Twitter Reviews

3/21/09

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This movie is not for the squeamish. This movie is not even for the average horror fan. To enjoy this film you have to be into some pretty sick shit. Having laughed my way through films like Saw and Hostel, even I found myself getting repulsed at a few of the scenes in this film. This is a movie that is about coming up with the most creative way of killing somebody in a bowling alley. Putting the DVD in, I thought of bludgeoning someone with a pin and/or a bowling ball and somebody getting their head stuck in a ball-polisher, which do happen in disgustingly gory ways. And they come up with a few other bowling related kills, and quite a few that are just your run-of-the-mill movie psycho stuff. But the difference with Gutterballs, is that right about where most horror films end a kill scene, it keeps going, turns it up a notch, and takes it to a whole new level of repulsiveness.

The nauseating deaths are only the icing on the cake, after the 10 minute rape scene at the beginning of the film. Filmmaker Ryan Nicholson takes his cues from films like I Spit on Your Grave and Last House on the Left and opens his film with a scene so horrible, that you're glad to see the villains die painfully. That's something that Gutterballs does very well, create some really awful people, you want to die. The three main villains are all well rounded assholes and they're also the only three actors who create memorable performances. They're given free range to go as far out with their characters as possible, so while they're all deplorable, they also provide a few good laughs. The "good guys" on the other hand are completely forgettable, none of them has a personality beyond their generic 80's horror inspired clichés and don't add anything besides living-meatbags to destroy in bloody ways.

The film was created on an ultra low budget, the photography looks cheap and the sound is god-awful. A lot of the dialog has a tin-can sound, like they added too many filters trying to get rid of the ambient bowling alley sounds. Where they didn't cheapen out is the effects, the blood, bone and brains fly liberally around the screen. The aforementioned ball-polisher kill is one of the bloodiest deaths I've ever seen in an American film (only the Japanese pour on the gore like this), by the end the guy's head is little more than a bowl full of red goo. And I won't go into detail about the guy getting his penis cut in half, but it doesn't leave anything to the imagination. Gutterballs is a pure gore-fest, besides that and the three somewhat charismatic-douche-bags, the film is pretty worthless. But for those of you like like some serious carnage, this film should stick with you for a while. - Grade: C+

3 Responses to Gutterballs:

  1. This film disgusted me [and not in a good way]

    Deplorable!

  1. I give this one a C- and only a passing grade because I was able to get through the whole film, which I cannot say about a few other horror flicks.
    -Mike
    www.28dayslateranalysis.com

  1. Thanks for reviewing my movie. I appreciate the fact that you take the movie for face value and nothing more. I didn't set out to make the "next big thing". I set out to make a nasty little movie that would appeal to a certain crowd. It's not for everyone. RY.