DANGEROUS GAME (1991) **

Dangerous Game is the movie that got Aussie director Stephen Hopkins noticed.  By the time this was released on video in the states, Hopkins had already directed A Nightmare on Elm Street 5 and Predator 2.  He has a slick style that sets the film apart from many of its Ozploitation contemporaries, but that isn’t quite enough to distinguish it from the pack.  

A group of kids hack into a department store’s security system on a bet and break into the place.  A possibly psychotic cop named Murphy (Stephen Grives), who’s been hassling them mercilessly, follows them into the store, puts on a mask, and tries to scare them.  One of the kids winds up dead, and the cop sets out to kill the other teens in order to cover his tracks.  

I remember seeing the VHS of this back in the day on video store shelves and laughing at the way they blatantly tried to make it look like a Die Hard knockoff.  They even made up Grives to look like Bruce Willis with his closely cropped hair and dirty white tank top.  It’s safe to say anyone who rented this expecting a Die Hard rip-off was severely disappointed.  Sure, it takes place in a contained area, but it’s a lot closer to Psycho Cop than Die Hard.  

The problem is Hopkins takes an inordinate time getting the show on the road.  A lot of time is spent on both the teens and the cop before they finally get to the mall.  I realize some of these scenes are essential to establishing the characters, but they honestly could’ve been paced tighter.  Even the scenes inside the mall have a tendency to dawdle.  The ending is a bit of a disappointment too.  

Hopkins has a nice style.  The camera moves around a lot (especially inside the mall) and some of the camera angles are quirky and/or interesting.  The scene where a ball bearing rolls down a stationary escalator is sort of mesmerizing.  Most of these cinematic gymnastics are only there to disguise the thin plot.  

Grives is pretty good as the crazed cop.  There’s a fun scene where he tries to smash up the security system while screaming like a lunatic.  As he does so, he keeps seeing the murder being replayed again and again on the screen.  It’s a memorable sequence, but these highlights are unfortunately few and far between.