Who knew children’s games could be so hazardous to your health? It seems the simple pleasures of playground frolics are turning to the dark side, causing more than schoolyards to run red with blood. That is if Universal’s latest acquisition is anything to go by. Based on the horror comic of the same name, Tag will add an all new and thoroughly unpleasant dimension to the staple childhood game.
The premise sees an average guy (no childhood brush with the occult, unspeakable secrets or visions of the departed here) walking down the street after a shouty row with his girlfriend. While otherwise occupied by the all-important question of who exactly was in the right, said guy is tagged by a complete stranger. Being ‘it’ here, though, has more unpleasant consequences than having to run around chasing someone as it involves an ancient pagan curse that sees our hero begin to decompose day by day. The answer? Either tag someone else and ruin their day instead or mope about until he falls apart.
The comic was the brain child of DC comic maestro Keith Griffin (the man behind Lobo and Legion of Super-Heroes) so has a glimmer of potential beyond the DTV fate that awaits many such genre films these days. Writer Carey Malloy has been tasked with adapting the source material but since we’ve never heard of him that’s hardly somethign to pin your hopes on
If nothing else this could be the start of an interesting franchise, so keep an eye out for similarly chilling tales like Hopscotch Horrors, The Marbles Massacre and Stuck In The Mud – 'it’ll suck you down… to hell!'