TAG: The Assassination Game

Screened on Synapse Films bluray

One of the first films to be based on a game, be it a board game, video game, etc., TAG: The Assassination Game was based on Assassin, which became a college campus craze during the early 1980s. Using toy dart guns with the aim of "killing" your friends, it's hard to think of anything less likely to become popular on American school campuses in the modern day. But at the time, the idea of such a game getting into the wrong hands was considered. So much so, it became entertainment for your local cinema!

Over 40 years later, this film is very, very tame, and overall this it's a pretty light-hearted affair (sans a few bodies and comically severed heads here and there), it's now more a curiosity than anything else. Fun facts about the film include it being ...

- The big screen debut of Linda Hamilton, who went on most famously to star opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in the Terminator franchise. There's even a scene of her bouncing down a hallway, barefoot, escaping a killer

- Directed by Nick Castle, who not only directed the 1984 cult classic The Last Starfighter, but also portrayed Michael Myers in the original John Carpenter classic, Halloween

- One of Michael Winslow's (The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects) pre-Police Academy film roles

- The big screen debut of future Academy Award winner Forest Whitaker

- Led by Robert Carradine, who just a few years later would be typecast forever following his role in the Revenge of the Nerds franchise

All that aside, it's not terrible. It has a bit of a film noir vibe, and there are some cool framing and shots (pun intended) throughout. But I have a feeling that when Clue went into production a few years later, there was likely some concern it could end up like this, which feels less than inspired. Strange, for a film literally "inspired" by a role-playing game, but I supposed that's part of what makes this a curiosity.

Recommended for film buffs, in particular.