Directed and written by Nick Castle — and also known as Kiss Me, Kill Me, and Everybody Gets It in the End — this movie starts by taking a page out of The 10th Victim, as a group of college kids plays secret agent with dart guns in a LARP game where two people are assigned to take one another out. Loren Gersh (Bruce Abbott, Re-Animator) is the best player there is, killing everybody before they get close to him. However, when an inexperienced player drops his gun, Gersh gets the drop on him and finally loses the game. He snaps and kills his opponent for real. And that’s where Tag: The Assassination Game really begins.
He’s going up against Susan Swayze (Linda Hamilton, who married Abbott soon after this movie finished) to see who can be the last killer left alive. However, she’s unaware that he’s using real weapons. She’s helped by school reporter Alex Marsh (Robert Carradine, who would star in Revenge of the Nerds two years later with Anthony Edwards, who is in another movie kinda just like this called Gotcha).
This is one of the few non-Police Academy movies I can think of that stars Michael Winslow, who also has a bodyguard in it, played by none other than Forest Whitaker. KROQ DJ Frazer Smith — who was one of the announcers on WTBS’ Night Tracks when music videos took over pop culture — is in this, as is Kristine DeBell, who was A.L. in Meatballs and appears in all of David DeCoteau’s films, including A Talking Cat!?!
The more raincoater audience among you may also notice Jack Baker, who went from the kids’ show Wonderbug to showing up in all manner of adult fare like the Dark Brothers New Wave Hookers (both one and two!), White Bunbusters and Let Me Tell Ya ‘Bout White Chicks. Ironically, he’s the kid who gets pushed out of the way so Big Jim Slade can get cucked in The Kentucky Fried Movie.
And if you’re wondering, is that the Rylan technician from Castle’s other movie, The Last Starfighter, as one of the game players? You have an eagle eye. That’s his wife, Charlene Nelson.
The Synapse Blu-Ray of this movie has commentary by Nick Castle and Robert Carradine, plus a trailer. You can get it from MVD.
