The Name of the Game Is Kill (1968) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Lipa returns despite the sheriff's warning because he has developed a romantic connection with Mickey Terry. Additionally, he is a drifter with no clear destination, and despite the warning, he likely underestimates the danger, viewing the family as eccentric rather than lethal.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the sheriff mentioned the disappearance of Julio Lamberto, a man who also spent time with the Terry women, hinting at the danger Lipa is walking back into.

• Lipa
• sheriff warning
• Terry family
• danger
• warning

The mother is actually the father of the three sisters. He has been living in disguise as the mother for years after supposedly killing his wife, wearing a wig to conceal his identity. The revelation occurs when Nan pulls off the wig during the struggle with Lipa.

Foreshadowing: The sisters tell conflicting stories about their father's death, with Diz mentioning her mother killed her abusive father, which plants doubt about the family's true history.

• father
• mother
• disguise
• wig
• reveal
• twist

Julio Lamberto was a man who previously spent time with the Terry sisters and eventually disappeared, which is why the sheriff warns Lipa about the family. Nan confesses to having killed Julio Lamberto, making her responsible for yet another murder in the family's dark history.

Foreshadowing: The sheriff specifically mentions Julio Lamberto's disappearance as evidence of the family's danger, and the women casually discuss him during the Halloween party.

• Julio Lamberto
• Nan
• killed
• disappearance
• murder

Diz urges Nan to kill Lipa because she fears he will take Mickey away and break up the family. Since Mickey was planning to move to San Francisco with Lipa, Diz saw him as a threat to their family unit staying together.

Foreshadowing: Early in the film, Diz implies Mickey picked up Lipa to be a sexual partner, showing her protective and possessive attitude toward her sisters.

• Diz
• Lipa
• kill
• family
• separation
• Mickey

Diz confesses that she hated her mother and killed her years ago. She claims their mother was a wicked woman with low morals. The father (disguised as mother) supports this version of events, confirming the matricide.

Foreshadowing: The family tells conflicting stories about the father's death, with Diz's version involving the mother killing the father, but the truth emerges that Diz herself killed the mother.

• Mickey mother
• killed
• Diz
• matricide
• death

After being exposed as alive, the father poisons Diz, Nan, and himself with tea, saying "It's never too late to be a good father." He views this as a way to reunite the family in death rather than allow them to live apart, demonstrating his twisted sense of family loyalty and control.

Foreshadowing: The father has spent years controlling the family through deception, and when Mickey and Lipa prepare to leave, he sends them away to preserve what remains of his family unit.

• father
• poison
• tea
• daughters
• death
• family

The father disguised himself as the mother after apparently killing his wife years earlier. This allowed him to maintain control over his daughters while hiding the fact that he survived. The family dynamic was built on this deception, with all three sisters unaware or in denial about his true identity.

Foreshadowing: The sisters give wildly different accounts of their father's death, and the 'mother' is described as killable and weak, creating confusion about who truly holds power in the household.

• father
• disguise
• mother
• wig
• deception
• control

Nan was expelled from school for behavioral problems, specifically for her latest incident of misbehavior. This establishes her as the most troubled and volatile of the sisters, and helps explain her willingness to commit violence alongside Diz.

Foreshadowing: Nan's volatile nature is evident throughout, as she actively participates in the murder attempts and shows no hesitation in violence.

• Nan
• expelled
• school
• behavior
• trouble

Mickey fell in love with Lipa and wanted to start a new life with him in San Francisco, away from the dysfunctional family. She tells Lipa she loves him, and they plan to leave together, representing her escape from the toxic household.

Foreshadowing: Mickey picks up random travelers, suggesting she has been looking for an escape route, and her conversation with Lipa about love after the Hungarian Revolution reveals her desire for genuine connection.

• Mickey
• Lipa
• San Francisco
• love
• escape
• leaving

After Lipa leaves the Terry home the first time, he is deliberately struck by a car driven by one of the family members. He spends three days in the hospital but recovers. This was likely an attempt to prevent him from returning, though the exact perpetrator is not explicitly stated.

Foreshadowing: The sheriff's warning about the family and their suspicious nature hints that this was not an accident but a deliberate act.

• Lipa
• car
• hospital
• attack
• attempted murder

The sisters each tell Lipa different versions of their father's death because they have all been living under the father's control and deception. The father disguised himself as the mother after killing his real wife, so the family history is built on lies, leading to conflicting narratives about their past.

Foreshadowing: This inconsistency is deliberate, setting up the reveal that the father has been alive all along, manipulating his daughters' understanding of their history.

• sisters
• stories
• father
• death
• deception
• lying

Mickey picks up strangers like Lipa because she is searching for a way out of her isolated, dysfunctional family life. She hopes to find someone she can connect with and escape with, though her pattern of picking up travelers also puts them in danger.

Foreshadowing: The sheriff mentions Julio Lamberto, another stranger the sisters spent time with, confirming this is a recurring pattern.

• Mickey
• pick up
• strangers
• road
• escape