morrison-dylan-fan Gathering up a small pile of Video's that I'm hoping to sell during the Christmas period,I noticed a Video with a very cheap & tacky cover.Originally expecting the movie to be nothing but an extra low-rank Action movie,I was instead shocked to discover,that along with featuring Forest Whitaker (playing a boom-box carrying "gangsta" thug!) in his debut role,the film also had Linda Hamilton in the lead role,which led to me going back on the school play fields to play a deadly game of tag.The plot:Struggleing to find a subject to fill up the student newspaper,journalist Alex Marsh decides to do a report on the 6th annual Tag:Assassination tournament is being held at his university,where students are each given a dart gun,and told that they have to "take out" all of the other students,in order to become the number one Tag champion.Finding himself quickly drawn into the event's world,Alex finds himself following Tag whizkid Susan Swayze,who he witnesses quickly rising through the ranks.Unbeknowst to Susan,as she gets closer to reaching the Tag final,the reining champ decides that he is going to have to take extreme measures in order to hold on to his title… View on the film:Featuring name checks for Lauren Bacall and Raymond Chandler, (and also covering the student newspaper wall with a huge Bogart poster) writer/director Nick Castle gives his teen riff on Richard Connell's The Most Dangerous Game a terrific Film Noir edge,as Alex finds himself being unable to look away from the dangerous adrenalin rush of the Tag tournament,and also the sassy, witted charms of Susan.Whilst Castle's path into a Slasher-lite territory, (the reigning Tag champion is a complete nutter) does water down the movies Noir charm,and the roguish thrill of being caught up in the exciting,ruthless tournament,Linda Hamilton gives a terrific spirited performance as Susan Swayze,with Hamilton showing a proto-Sarah Conner level of daring and guts as Susan battles to dodge the final "Tag" that could lead to her game,being permanently over.

Coventry The execution of "TAG: The Assassination Game" may be primarily comical and light-headed, the concept is extremely ingenious and would easily lean itself for a harsh and disturbing thriller. It's actually quite regrettable that writer/director Nick Castle (an acolyte of John Carpenter, which is made clear through many details throughout the film) opted for the more comical and all-revealing approach, as you can't help thinking this premise held a lot more potential. "TAG" is the name of a game organized on campus grounds and it's a gigantic hype in universities all across the USA. The participating students dispose of toy guns and receive the profile of another participant together with the assignment to "kill" them. Of course one of the players, who can't stand losing too well, takes the game a little serious and starts taking out his targets with genuine bullets. Most of the film, however, revolves on the game circuit of the lovely Linda Hamilton, as well as on her romance with the school newspaper journalist Robert Carradine), so it takes an awful long while before anyone ever realizes there's a crazed killer on the loose. "TAG" isn't exactly suspenseful, since the identity of the killer is never kept secret and – let's face it – someone going completely bonkers over losing a stupid college game isn't very convincing. There's also a severe lack in body count and the murders themselves aren't very spectacular. Still, it's a fun idea and the film has a few highly memorable moments and eccentric characters, like Carpenter (see the link?); the creep who keeps hold of the score. Linda Hamilton looks beautiful and very sexy in this one, although she smokes like a chimney unfortunately, and it's also the debut film of Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator).

cappaccinodagreat I remember watching this on HBO when I was like 12 years old. Thsi movie was cool then, but I haven't seen it since then. The funny thing is, when I went to U of Miami for college in 1990, we actually played a version of this game on campus. The campus was nuts playing this game too. You never knew who to trust. I do not think this movie is available on DVD at this point, and I think thats way it is not seen as a cult classic like others like it from the same era. Its just not available and no one uses VHS anymore. If they release it on DVD at anytime, check it out. it might be dated now, but it was still good. Good actors in it too.

roscojim Overall, I thought this movie was OK. Seeing Linda Hamilton in an early role was fun, as was the premise. This movie came out during the height of "assassination" games where you try to "eliminate" someone you've been assigned to, without that person knowing you're after him/her. Of course, someone is looking to eliminate you, too.If you want a fun movie to eat popcorn with, check this one out.