Fatal Games (1984)

Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Boring

Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

***SPOILERS*** The competition is hot and heavy to makes the National Finals for the 1984 summer Olympics in L.A with a serial murder out to knock off the finalists, with a javelin throw, complicating things even more. Were made to feel that the killer is a disgruntled student who just didn't make the cut, to be in the finals, but the truth is far more crazier then that. And in the final moments of the film the truth is far more easier to understand especially if you followed the latest news about 1976 decathlon gold medalist Bruce Jenner: Which is in reverse of what Jenner is now going or putting himself through!It seems that all the top athletes at Folcon High are being knocked off by this black hooded psycho who hides their bodies in the schools locker room. The guy goes so far as laying in wait underwater in the school's swimming pool,fully dressed in a scuba outfit, to spear with his javelin his latest victim. It's when he messes up by letting Annie, Lynn Banashek,survive by not hitting her with his javelin in a major organ that we finally get to know just who the killer is and what his motives are. That by being introduced to a wounded Annie lying on a stretcher in the hospital ward a newspaper headline that he's-The killer-the major subject in!***SPOILERS*** Lots of T&A but very little gore makes "Fatal Games" hard to be taken seriously as a slasher movie. Were even shown the students given steroids to improve their performance by the school principle Dr. Jordine, Michael Elliot,as if he were handing out candy. As we were to see Dr. Jodine was from the school of winning at any price even if it cost the health or lives of his students. With the killer now exposed or exposing him or herself it's Annie wounded from the killer's javelin spear now on the run for her life. The killer who's insane and murderous anger is that he was disqualified in winning a gold medal at at track & field event some 10 years ago in the end finally got it, the gold medal, in the high jump contest with a flying from 100 feet up dismount: Or a perfect 10!

Fatal Games is one of those typical eighties slashers that hasn't got any proper release upon this writing. It's even hard to track it down on VHS. But don't be bothered because it's not really worth searching unless you are collecting those old school horrors.It's Michael Elliot's only attempt to direct a movie, in fact, it's the only thing he did in the scene except for screenplay revision of To Kill A Stranger (1987). The story itself is weak, you just have a mad javelin thrower killing those who wants to go to the Olympics. The killings are very lame and not interesting in any kind because for a movie made in the heydays of horror and especially the slashers it doesn't have almost any red stuff in it. What it do has is a lot of female nudity which surprised me for this production. Some parts are okay but most of it is rather boring and the end scene is way too long and the final is to long too.We do have Sally Kirkland (Diane Pain) who is still in the scene and went to bigger productions like JFK (1991) and Bruce Almighty (2003). The second lead Lynn Banashek (Annie) only appeared in 2 flicks but all other actors made it into the world of flicks and that makes for some this VHS worth searching. I admit that it was rather cheesy, on part of the killings, that sometimes it even made me laugh or even say, common, kill the b*tch, like the swimming and diver part. As I stated earlier, only for the geeks of B-slasher flicks....Gore 0/5 Nudity 2/5 Effects 0/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

With the British media ramming the London Olympics down our throats in every conceivable way possible, I thought I'd escape the onslaught by watching Fatal Games, an eighties slasher flick where a hooded killer is impaling Olympic wannabes with a javelin. There's an immediate whiff of vintage cheddar about this film as we see the athletes doing their routines to an eighties theme tune that goes "Winning isn't everything, winning is the only thing" and I don't know about you, but I take great comfort from a slasher film when it includes a nice tune or two. We're introduced to our seven athletes/victims and assorted red herrings/possible killer. Fatal Games isn't full of imaginative kills. When we get done with all the crap banter and relationships and what not, the killer dispatches his victim with a javelin, and proceeds to do so throughout the film. He also hides the bodies, so there's plenty of head scratching 'where's such and such?' and stalking around the school. However, there's plenty of imagination injected into the stalking itself, as the killer's shadow is projected onto walls, or the killer is lit from the back, which livens things up a bit.The main 'livening things up' aspect of Fatal Games is the copious nudity shown through the first half of the film. Communal showers, shared saunas, massages, the whole lot is thrown out there to make sure you've got nothing to worry about. It keeps things going while the cast gets whittled down. Apart from that, it is your standard slasher stuff, with someone finding the bodies stashed away somewhere, to the final stalking of the remaining female around the school, etc etc. For an athletics-based slasher film, it's okay. Very similar to Graduation Day (which is better), but nowhere near the level of lunacy that is Pieces (which also had a swimming pool murder and a locker room murder).

Low-keyed 80's slasher with one tiny little difference compared to the rest of them. The irritating victims all go to a school for sport athletes instead to an ordinary high school. Hardly original, is it? Whilst the girls and boys preparing for the Olympics and the doctors pump them full of steroids, some demented loser is practicing his/her javelin techniques on student targets. It's a rather interesting modus operandi for an 80's killer, resulting in some nicely gory – albeit very cheesy – sequences. I don't know whether you're meant to guess along for the killer's identity, because the given clues are lame and very implausible, but it's a fun enough movie without intellectual red herrings and numerous plot twists. I was in an undemanding mood today, anyway! The humor doesn't really work, there's absolutely no tension or atmosphere and the acting performances are – as to be expected – pretty damn terrible. Oh well, at least "Olympic Nightmare" is never really boring and, since athletes need to take showers regularly, there's also quite a lot of gratuitous nudity. The denouement is a real hoot!