Villains Beginning With 'D'

Damon Killian

The Running Man film (1987)

Damon Killian is the host of the futuristic, sadistic television programme The Running Man.

In the year 2019, oil and food are scarce, and the world economy has collapsed. The United States has become a militarized police state, censoring all film, art, literature, and communications. The government is in full control of the media and attempts to quell the nation's yearning for freedom by broadcasting a number of television game shows on which convicted criminals fight for their lives. The most popular is The Running Man!

Ben Richards, named "The Butcher of Bakersfield" is a police helicopter gunship pilot set up by the media for refusing to fire on unarmed civilians during a food riot. Once imprisoned he plans and makes his escape with fellow convicts William Laughlin and Harold Weiss.

Disguised as a construction worker, Richards visits his brother's apartment. After trying to kidnap Amber Mendez who he finds there, is captured again whilst trying to fly to Hawaii, when she alerts airport security. Amber watches as news reports falsely state that Richards killed several police officers and airport security guards before his capture.

Richards is forced onto the game show The Running Man, the most popular television show, and meets up again with Weiss and Laughlin who have also been captured. Soon after, Amber, is caught looking through the raw footage of the Bakersfield massacre trying to find evidence of Richard's case, and is sent into the game, identified as Richard's lover.

The show is a gladiatorial-style competition that takes place in an earthquake-ruined section of Los Angeles, in which several "Runners" attempt to survive while being chased by "Stalkers" for cash and prizes. The stalkers resemble professional wrestlers, with ornate weaponry, costumes, nicknames, and their own "Game Zones", where they would have a tactical advantage.

Richards becomes a popular player as he confronts and kills each Stalker he faces, but Weiss and Laughlin are killed. With him doing so well, Killian, offers Richards a role as a Stalker, which he declines. Killian stages the death of Richards and Amber, through computer-generated imagery, at the hands of a virtual Captain Freedom, a highly decorated ex-Stalker and now a TV-show host.

As the film progresses, Richards and Amber encounter and join an underground group fighting the television network that airs The Running Man. They intend to expose the "truth" behind the show: that contestants who had been declared winners in the past had actually been killed by Stalkers. Thanks to the raw Bakersfield footage, which Amber had smuggled out of the studio and into the arena, they also publicize the truth behind the massacre, demonstrating how the government is feeding the public lies in order to control their way of thought.

Richards eventually finds killian on The Running Man main stage and straps him into a rocket-powered sled and sends him hurtling through twisting tunnels, eventually launching into the air and crashing into a billboard featuring his own image.

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