It was probably Arnold Schwarzenegger's cult action gem The Running Man which set the trend of deadly gameshow/game movies. These films initially were action-filled gorefests but have now been re-interpreted with elements of sci-fi and dystopia too.
The plot element which these films share is that they involve a few random individuals in one location and for some reason, they are in a game of death. It's a fight to the finish, the survival of the fittest for the competitors who start dying one by one like they are characters of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. However, there might be obvious differences in this plot structure depending on the context of the film.
Here, in no particular order, are 10 such deadly game movies.
Battle Royale
Let's begin with one of the bloodiest yet best entrants to this list. Battle Royale is one film that would make you excited for its premise but then also make you feel squeamish from inside. Based on a novel of the same name, the Japanese flick features 42 students from the 9th grade who are abandoned on an island. They have collars fitted around their neck which would explode if they fail to comply with their orders. What are their orders? To kill each other and survive with any weapon possible!
It might sound like a senseless slasher but the movie does get profound towards his end. It shows the extent to which we humans can go to survive. There's less focus on why this game of death takes place, put more emphasis on how it's carried out. You would hardly catch a breath during Battle Royale as its events unfold.
The Condemned
Produced by WWE films and starring WWE alumnus "Stone Cold" Steve Austin, this film makes for a brainless guilty pleasure. Austin plays a death row convict who is purchased by a rich TV producer. He ships him off to an island with 9 other convicts. Then, a televised battle of survival commences.
As expected, Austin doesn't have the acting chops but his physical bravado is enough to make The Condemned a fun watch. There is every twist and turn that you would expect in a death game movie.
Ready Or Not
This one is a unique entry to the list. There's no televised or orchestrated game show in Ready Or Not, but it instead features the most extreme game of hide and seek! A newly-wedded bride joins her in-laws but realizes they have a bizarre initiation ceremony i.e. to play a game.
If the game is hide and seek, then she has to seek her new family but her new family hides with crossbows, axes, and guns. Tyler Gillet and Matt Bettinelli-Olpin directed this mystery thriller in which you can expect anything or everything. The movie is fast-paced, violent, and has several WTF-inducing moments. It's surely one of the best and quirkiest movies involving a deadly game.
The Belko Experiment
Instead of a future dystopia or a lonely island, The Belko Experiment shifts the location to a normal office. The employees of Belko Inc. are trapped in their office one day and are instructed to kill at least two employees within 30 mins.
Things begin to snowball downhill rather quickly after that. But hey, they had their orders, right? Totally a reasonable excuse. Right? Written by James Gunn, the film received mixed reviews by critics but still engaged committed genre fans.
The Purge
Not just a game of death, The Purge is a festival of death. In an America of the future, one day is given to all the closeted sadists to unleash violence and mayhem with no fear of any legal repercussions. Some get ready to quench their thirst for blood on the day of the Purge, others stay inside hoping they don't breathe their last.
The movie is not for everyone but it definitely feels like one of the most realistic deadly game situations. The Purge spawned a franchise of its own with various interpretations of its concept.
Death Race 2000
We could have included the Jason Statham reboot but it's the original which is artistically and stylistically superior. Death Race 2000, as the name suggests, is a deadly race set in the year 2000. The film might have set pieces and costumes that look outdated but the practical action sequences in this 1975 indie film are commendable.
Like other films mentioned here, this race is a televised deadly game show in which the President of America himself has stakes. A masked racer called Frankenstein (played by David Carradine) uses strategy, speed, and deadly tricks to outrace his competitors (one of whom is a young pre-Rocky Sylvester Stallone). There's blood, political satire and lots of collateral damage making it a full-fledged entertainer.
Rollerball
"In the not too distant future, wars will no longer exist but there will be Rollerball" reads the theatrical poster of this sci-fi sports film released in the same year as Death Race 2000. In an intensely corporate future, a game called Rollerball is humankind's favorite past time. The game is original, engaging, and ultra-violent.
The game of rollerball has several rules which added to the film's cult following. Rollerball involves two teams of twelve players. In each team, there are nine roller-skaters and three motorcyclists. The team then captures a steel ball before it rolls into a gutter. Needless to say, this premise also spawned a few video games following the film's release.
The Hunger Games series
Katniss Everdeen volunteers as a tribute in a televised game show which pits several tributes of each district of a dystopian America against each other. Meanwhile, the President and the bourgeoisie consume their entertainment with these Hunger Games. Based on the iconic YA novels, the Hunger Games is one of the most memorable franchises in recent years, making Jennifer Lawrence's Katniss Everdeen one of the most heroic figures in cinema.
These movies prioritize politics and survival over mere mindless violence. As the narrative grows larger in scale over the four films, we realize how defiance in this game brings about the whole social revolution.
Enter The Dragon
Bruce Lee had passed away by the time his first American release Enter The Dragon dropped at the box office. But Enter The Dragon ensured to carry on his legacy, bringing viewers a quintessential and evergreen action film.
The film takes place on an island but it's not an abandoned piece of land this time. It's owned by Han, who holds an annual martial arts competition here. British intelligence suspect that Han is also involved in the drug and sex trade. So, an agent and Bruce Lee are assigned to serve as inside men in this tournament. While the story is engaging enough, it is the glimpses from this martial arts tournament and an ultimate showdown (with a classic house of mirrors scene) that stands the test of time. Fun fact, another martial arts legend Jackie Chan started his career by acting as an extra on this film.
The Running Man
While there were movies about deadly game shows since the 1970s, The Running Man is one classic from the 1980s that popularized this concept. Based on a Stephen King novella, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as a convict who lands in a game show where people are targeted by professional killers.
Schwarzeneggar being Schwarzenegger, punches his way out of this totalitarian state and consumerist show to achieve his freedom. His angst at the game show and the people who run it is exemplified from this scene where he looks directly at the camera and punches it saying, "I'll live to see you eat that contract, but I hope you leave enough room for my fist because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your god-damn spine!"