Dungeons & Dragons turned 40 years old in January of this year (2014). In recognition, we are rebranding our site for one week to Now Very Beholder… and focusing just on the films that star or in some way revolve around D&D.
140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Yikes! Hunting down obscure things you thought were rumors seldom ends well. Barely watchable – for historical interest only… #FarOutGame
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Mazes and Monsters:
In yesterday’s Now Very Beholder review of Dark Dungeons, I advised you to go watch this movie instead if you wanted a humorous look at the Dungeons & Dragons paranoia. While I stand by my assertion that this tv movie is a more interesting time capsule, I want to make it very clear that I am not suggesting that you watch this movie. I don’t want that on my conscience…
It certainly is true, however that Mazes and Monsters is an entertaining diversion when you want to laugh openly at the foolishness of fundamentally scared and ignorant people. If you lived through this time and know better, it’s terribly amusing – unintentionally of course. Sort of like watching Reefer Madness or old government “duck and cover” educational films. It probably makes for a fantastic drinking game, too…
Possibly the only reason non-gamers would have sought this out is its unfortunate inclusion at the top of Tom Hanks’ filmography. The man has produced a great body of work and has nothing to feel bad about, but it must be a little bit galling to have this on his record. Maybe he could apply to have it removed?
What’s interesting, actually, is that he is definitely Tom Hanks in this one. Often when you see a now famous actor in an early role they are barely recognizable. Visually you see it, but they don’t have any real presence. But this really is a starring role and you can definitely see the outline of what he’s going to become.
The story of Mazes and Monsters is as absurd as its premise deserves. Back in 1979 a young student named James Dallas Egbert III disappeared from Michigan State University. He went into the steam tunnels that ran under the school and didn’t return. His parents hired a private investigator, William Dear, who didn’t let the fact that he had never heard of D&D before, nor the fact that Egbert’s friends had no knowledge of Egbert playing the game, prevent him from speculating to the press that Egbert had become obsessed with the game and went into the tunnels to play a live-action version of the game. While LARPing did exist in the late 70’s, coming up with this theory requires quite a LARP of faith (ar, ar, ar…)
Nevertheless, the press ate it up and reported it as fact. Never mind the fact that the boy was isolated, depressed and left a suicide note, Dungeons & Dragons must be the cause. Egbert had indeed gone to the steam tunnels to commit suicide, but was unsuccessful. He hid afterwards for weeks at friends’ houses before heading to Louisiana for a second failed suicide attempt. The youth did reach out to the PI while down there and asked Dear not to reveal the story, before a final suicide attempt in 1980 succeeded. Dear kept his promise to keep Egbert’s true story secret until 1984 when he published his account of the incident in the book The Dungeon Master.
Despite not being true, the idea that D&D and RPGs could cause a person to lose their identity and be unable to distinguish fantasy and reality was simply too good to pass up, and author Rona Jaffe didn’t, publishing the 1981 novel Mazes and Monsters, a barely fictionalized account of the apocryphal Egbert story. The made-for-tv movie that I’m only now getting around to talk about is similarly uninspired drivel.
Hanks plays the youth (Robbie) who goes off the reservation. He’s new to the college, having been booted out of his last school for playing too much Mazes and Monsters. All four players in the campaign are troubled, of course, providing some backstory but mainly just padding the runtime. One of the players, Jay Jay (Chris Makepeace) discovers the off-limits steam tunnels and rigs them with theater props to create a live-action campaign for the others. While in there, Robbie freaks out during a trippy sequence where he believes he slays a mighty monster and becomes his character, Pardieu the cleric. After that he’s no fun at all, breaking up with the only girl who plays the game in order to maintain a cleric’s vow of celibacy and obsessing about jumping off the Two Towers (being New York’s WTC).
Being able to laugh at how nutty a movie is only takes you so far in my experience. Your mileage may vary. If you like watching movies “so bad they’re good” you might have more stamina than I. My mistake may have been watching it by myself and/or not turning it into a drinking game. I’d recommend this game only to serious RPG fans and even then only to watch it with a group of same, preferably while partaking of mead…
The reviews for these two paranoia films may seem a bit unfair to the filmmakers and fans of Dark Dungeons as it appears I’m applauding in this film what I disliked about the other. The difference is entirely in the context; this movie is a relic of a time when this was a serious concern. The only thing at all wrong with Dark Dungeons (to me) is that throwback never plays like the original…
Check out these guys who have actually created an RPG called Mazes and Monsters: http://blogofholding.com/?page_id=370
Poster:
Trailer:
Actually, I think this is the whole movie. I couldn’t find a trailer…
Bechdel Test:
Fail
The Representation Test Score: D (2 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Tom Hanks Robbie Wheeling, Wendy Crewson Kate Finch, David Wallace Daniel, Chris Makepeace Jay Jay Brockway |
| Rating | PG |
| Release Date | Tue 28 Dec 1982 UTC |
| Director | Steven Hilliard Stern |
| Genres | Fantasy, Drama |
| Plot | Bound together by a desire to play “Mazes and Monsters,” Robbie and his four college classmates decide… |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 120 |
| Tagline | Danger lurks between fantasy and reality. |
| Writers | Rona Jaffe (novel), Tom Lazarus (teleplay) |
| Year | 1982 |
