WRESTLEMASSACRE *** USA 2018 Dir: Brad Twigg. 100 mins
Downtrodden groundskeeper Randy (Richie Acevedo) is trying to be the best person he can be but unfortunately it’s not going all that well. He can’t help but be awkward around women especially the well to do Becky (Rosanna Nelson) who he has a bit of a crush on. He also let’s himself get bullied by the guys he works for. He wants to make his father proud and follow in his footsteps as a professional wrestler by trying to get into wrestling school, but on his first day at wrestling school he gets humiliated. Then he gets fired from his job after getting caught perving on a client’s wife in the shower and finally he believed he was going on a date with Becky but is mortified when she brings along her boyfriend. Life is not going as he had planned and after falling asleep on the sofa he gets visited by a vision of a TV priest who persuades him to go on the rampage and take what is his. He dons his wrestling costume and starts mercilessly slaughtering all who have wronged him, starting with his father then all others that stand in his way to get the girl he wants and appease the demon now within him.
This movie starts as it means to go on by trying it’s hardest to shock you. It begins with a couple running through the woods to get away from a marauding Randy, however the female character seems to be completely naked whilst the male character is fully clothed, which curiously remains unexplained. They both meet a grizzly demise with our naked damsel getting her face torn off and are never mentioned again. I feel I should mention here that if fake tits and wobbly bits are your bag then you are in for a treat as much more of this happens at random intervals. Don’t worry ladies though as there is a bit of eye candy for us too in the muscular toned form of Canadian pro Wrestler René Dupree. Now as we well know wrestlers are not known for their acting skills and Dupree is no exception but he sure is nice to look at. Dupree should not feel embarrassed about his acting skills as no one in this is really up to scratch but I’m willing to let this slide for the great dialogue and typical cheesy wrestling one liners like “you like Heavy Metal motherfucker??!! Coz I love banging heads” and “welcome to Halloween havoc bitch”. Both these lines come from the very amusing Jackie (Jimmy Flame) who is very entertaining even if he does look a bit like a chavvy Joe Exotic on steroids. It takes a little while to get going after the violent yet incredibly random start but once the fighting starts and the blood flows it is rather a lot of fun. The use of practical effects is great with some very inventive kills including breast implants being ripped out, choking people with their own intestines, getting beaten to death by a torn off limb and plenty of blood flying in all directions. Randy also has a bit of an Ed Gein moment as he takes scraps of skin from his victims and stitches them into a grotesque wrestling belt. The soundtrack is a pretty good mix of heavy metal tracks but often it is low down in the mix so ends up fading into the background. The timing on some of the fight scenes is quite slow and the continuity is way off but its certainly good for a giggle. There are a lot of things wrong with this but just don’t take it seriously and I’m sure you will find it an enjoyable and entertaining watch, especially if you are a wrestling fan.
Review by Sarah Budd
WRESTLEMASSACRE is available on Amazon