User Reviews

I seriously cannot think of why anyone would give this movie a 10/10. Sure we all have different taste in films, but to call this movie perfect is absurd in my opinion. I have nothing against the fact, that this indeed is a low-budget movie. I like plenty of low-budget movie. Its not the budget that makes the movie good, its the acting and the plot, but sadly this movie lacks in both areas.

Okay, the acting wasn't completely bad - actually it was pretty average and what you would expect from a movie of this sort. This movie could however use an actor who really took the movie to that next level, but I'm sorry to say that no one even came close. The actors seemed to lack of strong reactions which I think the movie could use. Come on, your friends are dead and you are trapped in a storage facility - wouldn't you go nuts? I'm not saying they all should act like lunatics, but they could at least show some emotions.

The story - well. I guess its okay. A bunch of friends playing a killing game and someone starts dying for real. Its acceptable for this kind of movie. Its not trying to win Oscars, its trying to entertain - and scare the crap out of people. The thing is, in this case they just didn't put in enough effort to make it work.

And these twists people talk about - did we see the same movie? This was pretty much straight-forward. Just because you don't figure out the killer, doesn't make it a plot-twist when you find out who it is. If there even was a plot-twist it must have been a pretty dull one, because I missed it completely.

But hey, it wasn't all bad. I did finish it, didn't I? No seriously, its passable. I don't regret spending around 80 minutes seeing it and I've seen worse movies - thats for sure. Having said that, its not a movie I'd catch again or buy on DVD.

For the average movie fan I would not recommend this movie. Devoted fans of the teenage-horror film genre may like it however, I wouldn't know.

'The Murder Game" is not original in concept but has potential. It is a bit hit and miss. The problem is not the fact that it is a low budget feature, but that the writing and the style of the movie comes off disjointed and uneven. It tries to mix in humor where there should be no humor, and that often times falls flat. The acting (from the over-aged teenagers) ranges from good performances to struggling. The best performances come from Steven Polite and Sam Klein. Katie Sirk, though cute, seems to have a permanent sneer on her face. The gore effects and some of the kill scenes are quite good. The bottom line is that the script and the story outcome could have (and should have) had a bit more thought put into it and a few more polished rewrites before it was lensed. Might not be bad for a rental.

Don't know how these good reviews came about. Must have been related to the actors. This is beyond atrocious. Let me count the ways: 1. cringingly over-acted by supposed 'high school' students who look about twenty-five years old. They even ride a little yellow bus to school. Totally absurd. My 5 year old niece has performed "I'm a Little Teapot" with more skill. Hell, she's like Brando next to these people. 2. the killer, once revealed, chases the unsuspected 'teens' through a warehouse whilst slowly meandering around taking her old sweet time to do her 'deeds'. Of course the 'teens' can't get away from her despite her slow knife-wielding saunter through the hallways-- she's like Michael Myers with a D cup. (Although that is an insult to Michael Myers.) 3. the 'teens', whilst running from this hideous frightening killer (who wears a snarl like she's posing for her 'high school' picture on a bad hair day), look like they studied acting with cartoon characters right down to the double takes, the "I want to get away, someones chasing me, but I think I'll stand here and wait for her to come down the hall", and rounding the corners as if wearing clown shoes. I could go on, but suffice it to say, in a few final words: avoid like the plague. Although even the plague would be preferable.

I don't usually write comments because most movies have at least one point, or moral, or meaning of something of common interest! So did the actors not show up for production and they had the cast wing it? because if that's the case then I retract my statement. Otherwise for all who rated this with anything above 3 stars (I'm being generous)should be banned from misleading future viewers. Unless of course you enjoyed the acting in the educational films they showed throughout years of school. Thank god I didn't buy it, although when i'm on my death bed and cannot stay awake long enough to say my farewells to my grandchildren, and children so forth I will remember that this was the 87 min of my life i'm never getting back ! ! !

I first found out about "the Murder Game" at the 2006 Terror Film Festival. I heard some pretty good things about and decided to check it out from Netflix. Truth be told, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. Lower budget Friday the 13th ripoffs predominate the market so I expected more of the same. It's not. It's actually a pretty clever movie.

In general I'll give anything a shot. I like "A" movies, I like "B" movies. This plays off like a really good B movie. The script is pretty well thought out, the characters are simple but effective, there's a couple of nice twists, and most importantly, it's entertaining. I was also impressed with pacing of the film. Unlike most indies, it moves at just the right speed rather than dwelling on prolonged long shots that offer nothing to advance the story. There were some good comical flourishes, and the ending turned out to be more logical than I anticipated. In addition, the musical score is quite good, and the action scenes work. Truth be told, I found it to be a better film than some of the horrors big studios are releasing, ala Dead Silence. It's certainly better than the Friday the 13th movies that were thrown at us. And at a fraction of the budget to boot.

On the downside, some of the acting doesn't ring true, there's a handful of cheesy lines that make you eyes roll, and the budget does show occasionally. But in general, it's an entertaining horror. Worth watching. As a regular movie, I'd rate it a 6/10. As an indie film, I rate it a 9/10.

Final assessment: 7/10

Eric (Steve Polites) and his teenage friends who are bored to death, invent an interesting game called The Murder Game where the person who picks the Queen of spades becomes a killer and pretends to kill the other innocent victims with prop weapons, before the other members finds out who the actual killer is. The group decide to play their game in a large self storage warehouse one late night after closing hours, until the break of dawn when the security doors automatically unlock. Though this time they have a new member, Lucy's (Julia Pickens) disturbed Gothic looking cousin Collin (Samuel Klein) who was grounded for smoking at school, he has sneaked out of his uncles house to attend the groups killer fantasy game. But things seem to change for the worst when they realize that someone is actually playing the game for real, and one by one the remaining players find their closest friends laying in a pool of their own blood.

A few months back I was surfing the net and I came across filmmaker Robert Harari's Murder Game official MySpace website… I was hooked line and sinker. I had to get my grubby hands on a copy as soon as possible, and check it out for myself. Finally we at DVD Resurrections can comment on this film, and let our readers and guests, know a thing or two about this film. For the last few years Independent cinema has been dominating the horror film industry, and I can truly say Murder Game is definitely right up there in the pack.

Now Robert Harari isn't no wannabe filmmaker, he has been around and done his fair share in the movie industry. From working in the editing, visual, sound and producing departments, he has now taken on writing and directing his own films, and The Murder Game is this filmmakers second attempt. Seven years ago, he created The Puzzle (2000) which has got positive feedback over at IMDb.com, with a scorching rating of 8 or of 10. With Murder Game under his belt this filmmaker is going to be well known in the B-Horror indie market.

The script is fairly basic, with a high suspense, who is the killer, mystery thriller feel throughout the entire film. Even with bigger budget films, straight away you can pick who is the killer or what's going to happen, and this is one reason I got to hand it to writers Robert Harari and Jason Contino, they did a fantastic job hiding the real killer.

Like most indie films, the cast are not known and can sometimes come across a little cheesy at times, but still very entertaining to watch. A few cast members really grabbed my attention right to the very end which are, the beautiful fiery redhead Katie Sirk who plays Trish and did a remarkable job with her role in this film, and being her first time in front of the camera, just amazes the hell out of me. Another actresses I enjoyed watching was Julia Pickens who plays a tough bad-girl with attitude who doesn't take any crap from anyone, and puts up a good fight with the killer. Though this is Julia's second role in a full length featurette film, which previously she has starred in David A. Cross's GhostWatcher 2, which director Robert Harari worked on. And not to mention actor Samuel Klein who stars as the Gothic teen named Collin, who done an awesome job with his character. The rest of the cast performances I enjoyed watching, but Katie, Julia and Samuel were the three who stuck out the most in Murder Game.

The gore factor was definitely a bonus, I wasn't sure at start how good it was going to be, but watching the film I was overwhelmed with satisfaction by the special effects department. I really have to hand it to special effects artist Daniel Mazikowski who came up with some awesome kill scenes within the film. You'll get to see scenes containing a set of garden shears rammed into someone's skull, disembowelment scene, death by fire extinguisher, blood galore, a beheading scene with an axe, throats being slit open and much, much more.

The Murder Game comes highly recommended from us at DVD Resurrections, and personally from me. If you don't mind watching a highly entertaining independent mystery thriller, with a good script, unknown cast and an ending you won't see coming, then guys this is one film you want to track down and purchase very shortly. So pop over to Amazon and purchase this bad boy right now, before one of your friends spoils the whole movie for you.