Overview: Before college movies were all about nudity, slapstick comedy, beer bongs and bad decisions, TAG: The Assassination Game gave this genre a killer twist. In this 1982 film noir-inspired gem, a group of students turns dorm life into a mock battle royale by playing a game that could never be done on campuses of today.

The rules of TAG are simple. Players try to murder each other using rubber-tipped toy dart guns. If you are shot, you are killed and taken out of the game permanently until only one player remains. Unfortunately for this year’s TAG players, one sore loser is determined to win at any cost, even if it means murdering his competition for real!

Writer-director Nick Castle, a frequent collaborator with long-time friend and associate John Carpenter, is widely known as Michael The Shape Myers in 1978’s horror classic Halloween. With his directorial debut, he demonstrates a knack for clever tension and spins this film’s concept into a wry and charming thriller.

Forgotten for years, TAG: The Assassination Game endures as a cult curiosity -- a sharp, stylish reminder that sometimes the most dangerous games are the ones we invent for fun. Featuring a star-studded cast, including a young Linda Hamilton (Terminator series) in her first motion-picture role, TAG: The Assassination Game also stars Robert Carradine (Revenge of the Nerds, The Big Red One), Perry Lang (1941, Eight Men Out), Bruce Abbott (Re-Animator, Bad Dreams), Kristine DeBell (Alice in Wonderland, Meatballs), Xander Berkeley (Candyman, Air Force One), Michael Winslow (Police Academy series) and future Oscar-winner, Forest Whitaker (The Crying Game, The Last King of Scotland).

Synapse Films is proud to present TAG: The Assassination Game in its high-definition worldwide home video premiere, lovingly restored in 2K from the original 35mm archival vault materials. This film might not have made box-office history, but for lovers of forgotten gems and VHS-era ingenuity, it’s an A+ in retro suspense.

Blu-ray Verdict: T.A.G.: The Assassination (1982) is a great little film that has gained a strong, though seemingly small fan following over the years. I’ve watched it many times since I discovered it in the early 80’s (after which I got a few people together in my high school so we could hunt each other down with rubber band guns – not recommended).

A lot of people simply don’t appear to know much about this dark comedy/thriller and that is a great shame. The plot is simple. At a college campus the latest pastime is a game called TAG. TAG players are given lists of targets (consisting of other players in the TAG group) that they chase after all over the large college campus with fake plastic suction tipped dart guns. The last man or woman who hasn’t been hunted down and successfully tagged in the end, wins.

There are a few rules to this campus game (game play stops at 12:00 midnight, etc.), but that’s about it. It’s all a fun pastime with a chance to meet new people. That is, until things go wrong!

The reigning champion (played wonderfully by Bruce Abbott in his first film role) gets so upset over getting tagged and losing that he decides to use real bullets instead and continue on with the game. The movie is a decent paced 80’s film with a noir like tongue in cheek quality to it that develops into the dark and serious, contains a fair amount of suspense, and pulls it all off with nice style for a little film.

Its ending is serious, but with a wink, and an homage to those noir films of yesteryear. It also shows that gore, tons of violence, etc., is not necessary to make a good thriller. Though I’ve never seen anything else really like TAG, there are a few other movies that one might like if they like it, such as Silver Streak (1976), and Foul Play (1978).

As noted, TAG was written and Directed by Nick Castle. Castle was involved in helping his friend, director John Carpenter write Escape From New York, and TAG was Castle’s first directing project. Castle would later go on to direct more commercially honed films (for that time period) such as The Last Starfighter, The Boy Who Could Fly, and others. He’s still working today. He was also the original man behind the mask in Halloween.

Having already been in a number of films before TAG, (most notable to me is The Big Red One as a cigar smoking writer named Pvt. Zab), Robert Carradine appears in Tag as a dashing cigar smoking journalist who falls in love with the movie’s heroine. After TAG, Carradine went on to do Revenge of the Nerds in 1984 as Lewis Skolnick.

Aside from a couple of TV roles and minor work, TAG is Linda Hamilton’s first real film. Her role as Sarah Connor in Terminator (1984) was still two years away. One can tell from watching her in TAG that she already had a good grip on her craft. She’s beautiful here, and thankfully we would see a lot more of her skill and beauty in the years to come and still do.

Incidentally, Bruce Abbott apparently did get Linda Hamilton in the end after all, in reality that is. They were married from December 19th 1982 until they were divorced in 1989. They have one son together named Dalton Abbott.

Bonus Features:
Audio Commentary with Director Nick Castle and Star Robert Carradine
Original Theatrical Trailer

T.A.G.: The Assassination Game | Original 1982 Trailer

Official Purchase Link

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