation of the original that I might otherwise not have had. Compared to the utterly abysmal performances in Roth's film, the acting in Death Game is actually pretty good, while the original shows just how lame Knock Knock is in terms of shock value, delivering at least two scenes that easily outdo the self-proclaimed modern master of horror.Directed by Peter S. Traynor, Death Game stars Seymour Cassel as loving husband and father George Manning, whose wife leaves for a few days after their son is struck down with appendicitis at his grandparents. While enjoying a rainy evening in his own company, two young girls call at George's home, claiming to be lost; being a kind Samaritan, he invites the girls, Donna (sexy Colleen Camp) and Jackson (not-so-sexy Sondra Locke), in out of the rain, and allows them to stay while a friend comes to pick them up. They repay his kindness by seducing him, luring him into a threesome in his jacuzzi, after which they carry out a campaign of terror, torturing and humiliating their host.While no means perfect—the second act is drawn out for far too long and the repetition of its theme song is guaranteed to irritate—this trashy slice of exploitation still unfolds in a far more satisfying manner than Knock Knock, with the girls even going so far as to kill, something they never did in Roth's movie. The pair also prove their psycho credentials with a little animal cruelty, launching the family cat through a closed window. The purely psychological torture in Roth's film (as suffered by a totally unconvincing Keanu Reeves) is pathetic by comparison.My advice: if you've already suffered through Knock Knock, give this one a try. Like me, you'll probably find yourself enjoying it more as a result.5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for IMDb.

ElWormo They really, really don't make them like this any more. Truly a product of a confused 70s mind, this mega-lo-budget and badly shot home invasion flick is preposterous on many levels, but manages (only just) to remain watchable to the end.Plot: Two random girls first seduce, then terrorise a random guy in his house.What this film really needed in order to achieve the necessary darkside edge it seemed to be wanting, was for Girl 'A' and Girl 'B' (uh, what were their names again? let's call them... Trixie and Marigold) to be a lot more menacingly deranged than they were. It's like the director probably told them to "act all crazy now, gals" and their response was to behave like a couple of 9 year olds at a pillow-fight party who just had their first taste of alcohol, instead of getting all nasty and evil like the storyline would suggest.The result is a one-note film that features a lot of squealing, cackling, howling, and trippy drugged out sequences that make even less sense than was probably intended, and which gradually lull the watcher into a kind of acceptably bored hypnosis. The ending will then jolt you back to reality, and make you wonder what you just saw.If you have an especially strong appreciation of 70s bad-sploitation then add an extra star to my rating, if you are a normal person then minus 3 or 4 stars.

Scott LeBrun Interesting, intense, off the wall little obscurity plays as if it could have been written for the stage, involving three main characters and sticking to mostly one set. Seymour Cassel is George Manning, a man whose wife and children are away for his 40th birthday. He makes what will turn out to be a fateful decision: letting two strangers, attractive young women, into his home. They start out as friendly and seemingly normal, and before too long George and the gals - Jackson (Sondra Locke) and Donna (Colleen Camp) - are having a threesome. Soon after that the girls reveal their true colours, making themselves at home, refusing to leave, and playing all sorts of twisted games - psychological and sexual - with the hapless George. Reportedly Cassel, ordinarily a very reliable actor, was so unhappy making this that he declined participating in the post production process, so his dialogue is dubbed by another actor - all too obviously. Still, by the end of this thing, you can't help but *really* feel sorry for this guy. The story turns into an unrelenting streak of insanity, mean-spiritedness, and kinkiness that will undoubtedly turn some viewers off while intriguing others. When it's all over, it's hard to be sure what the point of it all is, but helping to keep it watchable are two very vivid performances by Locke and Camp, who make for a memorable pair of crazed antagonists, playing dress up, helping themselves to Georges' wifes' wardrobe (not to mention the food in the house), tying George up, dumping food on him, engaging in some carnal relations, etc. Director Peter Traynors' direction isn't the most skillful - overall, this is pretty crude - but "Death Game" still has an odd fascination about it that prevents it from being a waste of time; it doesn't hurt that Locke and Camp are so uninhibited and show off the goods regularly. (They claim at one point to be no more than 17 and 15 years old, but one senses that this is all just part of the game.) But people shouldn't worry that there's no consequences for the gals in the end; the last second resolution is so shocking, yet so silly, that it's likely to make a fair amount of people burst out laughing. Repeated use of one very goofy ditty titled "Dear Old Dad" (music by Jimmie Haskell) is likewise good for some chuckles. Trivia item: the production design is by Jack Fisk, and two of the set dressers are none other than Sissy Spacek (Fisks' wife) and Bill Paxton! Six out of 10.

dmuel This is an atrocious movie. Two demented young women seduce and torture a middle aged man. There's not much to give away in regards to a plot or a "spoiler". I would only comment that the ending is nearly the most preposterous part of the flick. Much of the film involves Locke and Camp cackling obnoxiously, all the while grinning psychotically at the camera. Add to this a soundtrack that repeats again and again, including a vaudevillian song about "dear old dad" that suggests an incestuous quality the viewer never really sees. The music is annoying at first, then ends up subjecting the viewer to a torture worse than that depicted on the screen. The theme here is of youth run amok, understandable as a reaction to the '60s, but done with little imagination or style. Avoid it!