Another Pointless Review from The Upcoming MoGuGaZine.

In the new The MoGuGaZine…

The Ninth Guest (A Fiesta 9/13) (Youtube)

Agatha Christie ripped off The Ninth Guest. Full stop.

Her seminal novel …And Then There Were None came out in 1939. The Ninth Guest was released in 1934.

In The Ninth Guest, eight people are invited to a mystery party. The eight know each other, but not who’s the host. Many are enemies. The radio says that each of them will die tonight. The penthouse locked tight.

Yea, like Clue.

NOTE: DO NOT LOOK UP …And There Were None’s ORIGINAL TITLE! YOU WILL REGRET IT! No, we’re not talking about the racist Ten Little Indian poem title, either.

In …And Then There Were None, ten people are invited to an island and murdered one-by-one. One of the guests is the murderer, the rest victims, same with The Ninth Guest.

There’s a few clever tricks in The Ninth Guest with the radio and some misdirection. The mystery’s solution is fair, but uninspired. The characters sketches of various types, the doctor, the politician, the socialite, etc.

The story format means a character dies every 5-10 minutes after act one. Like a slasher. The earlier you guess the killer, the better. The Ninth Guest lost momentum, when midway, two leads were revealed, eliminating them from the suspect list. Easy to guess when there’s only two characters left.

An effective cheapo mystery.

There’s four English language versions of the Agatha Christie story, we’ve seen ‘em all…

And Then There Were None (1945) A solid, tight adaptation with an eerie mood. (A Fiesta 10/13)

Ten Little Indians (1965) Fabian! The grooviest version! (A Fiesta 10/13)

And Then There Were None (1974) The most well-known, big budget version from the era of Christie movie adaptations. (A Fiesta 11/13)

Ten Little Indians (1989) In Africa. Good cast. (A Fiesta 9/13)

The Ninth Guest (YouTube) (A Fiesta 9)

$$$

…Meanwhile in Blaine, NE #1302

Three times a year, The World’s Richest Human ™ runs a contest for thirteen lucky people. Chosen by secret lottery, the contestants are dropped by plane onto Four Knights Island Amusement Park. Their goal, find & capture the one murderer out of thirteen to win the 20 million dollar prize. The murdered is chosen seconds before the parachute drop. They’re secretly told about a weapon’s cache & given dossiers on each of the other twelve players.

For each person murdered, the murderer GETS 20 million if not apprehended after 48 hours, the game’s end.

The World’s Richest Human ™ is, no surprise, a jerk.

Every year, he tells all thirteen they are the killer & points them to 13 different weapon stashes.

Since The World’s Richest Human ™ owns the island, all the cameras and the money for the narratives, The World’s Richest Human ™ does pay the last remaining survivor 20 million dollars. He also personally kills any of the thirteen who make more than 20 million.

All of the contestants believe they are going to a time share vacation up until they’re pushed out ofn the plane.

Called The Fourteenth Guest on pay-per-stream, the show regularly generates 20 million per event.

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