Movie Type: Psychological Thriller, Police Detective Film
Themes: Mind Games, Haunted By the Past, Serial Killers
Main Cast: Christopher Lambert, Diane Lane, Tom Skerritt, Daniel Baldwin, Charles Bailey-Gates
Release Year: 1992
Country: US/DE
Run Time: 105 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
This murder mystery from director Carl Schenkel stars Christopher Lambert (Highlander) as Peter Sanderson, an expert chess champion. When a woman Sanderson has recently slept with is among several women brutally murdered at a chess tournament, he becomes a suspect. But when the murderer contacts Sanderson and informs him that he's set up a maniacal human chess game, he realizes that he'll have to beat the murderer to stop the killings and clear his own name. Diane Lane plays a psychologist who falls for Sanderson, and Tom Skerritt is the local sheriff investigating the case. Knight Moves won the Critics Award at the 1992 Cognac Film Festival. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
Arthur Brauss - Viktor Yurilivich; Sam Malkin - Doctor Fulton; Elizabeth Barclay - Lorraine Olson; Holly Chester - Officer No. 2; Alex Diakun - Grandmaster Lutz; Deryl Hayes - Officer Harton; Rachel Hayward - Last Victim; Thomas Heaton - Detective; Megan Leitch - Mother; Blu Mankuma - Steve Nolan; Monica Marko - Miss Greenwell; Walter Marsh - Chess President; Ferdy [Ferdinand] Mayne - Jeremy Edmonds; Kehli O'Byrne - Debi Rutledge; Codie Lucas Wilbee - David 9 years old; Mark Wilson - Newscaster; Frank C. Turner - Doctor; Dwight McFee - Technician; Freda Perry - Attractive Girl; Don Thompson - Father; Rebecca Toolan - Mayor; Pat Bermel - 1st Officer; Marilyn Norry - Homesearcher
Credit
Gary Pembroke Allen - Art Director, Graham Ludlow - Associate Producer, Hank McCann - Casting, Dieter Geissler - Co-producer, Deborah Everton - Costume Designer, Trish Keating - Costume Designer, Carl Schenkel - Director, Norbert Herzner - Editor, Christopher Lambert - Executive Producer, Guy Collins - Executive Producer, Brad Mirman - Executive Producer, Anne Dudley - Composer (Music Score), Margaret Solomon - Makeup, Graeme Murray - Production Designer, Dietrich Lohmann - Cinematographer, Gordon Mark - Producer, Peter Mills - Set Designer, T. Michael O'Connor - Set Designer, Gordon Mark - Unit Production Manager, Brad Mirman - Screenwriter
Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris, lends his endorsement to Spectrum Holobyte's Knight Moves, a graphic-based puzzle game for all ages.
The player takes on the role of the knight, who has ventured into the tower of the wizard in order to stop him. Beginning at the top of the tower, he must make his way through 6 matches to gain access to the next level below it, which has 6 matches, and so on. There are 10 levels in all.
Each level is set up as a variation on a chessboard. Moving the way the knight piece moves in chess, the knight must advance around the board and pick up coins and swords (the swords must be collected in order) before moving on. Opposing him are the wizard's monsters, although he does get help in the form of power-ups which appear occasionally.
Knight Moves is simple in design but complex in execution. It's sure to be quite a challenge for all ages.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Roots & Influences
This game has its roots in chess, a game which goes back hundreds of years, and puzzle games such as Tetris.
~ All Game Guide
Review: Overall
Knight Moves could have been a much better game if designer Alexey Pajitnov (of Tetris fame) had just made the knight stay still. It's too hard to figure out where to move next without the knight jumping every place you set your mouse.
The graphics are well-done, as is the sound. The idea is nice too: take the knight from chess, put him on boards of various sizes, and allow him to only move the way he does in a chess game (two spaces up and one over). Oh, and throw in coins he has to pick up, squares which turn to lava and kill him if he touches them too many times in a row, swords which must be collected in order, and nasties to avoid.
The fun of Tetris was that it is simple in play and design. It's easy to grasp and, once you get the hang of the gameplay, you can have some success before it starts getting really tough. This game is tough from thevery first level, even though all you need to do is collect some coins and move on. Having the knight stop after each move would have at least given the player the chance to study the board and decide what to do next. How can you think two or three moves ahead when the knight's jumping around by himself and you're about to lose him to a square which just turned to lava?
The monsters, though, aren't a bad idea, and the swords make the game very challenging, although all those additions make the game more complicated than it should really be. They take it away from a strategy game and more into the realm of an arcade game. Yes, Tetris straddled that line very well, but at least that game gave you a couple seconds to make up your mind before you moved a piece into place. Get distracted in Knight Moves and it's all over.
Which is a shame, because this could have been a classic if just for that one design flaw.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Review: Enjoyment
So hard that it's not much fun. The first few levels should be easier.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Review: Graphics
Very well done. They serve their purpose.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Review: Sound
Standard fare.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Review: Replay Value
If you're willing to try and overcome the large learning curve, you might want to come back to this one.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Review: Documentation
The book does what it needs to.
~ Brad Cook, All Game Guide
Production Credits
Original idea: Alexey Pajitnov; KINESOFT SOFTWARE Executives in Charge of Production: Peter Sills, Mark Archler; Product Manager: Lou Zucaro; Programmer: Boris Remus; Game Designer and Lead Artist: Doug Snook; 3D Artist: Tonya Lyle; SPECTRUM HOLOBYTE Producers: Mick Mancuso, Joe Ward; Level Design: Matthew Archambault, Mick Mancuso, James Green; Sound Director: Paul Mogg; Product Marketing: Stephen M. Haney, Jr., Chris Deyo; Marketing Services: Kathryn Lynch; Documentation: Hart Nelson, Marisa Ong; QA Lead: Matthew Archambault; QA: Boris Polonsky, Sergio Vuskovic, Anthony Constantino III; Compatibility Testing: "Junky" Jay Stockton; SGI Prototyping: Marc Reynolds; Music: Deenie Hamacher, Brad Rudolph
Knight Moves is a 1992Americanthriller film, directed by Carl Schenkel and written by Brad Mirman, about a chessgrandmaster who is accused of several grisly murders.
Synopsis
They met only once, but back in 1972 David & Peter had left lasting impressions on one another, for one of them was stabbed continually with a fountain pen, leaving him with everlasting bodily scars. As for the other, his savage attack on his childhood opponent after his public humiliation and defeat was a catalyst that ended his parent's marriage, as his father left forever; his offspring discovered his mother dying, having been slashed with a broken bottle. This boy spent the next twenty years in and out of asylums and foster care. Now it seems he's become one of the youngest, most successful chessgrandmasters in history. Brilliant if troubled widower with a precious daughter, he suddenly finds himself a suspect in his casual lover's murder. When more homicides occur Capt. Frank Sedman and his partner Det. Andy Wagner discover that a serial killer is at work on the New Englandisland. With our chessmaster becoming more and more connected to the deaths, shrink Kathy Sheppard is brought in to figure out if this chess prodigy is as innocent as he claims to be.
