Director: Tim Ritter
Year: 1986
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Slasher
Plot:
After finding his wife cheating on him, a man goes on a downward spiral of madness and psychosis when the incident triggers his joy of playing a Truth-or-Dare game as a kid and uses that as an excuse to launch a bloodsoaked rampage across the county leading to a crazed manhunt to stop him.
Review:
Overall, this one was quite the interesting effort. One of the finest qualities here is the fact that it manages to give a rather intriguing premise from the start of the film. Going right in on the couple caught in the act and then turning around to reveal all the incidents in the past that should've clued him into what's going on, from the dinner conversations and phone calls they shared behind his back that sets up not only his psychosis but the premise of the film rather early on in a fine manner. The manner in which those incidents devolve into the game that he starts up in the second half.
The second half of the film really ramps up the over-the-top nature of the guys' psychosis as the series of scenes and encounters here really plays on that aspect. Not only starting off with the scene at the campground where he meets the prostitute and is engages in the deranged game with her that may or may not be fully within his mind, but the scenes in the asylum where he sets up the inmates on a few wild and frenzied games enable that psychotic mindset even further. Sparking the fun even further is the endless round of attempts to free him or set him loose as the psychological banter that plays off these scenes has a fun, cheesy atmosphere to them.
There's also the fact that these scenes in the asylum setup the wild rampage that plays out once he gets loose which is the film's best part as the craziness that gets featured here is top-notch. From engaging in a wild car chase with a group of punks that includes some fantastic stunt-work, a truly mesmerizing attack on a child and a fun confrontation at the house which ends this all rather nicely, this rampage throughout the community gives the film a wild, far more expansive view than it normally would. Coupled with the crazy low-budget gore and some nice nudity, these here manage to hold this one up over it's negative aspects.
The main aspect that really holds this one down is the issue of not really playing up the game more to further his madness. The rampage that occurs at the end isn't really connected to something that's brought about through the game as he doesn't go about doing that at all, there's nothing about what his fascination comes from other than just a simple flashback to the game being played as a kid and it never builds on anything associated with the game. That really could've been exploited more here, especially in the final half where the opportunities to bring it up could've been done, but other than maybe not following the low-budget of the film there isn't much else wrong.
Overview: ***1/2/5
With plenty of highly enjoyable elements and just a few minor misshaps that occur here which are somewhat detrimental but not entirely that bad, this one manages to get a lot of enjoyable parts to it. Give this a shot if you're a true fan of these low-budget shot-on-video pieces or are curious about it due to it's reputation, while those that aren't willing to forgive it's limitations should heed caution.
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