Peter Traynor’s Death Game took years to finally get made, releasing in 1977 but dating back to the early ’70s with an initial script by Anthony Overton and Michael Ronald Ross. Those post-Manson years are certainly indicative of the overall storyline of this film, which sees two beautiful young women infiltrating a family man’s house on a rainy night after his wife leaves for a weekend. The idea of random acts of domestic violence was certainly alive at the time, and the film follows in the footsteps of Kubrick’s A Clockwork Orange documenting the proliferation of damaged individuals taking it out on the unwitting. Here, though, Traynor’s female antagonists are purported to have significant daddy issues, apparent by the film’s jaunty opening soundtrack.
Seymour Cassel plays George Manning, who is left alone after his wife has to fly out of state to their ailing son. He’s anticipating a quiet reflective period listening to his extensive record collection in his manse, but instead Jackson (Sondra Locke) and Donna (Colleen Camp) show up on his doorstep soaking wet after they get lost trying to find a party. Of course, sopping wet pretty young girls are a hot-blooded male’s ultimate weakness, and so George succumbs to a night of passion in a threesome (part arthouse, part softcore porno). Cheating on his wife is the least of his problems, though, after the girls make his next few days a living hell, refusing to leave and then escalating their “game” to brutality.
In its heyday, Death Game was repeatedly labeled “exploitative” and fell into similar categories as Last House on the Left and I Spit On Your Grave. However, Traynor’s direction is a lot more implicit than either of those films; rather than opt for graphic violence, the film focuses more on the psychological torture that Jackson and Donna inflict on George. With slow escalations of their behavior, Death Game rarely needs to rely on violence at all; the girls’ constant acts of humiliation and their implied threats to go to the police and blame George for statutory rape are enough to get the audience wondering what they would do in George’s shoes, which effectively keeps the viewer in a state of tension wondering how things will end.
Death Game mostly takes place in just one location, and Traynor handles this well along with great cinematography from David Worth that later takes on a green lurid hue to match Donna and Jackson’s increasing violence. Camp, Cassel, and Locke all put in great performances to carry the mostly three-person show; the script infuses a couple of elements that heighten the emotions, with Donna’s purported love of George constantly influencing her decisions and the lesbianism between Jackson and Donna heightening a bit of jealousy. There’s also the theme of “daddy issues” to contend with; Donna expresses molestation in no uncertain terms, but Traynor often makes the audience wonder if Donna and Jackson are reliable, or simply playing up an act.
That’s where Death Games works so well. It does highlight the societal consequences of father figures who don’t live up to their duties, but it also could just be an act masquerading as random violence. The film’s controversial ending brings the movie to a screaming halt with an event that seems to corroborate the randomness of the world: sometimes we’re the perpetrators, sometimes the victims within a cosmic disorder.
However the viewer decides to interpret Death Game, the end result is a disturbingly demented time that predates many of the other home invasion films that would come to define the sub-genre. Sexy, lurid, with just the right amount of visceral emotion and societal motifs, Death Game is excellent exercise in slow psychological tension.
Blu-ray
Grindhouse Releasing has given Death Game a new limited edition 2-disc Blu-ray release that has also been a long time coming. Tragedy and COVID seem to have held up this release for some time, but it’s finally here and stuffed to the brim with extras.
First off, Grindhouse has given the film a new 4K restoration from the original camera negative for this release. The results are stellar; while the film itself does only make use of a couple set locations, the set design and cinematography are quite notable and here become the standout hits of the Blu-ray, with strong detail apparent in many of the house’s background shots. The film does have a medium-high grain body, but is resolves nicely without excessive clumping despite many different lighting effects including the vibrant green (see screenshots) that is utilized throughout much of the second half. Some outdoor skylines and the threesome in the bath, using composite shots, do feature some heavier grain, but Grindhouse’s transfer also does a remarkable job of managing some beautiful nighttime moments like a gloomy purple sunset behind George’s house. Damage and debris is at a minimum, and color timing is consistent throughout; blacks are stable without crush and have good delineation. Overall Death Game is presented with excellent attention to detail, and this transfer should appease all fans clamoring for a high-quality release.
Grindhouse provides a DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono audio track which sounds strong and robust, especially since much of the film is dialogue-heavy. The musical score, heavily featuring the song “Good Old Dad,” is also well-represented. English subtitles are also included, with a moderate amount of mistakes; this almost seems like transcription software or speech-to-text was used without much refinement.
This 2-disc release is unsurprisingly packed with extras. On the feature film disc, Grindhouse provides two new audio commentaries for the film. The first is with Colleen Camp and Eli Roth, who have an absolute blast sharing details about the film, anecdotes, and various tangents that plays out like two friends having a rousing discussion. The other audio commentary features producer Larry Spiegel and cinematographer/editor David Worth, who talk about the film from more of a production standpoint with Worth highlighting a lot of lighting choices and camera decisions (along with some goofs made during filming). A theatrical trailer is included. Also housed on this first disc is another feature-length film, Little Miss Innocence; this is a softcore porn treatment of the Death Game‘s storyline that came out prior to Death Game most likely due to a leaked script.
The second disc houses all of the supplemental featurettes. An extensive, feature-length interview with Peter Traynor moderated by Eli Roth is probably the most illustrative look at Traynor’s career set to film, and the two of them have a great conversation about Traynor’s movies, a deep dive into Death Game, and also tangential asides; this was filmed just a few weeks before Traynor’s death. Roth also moderates a lengthy interview with Colleen Camp, touching on some similar elements from the commentary but going into additional details about the film.
A new interview with Larry Spiegel and David Worth (along with dog Sami) also touches on a number of items discussed in the audio commentary, albeit in truncated version. Michael Ronald Ross contributes a lengthy exploration at the story behind the film’s script(s), including his own personal true-life version of events that inspired the movie, a reading of the two scripts’ endings, and more.
A Projection Booth Podcast audio interview with Sondra Locke is also included; viewers can choose to listen to just the portion on Death Game, or the whole audio which goes into other portions of Locke’s career.
Finally, extensive still galleries are included. Grindhouse also supplies various trailers of their other filmography.
The package includes new artwork on a slipcase box, along with reversible cover artwork and a lengthy essay from David Szulkin documenting the entire production and release of Death Game; though it covers some of the same ground as the interviews, it also goes into even more detail regarding the script woes and other issues plaguing the production.
Extra Features
- NEW 4K restoration created from the original camera negative
- NEW Interview with Colleen Camp (GAME OF DEATH, APOCALYPSE NOW) (1080p; 1:00:35)
- NEW Interview with director Peter Traynor (1080p; 1:49:39)
- Interview with co-star Sondra Locke (Death Game only) (1080p, mostly audio from Projection Booth Podcast; 14:42)
- Interview with co-star Sondra Locke (full audio) (480i, mostly audio from Projection Booth Podcast; 44:07)
- NEW Interview with producer Larry Spiegel and cinematographer/editor David Worth (1080p; 44:49)
- NEW Interview with screenwriter Michael Ronald Ross (1080p; 44:10)
- NEW Audio commentary by Colleen Camp & Eli Roth
- NEW Audio commentary by Larry Spiegel & David Worth
- NEW 24-page full-color booklet with rare photos and liner notes
- Extensive still galleries
- Production stills (chapter breaks)
- Peter Traynor (chapter breaks)
- Promotional materials (chapter breaks)
- VHS releases (chapter breaks)
- Cover art (chapter breaks)
- NEW Beautiful embossed slipcover with art by esteemed painter Dave Lebow
- Theatrical trailer (1080p; 2:41)
- Bonus feature: Little Miss Innocence (1080p; 1:12:09)
Verdict
Death Game has been given an amazing release with this Grindhouse Releasing Blu-ray, collecting an immense amount of extra features and showcasing the film in its glory with a great new 4K restoration. This is definitely recommended.
