Death Game (1977)

Directed by

Peter S. Traynor

Genre

horror film, LGBTQ-related film

Country

United States

Runtime

1h 31m

Rated

R

Rating

5.8 of 10 from 42 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A wealthy businessman lets two young women into his home during a storm. They turn out to be violent and deranged, trapping him inside his own house.

tenseunsettlingclaustrophobicpsychologically intenseslow-burndarkmanipulativesuspenseful

What happens

Death Game (also known as The Seducers) is a 1977 American psychological thriller film directed by Peter S. Traynor, and starring Sondra Locke, Seymour Cassel, and Colleen Camp. The film follows an affluent San Francisco businessman who finds himself at the mercy of two violent, deranged women with a fetish for violence, whom he unwittingly allows into his home during a rainstorm. Traynor, a former California real-estate financier, entered a career in filmmaking as a producer in the early 1970s, funding his projects through local investors. He purchased the script for Death Game to serve as his directorial debut. The film was shot primarily inside a large Los Angeles home with a small budget in approximately two weeks during 1974 with a projected release the following summer. Production was allegedly plagued with on-set disputes among the first-time director and the cast, and eventually halted due to a federal investigation into Traynor's financing methods. The theatrical release of Death Game was delayed nearly two years. Critical reception for Death Game has been mixed among critics. While some read into the plot and violence as social commentary, others rejected it as meaningless exploitation. Death Game made unremarkable box office returns during its limited theatrical run, but found a greater audience with its home media releases in the years that followed. The film has been remade twice, first a Spanish production (1980) directed by Manuel Esteba and the second, reimagined and retitled: Knock Knock (2015), directed by Eli Roth and starring Keanu Reeves, Ana de Armas and Lorenza Izzo. Traynor, Locke, and Camp all took part in this film's production. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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