One of those films that seemed to be everywhere on VHS and cable until the mid-'80s but completely lost for decades since, Tag: The Assassination Game was sold as a silly campus comedy by New World but is actually much harder to classify. Mixing action, noir-style suspense, romance, and even a little slasher horror, it's one that built up a little bit of a cult following on cable and VHS but is still hard to describe to newcomers. Much of its fascination comes from the presence of numerous cast and crew members who would go on to bigger things as well as multiple connections to John Carpenter, who was instrumental in getting writer Nick Castle (who played Michael Myers in multiple Halloween films) kept on as director as well.

On a college campus, several students are involved in an elaborate game of tag shooting and "killing" each other with suction cups. One particularly rowdy encounter in a dorm draws the attention of cigar-chomping student reporter Alex Marsh (Carradine), who becomes intrigued by player Susan Swayze (Hamilton, right before The Terminator) and wants to write a story about the game for the school paper run by Frank (Lang). However, things escalate when the champion player, Gersh (Re-Animator's Abbott, who later married Hamilton in real life for a while), ambushes a student in the shower only for an accidental fumble to successfully shoot him instead. Unable to process his loss, Gersh decides to take out his opponents for real with a working gun-- with Alex and Susan teaming up to stop the murder spree.

From the eye-catching pre-credits sequence with a young Xander Berkeley to the wild pseudo-James Bond title sequence, you'll get an idea very quickly of where this film is coming from. The entire cast seems to be in the spirit of it all, with Carradine and Hamilton making for a winning couple of leads along with able support from a pre-Police Academy Michael Winslow as one of the players and cult favorite Kristine DeBell (Cheerleaders' Wild Weekend, Alice in Wonderland) getting targeted in a swimming pool in one of the more memorable scenes. Look fast and you'll also spot the film debut of Forest Whitaker and a disconcerting minor role for ill-fated Wonderbug and future hardcore star Jack Baker. One of the film's most entertaining aspects is actually is lively music score by Craig Safan, who had just done Fade to Black and had his work rejected for Wolfen; after this he would go on to cult composer immortality with The Last Starfighter, Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins, and A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master.

For some reason, this film had numerous hands involved in getting it distributed both in theaters and on home video; the marginal New World run in theaters (complete with a cruddy poster) led to an Embassy VHS release in 1985 that saw far more exposure, with ITC handling it for broadcast and cable. After that the film vanished without a trace for decades until it finally ended up with Synapse Films for a long-gestating release on Blu-ray featuring a fresh scan from the camera negative. It looks and sounds excellent, with the DTS-HD MA 2.0 English mono track (with optional English SDH subtitles) packing a nice punch. (It's a shame this was never mixed in stereo, as that Safan main title theme sounds incredible that way.) A new audio commentary with Castle and Carradine moderated by Horror’s Hallowed Grounds’ Sean Clark is a great listen covering that pivotal John Carpenter endorsement, other prospective actors for Hamilton's part (including Demi Moore and Kirstie Alley), the issues with marketing the film, the influence of film noir on the film's tone, background on pretty much every bit actor, and memories of filming the big music-themed finale. Of course, it's also a bittersweet experience listening to the track since Carradine is no longer with us. The theatrical trailer is also included, and a limited edition sold directly by the label also comes with an insert featuring an essay by Dustin Morrow and a "TAG Facts" film poster reproduction card.

Reviewed on August 23, 2026