Directed by Sean McNamara
Written by Brian Buccellato
Starring: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Will Sasso, Jon Voight
Rated R
Runtime: 1 hour, 36 minutes
In select theaters and On Digital October 21

by Gary M. Kramer, Staff Writer

Want to play a game? The family in Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders is forced into playing an immersive murder mystery where there can only be one winner. Think of it as an escape room with an “and then there was one” outcome.

This slick but gruesome thriller has the Betts family reuniting at an island mansion for the patriarch Ellison’s (Jon Voight) 80th birthday. Ellison is all about wanting to have a legacy, but the pharmaceutical company he built from the ground up has been “stolen” by his son Kyle (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). Kyle claims he “rescued” the family business. His brother, Alec (Will Sasso), is not taking sides. Alec hopes to keep the peace for the weekend, which is tough as his wife Marie (Laura Mennell) and their children, Livie (Megan Charpentier) and Cameron (Dylan Playfair), are bickering almost as much as Kyle and Ellison. Witnesses to the squabbling are Cameron’s girlfriend Tara (Kaya Coleman) and Kyle’s fiancé, Joy (Skyler Shaye), as well as Ellison’s assistant, Burnham (Bradley Stryker).

Once all the players are introduced and secured (read: trapped) inside the house, they must play—or pay with their lives. When one character doesn’t heed the “Don’t go in” warning sign on a door, they are hobbled for mis-stepping. Suffice it to say, the wound is cauterized, indicating just how cruel things can get.

The aforementioned injury and subsequent deaths are consequences for not participating. When a character wanders into a room in the “murder castle” while trying to track down Burnham—whom they assume is behind the mayhem—they get trapped and discover another victim. This is nasty, but the killings are not as clever or as graphic as they could be. Characters are dispatched by being gassed, stabbed, shot, hung, and burned. Arguably, the most horrible moment involves the “liquification” of a stray cat, which is both sadistic and unnecessary.

The lack of invention with each murder seems a missed opportunity. What could also make each character’s death interesting is the morality behind the murders. But Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders is interested in family history, not scruples. As Livie, Tara, Marie, and Alec try to solve some of the game’s cyphers—while Ellison eggs them on—they uncover a family history of serial killing that links the past to the present. This provides some context for what is happening, but it also makes it hard to root for anyone.

If Ellison is pulling the strings, as some suspect, there could be some real tension as the heirs to the family fortune compete to survive. However, the film follows Kyle who takes matters into his own hands by searching for secret passageways and encountering trap doors. He could be the evil mastermind behind the game, but given how arrogant he is, there is a hope that he will die a slow, painful death.

Rhys Meyers plays Kyle broadly, snarling with contempt for everyone but Joy, and he is best during his amusingly vicious exchanges with Ellison. Voight matches him by being suitably ornery. However, the verbal sparring can feel a little forced—especially during an exchange between Alec and Kyle about their past—but the film rarely goes for subtle. Case and point: Rhys Meyers gets one of the more repellant moments in the film, as when Kyle must find a “key” that is literally hidden inside another character’s heart to prevent his own death.

Dangerous Game: The Legacy Murders is best with these kinds of unpleasant sequences that have the characters testing their limits. When one player goes over the edge and murders a blood relative, other characters just watch in horror, oddly making no effort to stop the killing. Perhaps the film’s message is that the family that slays together, stays together, but again, the rules indicate that only one person can survive.

As bodies pile up the film lumbers towards its inevitable conclusion. Watching a character eat an eyeball with glee or violently dispatch the remaining players in the film’s finale should be more satisfying, but it is not. Instead, viewers may be glad that that it’s game over.