Runtime: 96 minutes
Directed by: Ernest R. Dickerson
Starring: Quite the cast, as explained below
From: New Line Cinema
In an increasingly rare move, I dip into my physical media collection to review something for Letterboxd (rather than revisit a film and not mention it here) and discuss a picture last seen by me in the DVD era. Thankfully, Shout Factory brought to life the forest setting of this Ernest R. Dickerson film.
In fact, you’ll find this reminiscent of Hard Target: “undesirable” homeless people are tricked into being hunted by rich A-holes. However, Surviving the Game has its own spin on The Most Dangerous Game riff. Ice-T is down on his luck; we see his dog die as we crosscut w/ someone being chased through the woods. Charles S. Dutton spots this and hires him as “a hunting guide” which is supposed to sound absurd.
When I first heard of the film-on yes, a messageboard-its cast was stressed the most as a selling point. It also has:
Rutger Hauer
F. Murray Abraham
John C. McGinley
Gary Busey
In a small role, “that guy” actor Jeff Corey
The other aspect that was praised: a wild monologue from Busey who discusses the bulldog he had as a kid. It sounded like crazed ramblings that Gary made up himself—according to T on Twitter and earlier by Hauer, this was in fact the case. Plenty of time is spent w/ getting to know T then his hunters before the hunt begins and we see the underdog attempting to use his wits to trick those tracking him. The forest in the state of Washington was filmed rather well, using various locations in the Wentachee National Forest.
As there’s also a nice monologue from T concerning his backstory and the quality cast delivered solid performances, the additional attributes of a nice Stewart Copeland score and an unexpected gruesome moment meant that this underrated 90’s survivor thriller isn’t the generic schlock the premise would indicate… and to make a prejudicial assumption, the modern DTV version of this idea would be generic schlock.
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