Road Games is a film (while not wholly original on its own), which has obviously inspired a number of other films since its release in 1981. While its premise is slightly derivative of Hitchcock's Rear Window, the setting and plot development take the film in a different direction. What results is one of the most under-rated thrillers of the 80's - a film rich with suspense and creative storytelling, not to mention believable and likable characters, and doesn't feel the need to slam the viewer with shocks, or excessive gore. I wish they made more films like this - films which understand the basic principle of telling a good thriller/horror story. That principle, as you can hopefully understand is "That which is understated, or unseen, is generally more satisfying to the audience than blatant shocks and intense violence".

Leaving a large part of the film to the audience's imagination is the films strongest merit. Director Richard Franklin (Link), understands that the strongest element of suspenseful storytelling is leaving as much to the audience's imagination as possible. Viewers will always imagine something much worse than what you can visually display. This is why a film with genuine suspense will be remembered long after a film which goes for the throat, trying to shock you at every opportunity. Case in point - the works of Alfred Hitchcock - The Master of Suspense. Recognized as one of the best directors the film industry has ever seen. Road Games is inspired largely by the works of Alfred Hitchcock, in particular, the brilliant Rear Window.

Those of you who've seen Hitchcock's Rear Window will remember the basic story involves a man who, while watching his neighbours from his apartment window, is led to believe one of those neighbours has murdered his wife. That's the basic premise in a nutshell. Road Games is built upon the following idea: Stopping to rest at a motel, a trucker, Pat Quid (Stacy Keach, John Carpenter's Escape from L.A.) accompanied only by his Dingo, watches a man driving a rather recognizable van, take the last motel room with a hitchhiker Quid had seen earlier. Awaking early the next morning, Quid notices the man from the van peering out his motel room window, watching the garbage men pick up the streets garbage. Quid's dingo however, finds something worthwhile in the bag, as it chews on it, until the garbage men pick it up. A series of situations, leading from this event, lead Quid to believe the man in the van, may have killed the hitchhiker in that hotel room, and may be responsible for a number of other deaths.

The two films are quite similar in concept, yet beyond that they differ dramatically. Where James Stewart was restricted to his apartment with a broken leg, Keach's Quid travels the Australian countryside. He becomes more and more suspicious as time goes on, however, as new information is revealed to him. Yet through the majority of the film, nothing is certain, it is all speculation. Quid thinks he's got it all figured out, but does he? The audience will react the same way, because none of the information provided is particularly solid. As a viewer you make your own decisions, which is why Road Games is so successful in it's depiction of suspense. All right - no more comparisons to Rear Window, I promise.

Stacy Keach is great as the truck driver, I've never been a huge fan of his, yet I found his character here to be intensely likable. He travels across the Australian Outback, with only his dingo to keep him company. The two play games, essentially Quid and himself, as the Dingo obviously can't partake, yet Quid plays along as if it's a fair competition between the two. While driving through the empty desert, it's important, as it's the only thing that maintains his sanity. While I enjoyed these scenes, I also found them to be the weakest part of the film. While developing a character through his interactions with a pet is certainly admirable, and it works quite well here, it is also blatantly obvious that the dingo serves one crucial purpose. Quid riding alone would certainly make for a boring movie, yet the interaction between him and the Dingo seems as though it was included primarily to reveal exposition, and develop character in the absence of another human. I don't find this to be a large problem, but it was moderately distracting at the beginning of the film, watching a grown man carry on a conversation with a dingo.