DEATH GAME
dir. Peter S. Traynor, 1977
87 mins. United States.
SATURDAY, JULY 2 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, JULY 8 – MIDNIGHT
SATURDAY, JULY 16 – MIDNIGHT
FRIDAY, JULY 22 – MIDNIGHT
On a dark and stormy night, while his family are away, two strangers ring George Manning’s doorbell. He probably shouldn’t have answered it, he really shouldn’t have invited them in, and he definitely shouldn’t have slept with them. Now George must fight for his life and escape their DEATH GAME…
Staring academy award-nominated actors Sondra Locke and Seymour Cassel, DEATH GAME is a home invasion fever dream about a man’s poor decision-making.
Off-screen tension between neophyte director Peter Traynor and actors Locke and Cassel added organic chaos to the scripted mania. Producer Larry Spiegel agreed, saying that “the onscreen madness of DEATH GAME was fueled by the behind-the-scenes volatility.” Traynor’s inexperience as a director frustrated the cast, with Locke writing, “whenever the director didn’t know exactly what he was doing, which was all the time, he would suggest that either Colleen or I eat something or break something.” This sentiment was likely shared with actor, Seymour Cassel, who refused to loop his lines in post-production after filming a particularly brutal food-based scene. Cinematographer David Worth ultimately lent his voice to the film by painstakingly dubbing all of Cassel’s lines himself.
Eli Roth later remade the film, KNOCK KNOCK (2015), which was executive produced by DEATH GAME director Peter Traynor and lead actors Sondra Lock and Colleen Camp.
Special thanks to Grindhouse Releasing.