Mazes and Monsters

Mazes and Monsters is a made-for-TV movie about a group of college students and their interest in the eponymous role-playing game (RPG). It was adapted from a novel by Rona Jaffe. She based her 1981 novel on newspaper stories about the disappearance of James Dallas Egbert III from Michigan State University in 1979. The real life story of Egbert was told by William Dear in his 1984 book Dungeon Master. Jaffe wrote her novel at a breakneck pace in a matter of days because of a fear that another author might also be fictionalizing the Egbert investigation.

Plot

Robbie Wheeling (Hanks) starts college at the fictional "Grant University" and soon develops a group of friends. They are fans of a game called "Mazes and Monsters," a game which he used to play but gave up for some reason. Though he is reluctant, they convince him to start playing again with them.

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After playing the game for some time, the friends decide to explore a nearby series of caves in an effort to "live out their fantasy." During the spelunking, Wheeling experiences a psychotic episode, where he hallucinates that he has slain a monster. Wheeling then slips into a fantasy realm where monsters, elves and magic are real to him. Unable to control his game-imposed schizophrenic hallucinations, Wheeling attempts suicide, but is rescued by his friends.

Related Topics:
Psychotic - Hallucinates - Monster - Elves - Magic - Schizophrenic - Suicide

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The movie ends with the friends visiting Wheeling at his parents' estate. He calls them by their RPG character's names. His mother explains that Wheeling is permanently mentally damaged and that there is little hope of his recovery. It is implied that Wheeling lives out the rest of his life trapped in his imaginary world believing that he is living at an Inn (actually his parents' home) and paying for his boarding with a magic coin.

Related Topics:
Inn - Coin

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