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Blu-ray Review: Road Games (Collector’s Edition)
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Road Games
Blu-ray (Collector’s Edition)
Director: Richard Franklin
Screenwriter: Everett De Roche
Cast: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page
Distributor: Scream Factory
Rated PG | 101 Minutes
Release Date: November 12, 2019

Directed by Richard Franklin (Psycho II, F/X2) from a screenplay by Everett De Roche (Razorback), 1981’s Road Games is anxiety in motion. An amalgam of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Steven Spielberg’s Duel, the Australian horror-thriller is now available on Blu-ray from Scream Factory.

Stacy Keach (of Fat City, The Ninth Configuration, and Nebraska) stars as Pat Quid, a truck driver making a long haul through the Australian Outback. On the way to Perth, he picks up Hitch (Jamie Lee Curtis of Halloween), a free-spirited hitchhiker looking for a little excitement. And that’s exactly what they get when they decide to hunt down a serial killer who is butchering women and dumping their dismembered corpses along desolate desert highways.

One of director Quentin Tarantino’s favorite Aussie films, inspiring his own 2007 flick Death Proof, Road Games deals out vehicular mayhem and full-throttle thrills while ratcheting up the suspense to a nerve-rattling climax. Keach delivers a great lead performance as Quid who, along with his faithful dingo, Boswell, and his new traveling companion, gets caught up in a game of cat-and-mouse with a maniac in a van. Curtis, hot off her 1980 Scream Queen Trilogy (The Fog, Prom Night, and Terror Train), keeps us guessing as a mysterious wanderer whose origins are truly unknown.

If you haven’t seen Franklin’s movie, do yourself a favor and pick up Scream Factory’s new Blu-ray release pronto. In addition to a fantastic high-definition presentation (in the film’s original 2.35:1 aspect ratio), there’s a truckload of new and previously released special features. In addition to a new interview with Keach, there’s a fantastic audio commentary with cinematographer Vincent Monton, production coordinator Helen Watts, and costume designer Aphrodite Kondos, moderated by Not Quite Hollywood filmmaker Mark Hartley.

For me, the highlight of the disc’s bonus materials are “Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making of Road Games” (20:23); and a vintage 1980 lecture with Franklin, co-producer Barbi Taylor, and composer Brian May, introduced by film critic Tom Ryan. The in-depth lecture is two hours and ten minutes long and is easily one of the coolest, most informative special features I’ve seen on a Scream Factory release.

Scream Factory’s Road Games Collector’s Edition is now available at Amazon. If you’re a fan of Ozploitation cinema and under-appreciated ’80s horror-thrillers, this is a must-own release.

Bonus Features

NEW Australian Long Haul w/ Actor Stacy Keach
NEW Audio Commentary With Vincent Monton, Helen Watts, and Aphrodite Kondos, moderated by Mark Hartley
NEW 1980 Script Read w/ Franklin, Keach, and Marion Edward
NEW Composer Brian May’s music demos
Audio commentary w/ Richard Franklin
Kangaroo Hitchcock: The Making Of Road Games
Extended interviews from Not Quite Hollywood
Lecture: The Making Of Road Games
Profile on Richard Franklin (1981)
Audio interview w/ Richard Franklin (2001)
Audio interview w/ Actor Stacy Keach (2016)
Audio interview w/ Stunt Coordinator Grant Page (2016)
Stills, storyboards, promotional and artwork materials
Theatrical trailer

For more reviews of Scream Factory releases, click here.

Theatrical Trailer

Clip: Mistaken Identity

Cover Art

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