Deadly Games (1982)

Synopsis

The movie Deadly Games (1982), also known as The Forest, is a slasher film directed by Scott Mansfield. The story follows Clarissa “Keegan” Lawrence, a successful journalist who returns to her hometown after her sister Linda is killed by a ski-masked intruder who pushed her from a second-story window. Police officer Roger Lane investigates Linda’s death and tries to determine whether it was an accident, suicide, or murder. Keegan runs into several female friends and acquaintances from high school, including Mary Adams, Chris Howlett, Carol Bailey, Randy, and Susan Theresa “Sooty” Lane, the latter of whom is married to Roger.

Keegan visits her estranged mother, Marge, and attends a flag football game with her old friends and acquaintances. There, she notices a brooding man named Billy Owens, a former classmate of theirs and a Vietnam War veteran who sustained significant injuries in battle. Billy now works at the local movie theater changing film reels and has a close friendship with Roger over their mutual service in Vietnam.

After a pool party, a ski-masked assailant attacks Randy in the pool, binding her legs with wire and anchoring her to a grate at the bottom, effectively drowning her. Keegan meets Chris at a bar, where a worried Chris tells her that Laura and Randy were both dating the same man, but she does not name him.

Roger reveals to Sooty that he is the killer and strangles her to death. Shortly after, Chris is attacked again late at night while driving her car by the killer in the backseat. She stops the vehicle and flees on foot into the woods, eventually stumbling upon an overgrown cemetery. The killer manages to capture her before burying her alive in a grave. Later, Roger sits in the theater basement and recounts to himself how he unintentionally caused Linda’s death by trying to simply frighten her. The thrill he received from her dying, however, propelled him to begin actively committing murders.

Keegan visits the movie theater after Roger fails to arrive at a restaurant for a date. In the theater basement, she is startled by Roger and shoots him to death. Billy then appears and stalks Keegan through the theater basement. In a disarrayed prop room, Keegan finds Sooty’s corpse lying amongst mannequins. She runs upstairs, stumbling on the theater stage. Billy, over an intercom, chastises Keegan for killing Roger, his only friend. The lights suddenly go out, and Billy swings on a rope from the rafters toward Keegan to kill her.

Cast

Alexandra Morgan as Linda Lawrence
Jo Ann Harris as Detective Maggie McKeown
Sam Groom as Detective Jack Stone
Steve Railsback as Peter
Denise Galik as Karen
Colleen Camp as Julie
June Lockhart as Mrs. Brighton

Trivia

The movie Deadly Games (1982) was released on television networks such as Showtime in the spring of 1982. It was given regional theatrical releases in the United States, opening in St. Louis on September 2, 1982.
The film was released under several different titles, including The Forest, Game Over, and Hide and Shriek.
The movie features a memorable tagline: “You’re playing for your life…and the game is murder!”
The film was shot on location in Big Bear Lake, California.