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| Linda Hamilton must eventually terminate in TAG Year: 1982 |
Director Nick Castle delivers a suspenseful dark comedy about a group of college students who play a game of TAG, consisting of sneaking around with suction-dart guns and keeping tabs on who
lives and
dies.
In the cat and mouse game, each participant lurks in the shadows… dorm rooms, hallways, and even showers… to “remove” their opponents from the list... all covered by L.A. based rock DJ Frazer Smith as the frantic scorekeeper: Enter Robert Carradine as a wannabe pulp writer working for the campus newspaper, interested in covering what, in his opinion, is a strange and subliminally violent pastime where students center more on a fictional death than studying, reading, or anything else worthwhile.
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| Linda's husband Bruce Abbott in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME |
With those signature full lips, sexy smile and independence, quick-witted Linda Hamilton becomes his very own Lauren Bacall...
But the real story begins after scene-stealing Bruce Abbott, as the brooding antagonist, getting accidentally taken out by a dart and being the only player who’s never lost, loses his mind: turning into a calculating killer using a real gun with real bullets.
Director Castle, a student of John Carpenter, keeps things at a steady pace and, as Abbott sneaks around campus like a shadowy wraith, the body count/horror aspect works with the romantic dark comedy. While GOTCHA starring Anthony Edwards, with a similar plot of a game turned lethal, became more mainstream a few years later, TAG is darker and more intense.
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| Kristine DeBell in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME Score: ***1/2 |
MEATBALLS ingenbue Kristine DeBell co-stars as a creative but ultimately unlucky gamer and Michael Winslow wields his voice sound effects sporadically, and she crosses paths with future MEATBALLS 2 actor John Mengatti...
The tagline, “Everybody Gets It In The End,” was used as an actual title overseas. And the name fits, almost.
A parody of horror combined with Noir and a dash of exploitation, there are plenty of cool homage’s to old black and white films and some more "modern" classics, including Abbott looking much like a youthful GODFATHER2/TAXI DRIVER era Robert DeNiro, and it's pretty good stuff from start to finish, 'cause you never know what'll happen next...
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| Robert Carradine makes a steady good guy in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME |
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| Linda Hamilton and Kristine DeBell in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME |
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| Kristine DeBell and Linda Hamilton in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME |
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| John Mengatti with a fake gun in TAG: THE ASSASSINATION GAME |
Again, Jim, you are killing me with these awesome flashbacks from the '80's. Like, totally, this movie was definitely a favorite of mine. I haven't seen it since the '80s though. I had totally forgotten that Sarah Conner was in this movie, er Linda Hamilton.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blast from the past.