TAG: The Assassination Game Blu-ray Review (Synapse Films)

Horror buffs may know Nick Castle primarily as The Shape from Carpenter’s Halloween, the original Michael Myers depiction. However, Castle went on to have an illustrious film career in both writing and directing. His directorial debut was TAG: The Assassination Game, a college comedy about a spirited contest of suction cup-gun tag that turns deadly when one of the competitors takes it a bit too seriously. Linda Hamilton and Robert Carradine star as love interests, with Hamilton specifically conjuring femme fatale vibes with Castle’s intentionally noir-like tone. Overall, the film feels like a combination ode to Bond-type spy films, the more goofy antics of TV shows like Get Smart, and a play on the obvious popularity of frat/sex comedies of the period. TAG isn’t as raunchy nor as funny, but it certainly explores a unique place in ’80s thriller comedies for a mostly enjoyable experience despite its overlong final sequence.

Synapse Films has released the movie on Blu-ray with a new 2K transfer from the film’s original 35mm vault materials. Overall, the transfer looks very good despite its imperfect source material, with a medium-heavy grain body that resolves nicely except in darker moments. Occasional damage can be seen but this has been cleaned up very well in post-processing. A DTS-HD MA 2.0 mono track preserves health dialogue levels and the film’s tongue-in-cheek noir soundtrack. The sole extra here besides trailer is a new audio commentary with Nick Castle and Robert Carradine moderated by Sean Clark, which seems to have been recorded a little before Carradine’s death. In it, Clark does a good job of posing questions to Castle and Carradine to get some pointed info about the production. While light on extras, this provides some good value to the Blu-ray.