NIGHT GAMES (1980)
Article 4398 by Dave Sindelar
Date: 12-21-2013
Directed by Roger Vadim
Featuring Cindy Pickett, Barry Primus, Joanna Cassidy
Country: France / USA
What it is: Erotic drama

A housewife, scarred by a rape, finds it impossible to consummate with her husband. When he goes on a trip and leaves her alone, she fires the help and stays in the mansion by herself. Then she begins to get erotic visits from a fantasy figure…

As for the fantastic content, the fantasy sequences (which mostly involve her lover dressing up in strange costumes) might make it marginally a fantasy, and a subplot about her being stalked by a would-be killer might give it a touch of horror, but to me, neither of these touches are enough to really push it into genre territory. As for the movie itself, all I can say is that it’s less bizarrely silly than some of the other Roger Vadim movies I’ve seen, but then, not being a fan (and this movie didn’t turn me into one), I’ve not exactly went out of my way to find them. The movie may have an interesting premise involving rape trauma, but I’d hardly say that it really does justice to the theme, and most of the movie seems to be about Cindy Pickett wandering around a mansion in revealing clothes. If you’re a Cindy Pickett fan, go for it; for me, it was mostly a waste of time.