THE GAME (1984)
aka THE COLD
Directed by Bill Rebane
Trans World Entertainment VHS
Reviewed 04.19.07
Review by Dan Budnik

THE FILM
I watched The Game aka The Cold on a Saturday for the first time. Sometimes I will watch films multiple times; sometimes once is enough. I watched this one and decided that once was enough. I had what I needed. It left me thinking and wondering, much in the same way that Invasion From Inner Earth did. On Monday, I sat down to write the review and I couldn’t remember a damn thing about it.

I've been Rebaned! (Is that similar to being Dohlerized? -- B.S.)

I like Bill Rebane’s films. Folks prefer Ted V. Mikels and Ray Dennis Steckler and H.G. Lewis films to his but I’m not 100% sure why. Steckler’s films generally have more pizzazz, but for every great thing he does, he’ll go off on a tangent that has me staring at my cat. Ted V. Mikels has great titles for his films but I generally find I have to do a couple laps around the love seat to keep myself going. When H.G. Lewis is cooking, he is awesome. When he’s not, I feel like I’m watching a documentary on what people do all day without any sort of editing or commentary. My feelings for the "Rebane Domain" of films are pretty much the same. I’m not sure why Rebane isn’t in this pile of guys. He should be.

The Game is about three millionaires who invite a bunch (I kept losing count) of folks to a lovely lodge in Wisconsin to play The Game. The contestants have to survive any and everything that the millionaires throw at them (spiders, rats, library music from other Rebane films). The one who remains wins a million dollars. A narrator tells us this at the beginning, which is odd as the millionaires tell us this a few minutes later. When the narrator returns at the end, he will say similar sorts of things, picking up on what the viewer is thinking but, alas, he doesn’t have any extra information.

This film is as odd and as disconnected as they come. I kept thinking that I might be watching a Monster A-Go-Go concoction where folks were not in the same film and that kind of thing. Well, it’s sort of like that. But, everyone interacts with everyone else and it all seems to be set at the same location so I think I’m wrong. For the majority of the film, there will be an odd scene that seems to be leading the film somewhere and then it will jump to another scene that seems to be from a different world. For example, the millionaires discuss the game and the contestants at the start. Then, we cut to random people dancing, some very distracting. Then, we see the millionaires talking to everyone at a table explaining the game. The dancers are the contestants but, boy, it’s done real weird. My favorite moment is probably when a scene where two characters are intensely discussing The Game cuts to a woman with big hair sitting on a stool, singing. For a moment, I thought “Oh no, Bill inserted footage of a woman singing the theme song into the film!” But, this woman and the band are all in The Game. (I’m pretty sure.) Unfortunately, about an hour in all the jumping around and lack of any actual narrative push wore on me. Probably why I’ve forgotten so much about it. (Apparently not everything, though.)

People argue. Something odd happens. Other people laugh at the people who argue. Someone who doesn’t look familiar vanishes and it’s a bad thing. There’s a nude woman ("You can’t come in here! I’m nude!"). Then, the game ends and there is a twist. This is followed by another twist. This one doesn’t make as much sense as the first one. The narrator returns and mentions that this doesn’t make much sense. The final twist makes less sense than the previous one unless the viewer is meant to be playing The Game also. But, at that moment, I was waving some sort of stick that makes bird noises in front of my dog so I’m pretty sure I wasn’t playing The Game (although, my dog may have been). And that is the film.

The locations. The music. (Oh, you’ll recognize some of it.) The people. And, even when you don’t recognize the people, something about them seems familiar. The spot where Bill always hooks me is that little something. Invasion from Inner Earth had the whole "What’s going on?" factor that kept me going and brought me back. The Giant Spider Invasion has spiders. The Game aka The Cold has The Cold. It is a rather otherworldly physical manifestation of the temperature dropping at the hotel mixed in with all the scares. Whenever it shows, it feels different from the other scares. It might be more than a scare, if you know what I mean. And, if you know what I mean, tell me. Is there a patented “Rebane Magic”? If so, The Cold is part of it.

I like Bill Rebane’s films. Like the other filmmakers mentioned earlier, I wish they had that extra something. That extra bit of madness that you find in the more singular visions of people who only make a film or two and vanish. The Game isn’t Bill Rebane's best. But, if you’ve seen some of his other films, this one is a good time. If you’ve never seen a Rebane film, I don’t know. Anything from boredom to insanity awaits.

AUDIO AND VIDEO
An exact transfer of the Trans World tape (minus the title screen) is part of Mill Creek's "Chilling Classics" DVD 50 Pack. Why rent the VHS, when you can get the DVD? Same thing. The picture is solid 80s. The audio is odd. A woman was listening to a radio and the song playing was extremely "LP scratchy" with plenty of pops and the threat of skipping always looming. Then, the song stopped and the scene changed. The scratchiness remained. The sound fluctuates around the same quality as Night Of Horror in spots. In Night of Horror, though, the sound matches the picture perfectly. This just seems odd.

EXTRAS
The VHS: none. Rebane's The Demons of Ludlow and The Alpha Incident are on the Chilling Classics DVD. I’ve not seen either so there may be more Rebane in all our futures. Cathy’s Curse is also on this disc. I’ve always liked that one.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I stand by everything I’ve said so far, but I would like to present an alternate theory for the strange film that is The Game. I believe that the audio and the video are presenting two different films. I believe that Bill Rebane found an old series of LPs that told some sort of horror story. He took the series of albums and shot film approximating what he believed the audio story was about. That’s why there are gaps and strange moments. That’s why the nude woman says she’s nude. That’s why folks talk so much. That’s why things are explained multiple times (different sides of the vinyl may have been different “episodes” of whatever the original story was). That’s why it is what it is.

And that’s why The Game itself is so odd. In the audio, people mention it getting cold. But, Bill imagined The Cold as a visual thing, rather than just people shivering, so he let his mind wander. That’s why the appearances of The Cold feel like it’s leaking in from another world. It’s disconnected from the sound and the picture. And, that’s frankly odd. Maybe the aliens from Invasion from Inner Earth sent it? Who knows.

Drive my spa


Thank you, Mr. Rebane


Are you The Cold?


Playing The Game