This is How Movies Should Be Made

Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Road Games offers a curious fusion of styles, seasoned by the French sensibility of its eccentric characters. It's an unusual recipe, but it works brilliantly. I frequently complain about films with poorly established and badly developed characters, but Road Games is the exact opposite... it takes itself more than one hour for us to get plunged into the experiences and past of Jack, Veronique and their bizarre hosts, through long conversations which help us to decipher their personalities and speculate on the secrets they are hiding. Road Games is one of those movies in which everyone knows more than they seem to; at the same time, those paused scenes create an ethereal and strange atmosphere which intentionally confuses the meaning of the oblique comments and looks exchanged between the characters. It's like a dream we can't wake up from... even though we know it's about to become a nightmare. During the third act, we have various twists which genuinely surprised me... specially because some of them are decoys to keep the mystery on the killer's identity. And even though the suspense is kept until the end, it's never intensified too much; director Abner Pastoll prefers to "simmer" the movie, refraining from shocks and graphic violence in order to keep that nightmarish sensation. Besides, the actors make a good work in their roles. Andrew Simpson feels credible as Jack, who travels without any luggage and occasionally tries to clean a red residue on his nails. Might it be blood? Mmh... Barbara Crampton (whom I will forever associate to Re-Animator and From Beyond, two of my favorite films) bring an appropriately ambiguous aura to her character; I like to see her so active in contemporary horror after such a long absence (just in the last 5 years, I have also seen her in You're Next, The Lords of Salem, Tales of Halloween and We Are Still Here). Joséphine de la Baume (who had already left me quite impressed in the excellent Kiss of the Damned) displays a good level of emotional complexity in her role, while Frédéric Pierrot solidly makes us doubt whether his character is mentally unbalanced or smarter than he seems, and Féodor Atkine makes a perfect work as the classic neighbor obsessed with taxidermy. So, in conclusion, I think Road Games deserves a place along with other French horror gems from 21st century (such as Martyrs -2008-, À l'intérieur and Haute Tension), because I found it a fascinating experience full of suspense, mystery and artistic vision (oh, and have I mentioned the extraordinary music from Daniel Elms?). I give it an enthusiastic recommendation, mainly to the fans of retro "euro-horror", relatively lacking of blood, and more focused on atmosphere, texture and character. Oh, and it was shot in the UK, so in fact, it's "faux French", with a South African director and a "giallo" concept borrowed from Italy. Nobody can blame Road Games for lacking of diversity.

The 1981 movie "Road Games" Written be Everett De Roche (screenplay), Everett De Roche (original story). Starring Stacy Keach & Jamie Lee Curtis is a much better movie. This is a poor copy.Pat Quid is driving a semi across Australia. On the way he encounters various other travellers, and the occasional hitchhikers repeatedly as they're traveling the same road. A favorite pastime of Pat is to play games to pass the time on the journey. (Such as to make up backgrounds of the other people on the road.) Pamela is one hitchhiker he picks up. But when she disappears, he suspects that the driver of a van who has been acting a little strange, (Smith or Jones) maybe the serial killer mentioned on the radio. But his pursuit of the van driver brings him to the attention of the police, who begin to suspect him.

As a fan of road/thriller movies, I saw this without watching the trailer or reading anything bout it. Was pleasantly surprised how good this movie was. Its a very good thriller with lots of twists n turns. Nice star cast, good acting, amazing cinematography, nice music, decent screenplay and an awesome direction n editing by Abner Pastoll. The lead actress Joséphine de La Baume is voluptuous and gorgeous. It is beautifully shot with fantastic French countryside. The fields, the forests, the rural roads, the pond (where she bathes naked), the cottages (the one from where Andrew Simpson picks up the golf club), they all lead to a nice build up. The movie is backed up by an excellent score with pulsing elements. It has fantastic picturesque locations and moody sets. The killer was not shown but the tension was created throughout. Even the slower scenes which focused on characters were able to hold up the anticipation. Barbara Crampton did a decent job of creating mystery to her character. One movie which came to my mind while watching this was High Tension. Maybe because of rural France or the psychological aspect. This movie is much better than The invitation n 10 Cloverfield lane.

A very slow thriller-horror (which to be fair is sort of the norm these days for the genre).But that said it's not terrible; it's really nicely shot with rich colors of the French countryside, the acting is good enough to keep the interest going and the ending is pretty good. I find it funny how some reviewers complain that too many parts are in French, like really? Complaining about it being too many French-speaking parts in a movie set in France is like complaining about the water being too wet.But I guess they either don't know how to read or how to put on the subtitles, which says more about them than it does this movie.Anyway like I was saying, a movie with a bunch of positives but that still falls just a bit short with some unfulfilled potential; the script could have done with some improvement.That said I wouldn't recommend anyone against watching it, unless they are looking for a fast-paced thriller I guess which this is not.