directed by Abner Pastoll
This 2015 British-French co-production referenced the 1981 Australian-American film of the same name that starred Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis. The 2015 movie is a thriller with twists , not a gory horror film. I thought that the movie missed its mark. Road Games has a lot of misdirection.
But I quickly guessed the major plot twist. The other mysteries weren't interesting or made no sense.
I enjoyed the bucolic settings. Road Games is set in rural France. Road Games looked great but could have spent more energy on establishing the difference between urban and rural living. Jack (Andrew Simpson) is an apparently charisma free British young man who vacationed in France with his girlfriend.
Things didn't work out. Jack lost his girlfriend. Worse, he also lost his luggage. Jack tries hitchhiking to the coast to catch the ferry back to the U.K.
Few people will pick up a male hitchhiker. A car stops but it's not for Jack. A man and a woman are arguing. Concerned for the woman's safety, Jack prepares to fight the man but the man ejects the woman from his car and drives off.
The Frenchwoman, Veronique (Josephine de la Baume), is grateful for Jack's gallantry. The two share stories and agree to hitchhike together. Veronique is easy on the eyes so Jack enjoys her assistance with his rudimentary French. Jack's luck changes when another car stops. The driver is a goofy man named Grizard (Frederic Pierrot).
Grizard refuses to drive the duo to the coast but offers to let them stay the night with him and his American wife Mary (legendary scream queen Barbara Crampton, here looking a decade younger than her age). Veronique is wary. But Jack needs some food, a shower, and a bed.
During dinner, Grizard is by turns solicitous, rude, and direct. Mary is odd and distracted. Nosy, Jack looks around the old mansion and finds some questionable things. Mary warns Jack against opening his bedroom door.
After some unexpected scorching sex, Jack awakens the next morning to discover that one woman has disappeared. Grizard says she left. Grizard is much less friendly, ordering Jack to depart. Should Jack play detective or leave now?
I thought the narrative dragged. Characters are stupid because the story requires it. There is some fleeting violence. Road Games has a sex scene, some skinny dipping, and plenty of cleavage. There are usually subtitles when people speak French. It's often a plot point that Jack doesn't understand people's conversations.
