MVD is resurrecting a movie mom and pop video store lovers
will recall seeing on the shelf but not seen since. Perhaps it popped up on
cable now and then but not often. MIND GAMES was one of those films made on a
low budget with stars that were either sliding off the grid or on their way up.
It features actors in the former category.
Rita and Dana Lund (Shawn Weatherly and Edward Albert) have
reached a rough point in their marriage. While Dana is going back to school
part time to get a better career for himself, Rita feels that he has stifled
her in their marriage, wanting her to remain home and be a housewife instead of
pursuing her own career as a designer. In an effort to sort things out the
couple hit the road for a planned vacation in an RV with their young son Kevin
(Matt Norero).
At one stop Kevin comes across a young man in the woods
backpacking, playing a flute. They become friends and he invites him back to
meet his folks and stay for lunch. It isn’t long before Kevin is enamored with
Eric (Maxwell Caulfield) and his father becomes friendly as well. The next day
the family sees him walking along and invites him to ride with them to the
point he plans on getting off, an invitation Kevin and Dana are happy with but
not Rita.
As their journey continues they learn that Eric is a college
student studying psychology. What they don’t realize is that for him the family
is nothing more than a project, an attempt to push various buttons to see what
they do and then record it in the notebook he carries with him. Those buttons
include having Kevin accompany him when he breaks into a house, having Kevin
share a sleeping bag with him and seducing Rita, almost convincing her to help
him kill Dana so she can move on with her life.
All of this will eventually come to a head as well as the
problems between husband and wife. The family will never come out the same as
when Eric became their reluctant passenger. The question is who will and who
will not survive.
By the time this film was made in 1989 both Albert and Caulfield
had enjoyed some success in film and television but their glory days were
behind them. It didn’t matter that both were capable actors and went on to
numerous other appearances, their chance at stardom had passed both by, leaving
them little but name recognition. That’s sad because honestly both were solid
actors and did well in the parts they played. Weatherly had a short career
perhaps highlighted by starring in 18 episodes of BAYWATCH. Norero? Just two
more credits after this film.
The story is solid here and slowly unfolds. It’s obvious
from the start that Eric as a drifting hitchhiker will have some nefarious plan
going on but what it is isn’t revealed from the start. His slow manipulation of
each member of the family is what makes the movie work. At the same time
Weatherly’s character is perhaps the least sympathetic of them all, portrayed
as a shrew of a wife complaining silently, chain smoking and blaming everyone
but herself for her unhappiness. It all works together for a solid mystery that
entertains.
Part of MVD’s Rewind Collection the film comes with some
interesting extras on hand. They include “The Making of Mind Games a 108 minute
retrospective of the making of the film with interviews of the cast and crew,
“Bob Yari: Portrait of a Producer” a retrospective of the film’s
producer/director, the original theatrical trailer, a reversible sleeve with
alternate artwork and a collectible mini-poster.
No comments:
Post a Comment