Mazes and Monsters (1982) Movie Review

Tom Hanks is an acting legend. He is the winner of multiple Oscars (for Forest Gump and Philadelphia) and has been in some all time classic movies, like Saving Private Ryan, Cast Away, A League of Their Own, Sleepless in Seattle , Apollo 13 and Big to name a few. The first time I saw him was on the tv show Bosom Buddies which I vaguely remember liking as a kid, but that in hindsight I wonder how good the show would look to my adult eyes. Well during that same time period Tom Hanks filmed his second movie ever, the made-for-tv movie Mazes and Monsters. So how is this TV movie from 1982 starring Tom Hanks ? I mean Tom Hanks is in it, it must be good, right ?

Mazes and Monsters (IMDB)

Mazes and Monsters movie poster

Mazes and Monsters premiered on TV just after Christmas in 1982. For some historical context, this was a time when Dungeons & Dragons was becoming very popular (and in researching this, this game changes in popularity often) and the movie tried to play off of that. This was also a time when parents started to become worried about demonic influences in games/tv/video games that eventually led to congressional hearings ten years later.

The movie revolves around 4 college friends who play M&M together. One night they vote to play their next game inside the local caverns to add some excitement to the game. Of course things don’t go as planned, monsters begin appearing in dreams, and one of the players gets lost in the caverns (they are like a maze). Eventually the police begin searching for missing player but the caverns are difficult to search….

But this movie is NOT about some plot, it is about a moral that the viewer must learn and that is - playing Mazes and Monsters (or in real life D&D) leads to dangerous and disturbing behavior (see what I did there, D&D) in players and mental health problems. Parents, be careful in what you allow your children to play/watch.

For Tom Hanks, this was his 6th ever credit as an actor, right after some single episode work on Taxi and Happy Days, and before a 3 episode run on Family Ties. But by March of 1984, 15 months after this TV movie first aired Hanks got his big break in film by appearing with Daryl Hannah in Splash. As of this writing, Mazes and Monsters is considered the worst rated movie or show Tom Hanks was ever in !!! Don’t fight it, avoid this movie !!!!

I would give it a 4.2/10.

OR. You can check out this short video and be done with it:

The Maze (2010) Movie Review

I try to watch any movie that has a maze or labyrinth as an important part of the story. After reviewing over 125 maze movies I have seen everything from all time classics to terrible b movie horror. I mean who doesn’t love the great world of Ready Player One, Inception, or Pan’s Labyrinth ? Of course, not all movies are good, ...um could I interest you in 10 Unbelievably Bad Maze Movies to Never, Ever Watch ? So where does The Maze (2010) come out in the hierarchy of maze movies ? Let’s find out….

The Maze (2010) (IMDB)

The Maze 2010 movie poster

The Maze is a low budget horror film that follows a group of friends who decide it would be a good idea to play a game of tag in a corn maze at night. Unfortunately for them there is a killer in a red hoodie stalking the group of friends inside the corn maze. The nice part about the setting of the movie, besides being in a maze, is that the setting does mean you don’t always notice the films low budget. But those times are few and far between, because you will definitely notice the quality of the production. The premise for the movie is strong and has potential, and I like that the movie took place for an extended period of time in a maze !

As with most horror movies there is a twist at the end, but in this one you will see it coming. Overall, I would avoid this movie aggressively. If you want to spend time with it, this trailer below should be enough !! Yes, the quality of the trailer is poor, but that is what this movie deserves. If you didn’t click on my blog post above about 10 bad maze movies, a bit of a spoiler here, but this movie made the list. Thankfully this is only an 86 minute movie, so the watch passes quickly despite a simple plot. If you decide to hate watch it, it can typically be found on streaming for free !

I do think the movie poster is fun, especially with the subtitle of “This is no field of dreams” with the corn field (maze) in the background. I wonder if the movie would have been better if the stalker was not wearing a red Hanes hoodie and instead was an evil scarecrow or a supernatural demon with a pumpkin head. Yes, it changes the plot a bit, but a scarecrow blending in on a perch would lead to quite a few jump scares !!

I give it a 4/10. To find a maze horror movie worth watching check out my list below:

The Funhouse Massacre (2015) Movie Review

Why would I be reviewing a movie from 2015 now ? Well all of this staying-at-home means I have been watching a lot of streaming movies and shows…and well, I seem to be out of things to watch. Like my que and watchlists got cleared out, and so I created new ones, then those got cleared out. So here we are, I’m looking for maze movies to watch. And there are some great maze movies out there, but this is not one of them.

The Funhouse Massacre (2015) (IMDB)

The Funhouse Massacre movie poster

So The Funhouse Massacre is a comedy horror film heavy on gore and light on comedy. Let’s start with the comedy. There are many lines that are meant to be funny, and for whatever reason, poor delivery, bad jokes, they just seem to just fall flat. I found myself noticing this throughout the film, oh they thought that was funny. And that. And that. They were wrong. I did almost chuckle twice and thought - that was close.

The horror portion of the film is built around a great premise. It’s Halloween night and in a small town in Ohio during which there is a grand opening of a new Halloween fun-house. It just so happens that day a group of psychopaths break out of a nearby asylum and take over the fun-house unbeknownst to the customers. When customers do enter the fun-house they comment multiple times - oh my gosh that looks so real as previous customers are torn apart, tortured, and slashed. The film goes heavy on the gore to make things scarier. Also there is an evil clown, because of course there is, and an evil dentist (same same but different). Eventually the characters you are following begin to become victims and realize what is happening. They try to warn others who say - “wow that looks so real”.

Eventually we get a courageous fight back and a few plot twists leading to a final confrontation. But wait they aren’t dead the first time because this is a horror film, ok now they are dead. But wait after the credits now maybe they still aren’t dead and maybe there will be a sequel. Fade to black. You’ve seen it before.

The nice part about this movie is, other than an appearance by Robert Englund, is that it can always be found streaming for free somewhere. So you won’t feel any guilt turning it off before it is over just because you paid for it. And after 90 minutes (ok, maybe 10) you might realize, like me, that despite taking place in a maze, this isn’t a very good maze movie.

I give it a 5/10. It’s not bad enough to be a bottom 10 maze movie: 10 Unbelievably Bad Maze Movies to Never, Ever Watch. I recommend spending your time watching a good horror maze movie instead (list below the trailer).