Two cult heavyweights in a legendary face-off where the rules of the game are to kill or be killed. 

For one night only on Friday, June 24, 2022, FACETS explores the battle royale subgenre with Cinema Deathmatch: Round One, a double feature of Paul Michael Glaser’s The Running Man (1987) at 7:00 pm followed by Kinji Fukasaku’s Battle Royale (2000) at 9:00 pm. 

Preceded by classics like The 10th Victim (1965), Death Race 2000 (1975), and Rollerball (1975), and followed by contemporary blockbusters like The Hunger Games (2012-2015) and Squid Game (2021-), The Running Man is a prime example of the battle royale subgenre as we know it today, the death game as a future spectator sport for the masses. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and María Conchita Alonso, The Running Man is a story of good guys vs bad guys, with an abundance of sci-fi eye candy and cheesy one-liners. 

Cult phenomenon Battle Royale further popularized the subgenre, spawning a new movement in battle-to-the-death online multiplayer video games and inspiring numerous renowned filmmakers from Quentin Tarantino to Edgar Wright. A mashup of teen melodrama and action spectacle, with a strong undercurrent of socio-political commentary, Battle Royale strands the viewer in morally ambiguous territory with violent action carried to absurd extremes. 

See if you have what it takes to survive this queasy confrontation between The Running Man and Battle Royale! 

This double feature is programmed by John McDevitt, FACETS Community Engagement Coordinator.