Sunday, January 5, 2014

The Cold (1984)

aka The Game

Three millionaires invite nine people, (a band and some twenty somethings), to an island mansion so they can participate in a game.  While the band plays, everyone else dances and parties until the millionaires sit down and explain what's going on.  Well, it's not so much an explanation as a vague reference.

The millionaires reveal three things about the game.

  1. It's called The Game
  2. The survivor wins 1 million dollars.
  3. Everyone will want to leave once the game begins, but if they do, they're disqualified.
They have until the next morning to decide if they want to leave, but no one does since they all want the million dollars.  As soon as the game begins, strange things start happening, including a strange fog which is accompanied by freezing cold air.

People begin disappearing, there is blood on the floor, the millionaires chuckle and dance down the hallways, plus there's a strange hunchback living in an abandoned house  - which begs the question why is there an abandoned house on the millionaires island retreat? Sometimes peoples mouths move as if they're talking, but there is no dialogue. Oh and did I mention the shark in the swimming pool?

This is a low budget movie filmed in Wisconsin.  The acting isn't very good, and there's an especially bad performance by Shelly, who I hope is putting on that terrible accent rather than that being her actual speaking voice. 

The film is book ended by rhyming narration, with the ending narration basically confirming that the viewers confusion is well founded.  The creature on the cover does appear in the film, but only a couple of times. It looks creepier in the movie.

This film was directed by Bill Rebane, who also did The Capture of Bigfoot, The Giant Spider Invasion, and Monster A-Go Go.  The latter two were each an episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Silly Dialogue:

"We'll be playing a game that we call... The Game."

"Don't be so edgy. Come on you'll get me going too."
"I'm sorry. I don't mean to.... want some pickles?"

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