FATAL GAMES (1984)

FATAL GAMES (1984)

Tagline: The second prize is death!

(Horror, Sport, Going After the Killer in A Leg Cast) [R]

Note: It doesn’t appear that the MPA ever gave this movie a rating, but it definitely would have been an [R]. The movie also went under the name THE KILLING TOUCH. 

We can’t let these incidents stop our work, what we’re doing is too important. Sure there are risks involved; need I remind you what we are trying to do is maximize the utmost, the athletic potential of the human body. 

In this one, we are taken to a high school turned into a training facility for Olympic hopefuls. Someone isn’t having it and they are picking off all the top competitors regardless of the event they are training for. Meanwhile, the athletes are given experimental drugs and steroids to enhance their performance leading to side effects. Could one of them be the killer? 

First off, a javelin is a pretty interesting choice of weapon. The idea was first presented in PANDEMONIUM (1982). This seems to be all they really had in the way of ideas for this movie because the script is really rough, which may be due to the fact that it was reportedly changed almost daily during shooting. I thought the ending scene where they finally explain what is going on was fine, but it also has a FINAL EXAM meets HIDE AND SHRIEK in a dark building feel to it. Having said that, it’s nearly just a mirror reflection of GRADUATION DAY, which I am sure doesn’t have anyone stopping their reading of this review to run to the nearest streaming service to queue up this thing. 

This film features a bunch of interesting little ideas from the director on how to make a horror film. 

Rule 1: Whenever the killer is about to show up, they play a similar score to Ming the Merciless showing up in FLASH GORDON. 

Rule 2: No one runs into any building if there is any sort of lighting that might help them see what the cow is going on.

Apparently, in this version of 1984, flashlights didn’t exist. A lot of the score sounds like they stole it from a canceled sci-fi show. 

Any film made in the 80s has zero excuse for a weak soundtrack, but that is what’s going on here. The copy I watched was crap. It does make me wonder if this movie was never given an upgrade or any sort of remaster. Clearly, not every film is worth all that to the people who do that stuff, but I know there are businesses out there that do this stuff. 

Sally Kirkland (80 FOR BRADY) plays Diane, the nurse. She’s a Golden Globe winner and is still doing horror flicks to this day. Lynn Banashek plays the gymnast Annie who is basically the lead actress. She was only in 2 movies. I liked her chemistry with her boyfriend in the film. Lynn, played by Teal Roberts (THE LAST BOYSCOUT) gets a good amount of screen time. Michael O'Leary (HALLOWEEN ENDS) plays Frank in this. I thought he was just okay, but the craziest part of this film for his character is that he goes after the killer in a darkened high school with a leg cast on. He either had guts, or he was cracked out.

As rough as this movie is, it’s still more tolerable than GRADUATION DAY and FINAL EXAM. I can’t give it a 4 because there are a lot of issues, but it slides right into the 80’s cheese section and because of that, I can give it a 3 out of 7. This is one of those movies you only watch if you have been trying to watch a bunch of 80’s horror and have finally started to get to the bottom of the pile. 

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