It would not be the first teen horror movie centered around witchcraft and (literal) backstabbing high school girlfriends, but at least It’s Just A Game (2018) does not feel like the rest, meaning that it has a unique narrative that is not just a knock off of The Craft (1996). Written and directed by Daniel Emery Taylor and distributed by Wild Eye Releasing, the people that brought us similar movies in style and quality such as Girls Just Wanna Have Blood (2019) and Subferatu (2020), It’s Just A Game is available on DVD and streaming as of October 13th, 2020.

The movie follows Brianna “Bri” (Hannah Cohen-Lawlor) a teenage girl who was orphaned as a young child and struggles with being likable to others. After the latest prank and taunting from her most hated bully, Bri confides in her one friend, Ruby (Sarah Kopkin), that she wishes her bully were dead. Using a chant she learned to summon an old urban legend figure named Mother Murder, Bri sees her deadly wishes come true, but gets more than she bargained for when it turns out that Mother Murder has a real-life cult following of sadistic slashers. Led by Brother Thaddeus (writer/director Daniel Emery Taylor), the cult enlists Bri to be their witch-queen, but Bri must decide if she will leave her old life behind before embracing her destiny.

I am sorry to say, but It’s Just A Game was not my ideal kind of playtime. With the exception of Daniel Emery Taylor, the acting was mediocre, reminding me of a performance that might come out of a novice theater class. This might have something to do with Taylor’s script, as it called for the characters to declare things like “You’ve changed” when there was no character development and nothing had in fact changed. From start to finish, the characters’ backgrounds were hardly spoken of and their relationships seemed superficial, even for high school friends. The parents were given cartoonish personalities, the high school girls were typical bully vs. quiet girl dynamics, and overall, it just seemed like an unfortunate mix of amateur acting and writing.

The directing style was along those lines as well. Though there were a few, flash instances of interesting shots including Dutch angle and evil but hauntingly ethereal lighting that even looked psychedelic in one scene, these instances were the exception rather than the norm, with the norm looking like a made for TV movie with even less camera movement. Also, the movie never felt very horrific — there was some sound and musical scoring, but nothing unexpected that subverts the narrative, no creepy atmosphere or suspense-building, not even any effective jump scares. Along the way, there is some blood splatter from the killings and the movie had the audience-pandering boob shots that slasher-horror movies have become known for, but nothing over PG13 in my opinion.

Being that the movie took old teen-movie concepts, such as witchcraft and urban legends, and somehow refashioned them into a new witch’s brew of murder and cult-dealings, I had hoped that It’s Just A Game would have also taken itself more seriously and invested in character development, especially when the main character is a friendless orphan. Exploring depression, isolation, further portraying the menace of bullying, creating fear with suspense and unexpected occurrences would have likely pushed this film to a higher quality, narratively. Despite a relatively large cast, the movie feels like a microbudget project because of its film and talent quality, so more funds may have helped with improving these aspects.

MOVIE RATING — 5.5 out of 10