Night Game (1989)
Directed by Peter Masterson
Hey look another slasher! Well kind of, I guess. It really is in that weird tweener area like 10 to Midnight with Bronson. Half slasher, half cop drama, all sexy saxophone OH YEAH!
The plot for this one, is…unique. A police detective played by Roy Scheider tracks down a serial killer who is stalking young women on the beach front after each game that a certain baseball pitcher wins. Who wrote this? Spencer Eastman, if you want to be technical but rhetorical question, cmon. The whole baseball part is really shoehorned into this movie. Think of this as 10 to Midnight, meets Ace Ventura Pet Detective, meets Lethal Weapon. Weird mix? Yeah I thought so too but let’s talk about that. Lethal Weapon’s score is totally ripped off in this movie. The sexy saxophone is in full effect. 10 to Midnight because it’s about a police detective hunting down a serial killer. Ace Ventura Pet Detective because it is about a former professional athlete with beef towards a former teammate. Granted this came out before Ace Ventura so theres that right?
The acting is pretty good. Roy Scheider is always quality. We also get Lane Smith whom is one of my favorite character actors, he’s awesome as an authority figure in whatever movie he’s in. Paul Gleason, from Breakfast Club fame plays the crooked cop Broussard. He does such a good job playing the dick in everything haha, type casted? The kills really aren’t anything too impressive but they work, mostly throat slits. The killer has a hook for a hand and is a former MLB pitcher for the Astros, until Baretto takes his job in the rotation. The killer, named Epps has gone mad and now murders women any time Baretto wins. Odd, I know. Epps is a menacing figure but you only see him in the last 15 minutes, unfortunately.
This only has a 4.9 on IMDB as of me writing this review. I will say I think this movie is better than that, but it isn’t great. The plot is stupid, let’s face it. The idea of a killer offing women ONLY when a pitcher wins a game. What weird motive. Why not just kill the pitcher? He’s pissed at him, or is he angry with the Astros? Then why not just bomb the Astrodome? His logic is missing for sure. While the plot is awful the acting is good and the suspense is decent. I give this a C-, it left a lot to be desired but isn’t horrible.
31 Horror Movies 