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the audience applauded

Just perfect...

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

You can't go home again. I remember seeing Games 35 years ago on the late-afternoon movie show, heavily cut. I treasured the memory of a suave, clever, scary film. I've been looking for this film for years; I wanted to share the fun with my friends. Unfortunately, I found it on DVD. While I understand why I loved it as a kid, it is one of those treasures that shouldn't be revisited. The direction is terrible, the script is worse, the cinematography and lighting are inept, same with the editing, and S Signoret appeared to be in her cups for most of the film(though she gave a good last scene). I'll give the other actors the benefit of the doubt...

It's obvious that the screenwriters had "Les Diaboliques"(1955) in mind when they wrote this story.Simone Signoret's presence,in a part very similar to the one she played in Clouzot's film noir extraordinaire ,can't even shine for ,halfway through, you could see what she was up to from a mile off.The first scenes are pedestrian and filler and the story doesn't take off before Signoret's entrance.And even when she 's in,even with talented actors such as James Caan -who was really scary in "Lady in a cage" playing opposite Olivia De Havilland- or Katherine Ross,the suspense is totally absent.Maybe someone who does not know "Les Diaboliques" can be interested .

Peculiar thriller begins quite promisingly, but takes a curious, dispiriting turn somewhere along the way and never recoups its glory. Upscale New York couple James Caan and Katharine Ross--who enjoy warped versions of penny-arcade games and mischievous pranks--invite fragile saleswoman Simone Signoret to stay with them, which culminates in a crime. Director Curtis Harrington, who was also involved with the script, sets up an initially delicious puzzle involving the decadent rich, but allows the intricacies of the character-development to unravel in the second act. Caan and Ross appear to be very much in love--and Ross herself seems to be a pretty smart cookie--rendering a plot-twist late in the proceedings unconvincing. William Fraker's cinematography is stylish, though the action rarely ventures outdoors and one becomes acutely aware of the low-budget underpinnings (the film also has a mysteriously European feel, causing the alleged New York location to seem irrelevant--and a mismatch with the material). Good acting only takes it so far. **1/2 from ****

This film is quite good, but it should be clear that it is very much derived from Les Diaboliques (1955). In fact, the makers tacitly admit as much exactly by casting Simone Signoret in this film. (Apparently, given her physical state in 1967, she could not play Nicole/Jennifer.) The alternative here to the swimming pool is very, very powerful, and one cannot help but think that Boileau (in Celle qui n'était plus) or Clouzot (in Les Diaboliques) would have thought long and hard about using it had it occurred to them.