Deadly Game (1991 TV Movie) User Reviews

Deadly Game: A harmless enough watch

[Platypuschow · 5/10 · 28 May 2019]

Yet another adaptation of The Most Dangerous Game (1932), we see yet another twist on the heavily overplayed tale and it's not entirely awful.

This time we see a host of people invited to claim grants from a mysterious benefactor only to discover they've been fooled and forced into playing a deadly game of cat and mouse.

I won't lie I'm a tad burnt out on this story, but here at least the twist is fairly interesting. Starring the likes of Roddy McDowall and Mitchell Ryan, the high quality cast certainly assists it.

The further into the movie it goes the more you realize it's a fairly clever little film and not the mindless action flick you'd assume. It fends off being cheesy like most of the adaptations that came before it but isn't without its flaws.

Certain elements come across a tad silly, the camerawork could have been better and the score was so generic I barely noticed it was there.

Regardless this is a very watchable version of the timeless tale and though I'd not say its a good film I won't say its a bad one either.

The Good:

Some great cast members

Some interesting ideas

The Bad:

Weak score

Has its fair share of flaws

Bad but I like bad

[BandSAboutMovies · 4/10 · 21 October 2023]

In this USA Network movie, seven people - Lucy the dancer (Jenny Seagrove), Peterson the teacher who has Vietnam PTSD (Michael Beck), Jake the quarterback with a secret drunk driving accident on his consciousness (Marc Singer), Chang the yakuza member (Steven Vincent Leigh), Dr. Aaron (Roddy McDowell), Admiral Mark Nately (Mitchell Ryan) and Charley the businessman (John Pleshette) - have been brought to the island of Osirus, a masked maniac who wants revenge on each of them for reasons only he - and they - know. If they can reach the other side, they can each make a million dollars. Osirus also doesn't plan on letting that happen, as they have a heavily armed gang ready to murder the defenseless protagonists.

This movie is so much fun. You get flashbacks to how each character met Osirus - I'm not revealing who they are - and the best is how Lucy had a love affair with this movie's villain complete with a love scene where Osirus never removes its disguise. There are also plenty of kills, lots of jungle action and clues that trigger those memories. And oh yeah, Marc Singer playing his character in high school despite being 43-years-old when this was made.

Thomas J. Wright also directed the Hulk Hogan movie No Holds Barred and painted all of the artwork for Night Gallery. The fact that both of these things are true should make you happy to live in the reality that you occupy. Writer Westbrook Claridge did the scripts for all the TekWar stuff on USA and shows up as a security guard in The Incredible Melting Man.

Not THAT bad...

[BitterMan23 · 6 January 2003]

Man you guys were harsh. First off, this is a USA original movie, so you have to put it on a sliding scale. Compared to say, "Shawshank Redemption", "Godfather", or any of the other "IMDB top 100" films, the best ever USA original movie would rate a D-. But, you have to compare it to its peers, i.e. the other USA originals, plus TNT, TBS, PAX, etc. And in that respect, Deadly Game is pretty good. It's "10 Little Indians" retold for the 60 zillionth time, sure, but with a fairly decent surprise ending (again, for a USA original movie), has Marc Singer doing something besides time traveling, and even has Halloween 6's Dr. Wynn! If it's on, I say give it a fair chance. Or get it as a free rental on 2 for 1 Tuesdays or something. USA can only make so much money airing Con Air and Die Hard over and over and over again, cut them some slack.

Awful, and not even funny

[Koenschoen · 1/10 · 11 November 2001]

I saw this one rented at one of the B-movies-night me and some friends from time to time have, and "Deadly Game" was the winner of the evening in that it was by far the worst, and on every field. The plot: seven strangers wind up on an island and have to run for their lives. While they are chased by bounty-hunters, they "coincidentially" run into items which cause ridiculous flashbacks tot one of the group, and every time they just seem to find the time to chat, as if the hunters give them a little time to figure out the clues. This is about as unconvincing and predictable at the same time as a plot may get, and the dialogues, which are so unnatural that it is hard to imagine that they weren't composed so with that intent, only add tot the feeling to be watching something completely unearthly. A feeling, I must say, that is further elaborated by the truly laughable acting by all the actors, which perhaps is no wonder, as they all have to give form to beings with a hilarious psychological depth, if that word can still be used.

In conclusion: this is a real hard one to finish. Even I, an ardent lover of movie-trash if the mood is right, had to force my endurance to watch this horrendous pic to the end. In short: let the dust where it belongs, on top of this movie

A Really Bad Loose Remake

[Rainey-Dawn · 3/10 · 22 January 2017]

If you want a GOOD movie watch "The Most Dangerous Game (1932). If you want a so-so loose remake watch "Bloodlust! (1961)" This 'Deadly Game (1991)' is nothing more than an awful and loose version of the awesome classic "The Most Dangerous Game (1932)". "Bloodlust! '61" falls in-between the two.

This version is too busy trying to get graphic with the kills and give us a 1980s B-action look and feel. The only 3 wonderful actors in this pitiful movie: Marc Singer, Michael Beck, and Roddy McDowell - not one of them could save this flick. The guy playing Osiris is terrible, just terrible... the rest not mentioned needed acting lessons as well.

If I want a poor man's version of "The Most Dangerous Game" then I'll watch "Bloodlust!" over this 1991 tripe. Such a shame, I wanted another film in the same vein to enjoy and because of the 3 actors that are in this one. But it is not this film.

3 Stars for 3 Stars: Singer, Beck and McDowell.

3/10

Kept my interest

[kenrogers30-1 · 7/10 · 23 December 2005]

I am sure some will disagree but I thought this film was entertaining. It kept my interest in that I continuously found myself wanting to know who was behind the "game". The acting is good, yeah some of the dialog is cheesy, but the actors in the film are not. There is suspense as well. I do have to admit I really like Jenny Seagrove. She was GREAT in "The Guardian" and I had not seen her in anything since and when I saw her name on the jacket I rented it. Also, you can always count on Marc Singer and Roddy McDowell. If you enjoyed the movie "Surviving the Game" you will enjoy this. Actually I think this is even better then surviving the game because there is more character involvement. If you get a chance it is worth the watch.

Interesting mix of Action, slasher and mystery

[acidburn-10 · 8/10 · 17 June 2015]

I remember catching this on TV many, many years ago and just loved it, and tried for years to find it and couldn't remember the title, but when recently I finally got round to seeing this again and found that I loved it just as much as I did back then.

The storyline had me intrigued we have a group of seven strangers summoned to an island by a mysterious millionaire, who has something else in mind for them, such as forcing them into a game of survival as they end up getting hunted down by armed gunmen, and it turns out that they have all wronged this unseen person at some point in their lives.

The mystery aspect really had me hooked all the way through, and I was very interested to see what the outcome would be and boy it didn't disappoint, as it does lead to a very exciting climax. The elaborate set ups throughout the woods are also another interesting aspect, as we get to know each characters confessions and story arcs, which adds to the depth of the story. Even with the interruption that doesn't stop this from being a one hell of an entertaining movie, successfully mixing action with slasher elements and all intertwined with a mystery that fully works. Even at the end with the revealing twist that was a total shock and came out of nowhere, but still totally believable, and nobody will see it coming.

Of course it's the interesting batch of characters and actors that make this fully work to its true potential. One of the standouts is Marc Singer who is ridiculously over the top and chews the scenery to utter brilliance and makes him one of the more memorable cast members. Mitchell Ryan is another standout as the cowardly jerk whose out for himself and even sacrificed his own wife to save himself. Michael Beck who plays the main hero/leading man is also very decent and adds depth to his character and has great chemistry with the only leading female Jenny Seagrove who's very strong willed and holds her own when up against the men. Also Roddy McDowell is also another great addition to the cast as the kind hearted doctor that adds another great aspect to this. Finally the main villain Fredric Lehne as Osiris was kept in the shadows and was neatly pulled off.

All in all there may not be much on screen violence, but for a TV movie this doesn't feel watered down or run of the mill at all, it's definitely worth a look and it's a fantastic roller-coaster ride.

Worst movie ever made!!!

[Stan-64 · 3 February 2001]

My friends and I watched this in a hotel room in Japan because there was nothing else on in English! It was so painfully bad it was funny. I don't know what actors like Jenny Seagrove and Roddy McDowall are doing in this garbage! The plot was predictable and ridiculous at the same time. Several people are forced to run for their lives on an island being chased by a group of very large scarey looking men with guns. Suddenly they come across a scene set up strategically to remind one individual of an incident in which they did something bad! Even though they are in an enormous hurry they still seem to have time to stop and listen to a lengthy story with cheesey flashback sequences. Immediately after the story is finished the bounty hunters show up and everyone runs like mad, but the poor sap who just finished the story is the one to wind up dead. What a coincidence! This pattern cotinues without variation until each member of the group is knocked off. In addition to this laughable plot the dialogue sounds like it was written by a 10 year old and the over acting is even worse than most overacting. I give this film negative 10 stars. Nevertheless I highly recommend that you watch this movie whenever you need a good laugh. If you think you've already seen the worst movie ever made, nope, this one's worse.