Fans have wanted to get their hands on Gutterballs ever since Plot Digger Films briefly released it on DVD prior to being swept up by TLA Releasing’s Danger After Dark.  Now, the wait is over.  Gutterballs is here in a new balls-out uncut version.

The movie industry has a complete and utter lack of imagination.  When it comes to horror filmmaking, this is no exception.  Original concepts are few and far between.  With the horror genre the trend seems to consistently veer toward remakes and throwbacks.  Most of which are ill-fated attempts at cashing in on an original concept.  “The Devil’s Reject’s” successfully achieved the gritty 70’s tone of a film like “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”  While on the other hand, “Hatchet” failed miserably billing itself as an 80’s slasher homage by attempting a throwback to “Friday the 13^th”, resulting in a complete rip-off of the classic film.

Fresh off the success of “Live Feed”, independent horror auteur Ryan Nicholson is back with his third excursion into horror movie insanity.  This time around Nicholson gives us “Gutterballs”, a refreshing genre throwback to 80’s horror.  What sets “Gutterballs” aside from the wannabe throwbacks the genre has to offer is its juxtaposition of the campy 80’s slasher film and the brutal violence of a Fulci film.  The result is an incredibly unique experience in slasher film decadence.

A brawl breaks out amongst two rival teams at a bowling alley, to the tune of Loverboy’s “Working for the Weekend”, which sets the tone for this 80's-inspired neon madness.  The scuffle is promptly extinguished by the building’s quick-witted janitor (Dan Ellis) and his shotgun, and the groups are forced to retire their game for the night.  When realizing she forgot her purse, Lisa (Candice Lewald) returns to retrieve it.  Things then take a turn for the worse when she is confronted in the alley’s arcade by the rival team; a group of four obnoxious frat boy types.  Led by alpha male Steve (who is quite possibly the most rotten son-of-a-bitch ever depicted in cinema), the group proceeds to take turns violating Lisa on the pinball machine, progressing to the pool table.  Intermittently they ridicule and beat the shit out of her, as they egg each other on echoed by incessant self-indulgent giggling.  Just when the viewer thinks they’ve gone too far, Steve (Alastair Gamble) forces empathetic Patrick (Trevor Gemma) to heighten the acts of attrition.  Reluctantly, Patrick proceeds to seal the deal with a bowling pin, making Jody Foster’s gang-bang scene in “The Accused” more like “Last Tango in Paris”.  The scene is accompanied by Chilliwack’s “Communication Breakdown”.

The next night the two teams return to continue their tournament.  The guys show no remorse for their actions, excluding Patrick but it’s a little too late for apologies as Lisa points out when approached by him in the alley’s elevator: “You think sorry will get you off so easy?  You got off last night, fuck, tonight’s my turn.”  What follows is a series of creative murders at the hand of a mysterious black gloved killer, bizarrely yet fittingly adorned with a bowling bag as a mask.  One by one the friends pop off, at the hands of the bowl-a-rama’s Bowling Bag Killer!

As previously mentioned, “Gutterballs” is a unique experience in slasher film goodness.  It evokes a fun vibe, combined with raw brutality resulting in a distinctive movie experience.  Most genre films are either goofy or vicious.  “Gutterballs” seems to find a happy amalgamation of the two. It’s strange to consider a film with such a disturbing scene as “fun” but that is the accomplished vibe throughout.  Similarly “The Toxic Avenger” comes to mind.  The comparison between the two is not in the filmmaking (as Nicholson is far more talented than any Kaufman offering), but merely the ambiance the films induce.  Both films contain over-the-top cartoony characters, blended with extreme violence.  “Gutterballs” has characters akin to its Troma counterpart such as AJ (Nathan Dashwood) the maniacal giggler and Steve the foulmouthed intensely angry asshole (who is sure to grate on some viewers nerves).  “The Toxic Avenger” has situations of extreme violence such as the head crushing scene where a kid is nastily hit by a speeding vehicle and the occupants stop to catalog their deed with a photograph.  “Gutterballs” kicks it up a notch with some very inventive carnage.  Eyes are gouged with bowling pins, faces are grinded to the core, penises are mangled in the most disturbing and gross fashion (fans are no strangers to penile torment in a Plotdigger movie) and a scene in which two victims are asphyxiated during the act of 69 is the most original slasher killing period!  Not to mention, Steve’s final demise is a must see as it is right up there with the fire extinguisher murder in “Irreversible”.

The whole bowl-a-rama theme is accomplished perfectly.  One of the films many taglines “ten of the most bizarre murders you will ever see" (a riff on “Happy Birthday to Me”) works well because a game of bowling consists of ten frames reflecting how many murders occur in the film.  When the Bowling Bag Killer snuffs out a victim, a skull & crossbones appears next to “BBK” on the scoreboard which adds a nice touch.  In addition, the wax-o-matic (a bowling ball polishing machine) provides some subtle comic relief with its smart-alecky robotic voice (which will be subjective to each viewer) and surprisingly adds to the films wit.  Most of the films characters are pretty quick-witted as noted by this exchange: “Who the fuck is BBK?”, “What’d you say, BB King?”, “No BBK, Motherfucker!”

An insane attention to detail has been committed here.  “Gutterballs” doesn’t feel like a modern 80’s throwback, it seems like a genuine fucking 80’s slasher film!  From the iconic 80’s characters, their wardrobes, the overflowing 80’s soundtrack, the Xcalibur bowling Centre’s neon design, right down to the glowing blue titles created for the movie; this is an 80’s slasher film!   “Gutterballs” is not going to appeal to all horror fans, just like “Live Feed” didn’t appeal to everyone.  It does, however, accomplish what it sets out to do.  Other filmmakers best take heed to Nicholson’s definition of a throwback as “Gutterballs” is old-school unwholesome 80’s entertainment.

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIAL:
- Director's Commentary - Making of -Teaser Trailer - Stills Gallery - Easter Egg TLA Releasing and Danger After Dark present this balls-out uncut version of Gutterballs in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen.  The visuals look great with absolutely no artefacting to be found.  The audio is presented Dolby Digital 5.1.  For the supplemental features we start with a solo commentary with director Ryan Nicholson.  Nicholson has a fun time watching the film with us and keeps the viewer altogether interested.  He tells some great stories throughout including one where an actor drank too much one night during the filming and ruined part of the shoot.  In another instance he talks about the difficulties in shooting such an intense rape sequence.  Moving on, under the “Features” section there is “Behind The Balls: The Making of Gutterballs”.  This 43-minute featurette is introduced by actor Trevor Gemma who hams in up for the camera.  Here we see just about all the cast and crew who worked on the film.  For the most part Nicholson pops up to discuss different aspects of the shoot. While this is a great making-of and it does cover some of the FX set-ups, it would have been really cool if they included a featurette entirely on the make-up fx process since Gutterballs has such killer effects.  Next there is a Gutterballs “Teaser Trailer” as well as a “Stills Gallery” that can be navigated with your remote.  There is a “Danger After Dark Trailers” section with a company promo spot and trailers for Hell’s Ground, Storm, Rapturious, and The Wedding Party.  Rounding out the disc is an easter egg that can be found under the "Features" section which contains a trailer for a low budget sickie Piglet, written and directed by some guy named Bob Dixon.  It's apparently presented by Plot Digger Films and it looks promising.
RATING:
VIDEO: 1.78:1 / 16:9
AUDIO: Dolby Digital 5.1
DVD: TLA Releasing
MOVIE: "Gutterballs"