Nostalgia Kinky

Synapse Films continues its wonderful long-standing tradition of bringing some of the most unheralded cult films to HD. The much-loved boutique label is soon releasing a restored Blu-ray edition of the rare New World Pictures release, TAG: The Assassination Game (1982). Featuring a gorgeous new transfer and fun commentary track, this Blu-ray debut is a great way to discover or rediscover this quirky little film.
Order now directly from Synapse or from MVD.

I’ve always been curious about TAG: The Assassination Game, the first film directed by ‘The Shape’ Nick Castle less than five years after Halloween. Other than knowing some of the cast and the film’s connection to John Carpenter’s classic, I went into Castle’s directorial debut totally cold. Five minutes in, I basically knew exactly what to expect with the remaining 85 minutes. Ten minutes in, I had to stop the film to check the film’s cinematographer because the main thing to know about TAG is how absolutely incredible it looks.

Turns out the most interesting thing about TAG isn’t connections to the Halloween, Reanimator, Revenge of the Nerds or Terminator franchises, or its place in the history of New World Pictures. Nope, the most vital thing to know about this goofy little campus (sort of slasher) comedy is that
Willy Kurant
shot it.
Yes, the legendary cinematographer behind some of the greatest films from the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Agnes Varda and Maurice Pialat worked as cinematographer on TAG. And, holy hell, you can tell throughout this incredibly well-photographed film.

TAG is a fantastic viewing experience. Castle’s humorous noirish allusions throughout are punctuated by just how bloody good his debut looks. Like if I’d been Nick Castle and I had the man who shot Trans Europ Express (1966) on my set, I’d literally be at his side every minute in a feeble attempt to catch just part of his vibe and genius.
Kurant’s career starts to get real weird around the time of TAG as he begins alternating back and forth between European art-house classics and American cinematic fast-food junk. Dude worked with Chris Marker and on Harper Valley PTA in the same year.
Things got weird.

Putting aside the key French New Wave figure on the set of TAG, this is completely fluffy and harmless, with a few good laughs thrown in. It’s a bummer Castle didn’t go ahead and make a full-blown Neo-Noir here because the film’s noirish elements work best. The ‘Slasher’ element is honestly the most forgettable aspect of TAG.

Along with Kurant’s photography, Castle’s first feature is blessed with a great cast, including Robert Carradine and Bruce Abbott. Best of all is the winning appearance of gorgeous young Linda Hamilton, just a few years away from making her introduction as Sarah Connor. The cast is all sweet, and everyone has nice chemistry together in this charmingly lightweight and hard-to-dislike film, even though the critical community that bothered watching certainly didn’t always agree.

Considering Kurant’s photography is the best thing about TAG by a long stretch, getting to see the film on 4K is a treat. Restored in 2K from original 35mm archival vault materials, TAG looks super swell on this Severin release. This restoration is a fine tribute to Kurant’s work on the film. Like, seriously, the fact that I literally had to stop it 10 minutes in to check who filmed it says it all.
Synapse has done just fine on this rather surprising release.

Extras are slim but good. The Deluxe edition available from Synapse contains a slipcover, booklet, and card on top of the standard edition’s trailer and commentary track. The enteratining commentary track compliments the film well and it allows us to here both Castle and Carradine’s warm memories of the film

New World Pictures sank a few million bucks into TAG. The results are on the screen, but the film failed to make back anything like that. In fact, the film failed to find much of a release at all. It was the first film released during a not-so-profitable year in New World’s history. TAG was a gamble that didn’t quite pay off, but damn, it sure is nice to look at. Recommended.

-Jeremy Richey, August 2026-