Dark Match

I wasn't expecting much from this film but I was very surprised. As a big wrestling fan I had fun watching this cheese fest. But the reason I couldn't review this higher is because of the horrendous acting of Chris Jericho. As a former word champion I expected him to at least be able to act in a wrestling film of all things. But no his ridiculous bad guy cult leader is just painful to watch. He's more wooden than a barn door. Thankfully though the rest of the cast are fantastic. Well worth a watch just ignore Jericho and his obnoxious attempt at acting. Steven ogg as always is a huge shining show stealing star we need more of.

I'll admit despite the amateur theatric, jokey performances and(some) would say fake fighting, I would take wrestling over football anytime. At least there is a sense of fun, massive amounts of self-deprecating humour and fans that don't destroy front line service vehicles if their respective sides lose the game/battle.

It is the basis for one of the most underrated films of the last twenty five years-Stephen Merchants' Fighting With My Family and is the decent basis for a horror.

A group of wrestlers find themselves at the mercy of a group of bloodthirsty cult members.

The level of cheapness may put some off and the usual' tick box' of casting Ayisha Issa in the lead is tiresome. But remember, black woman are powerfully built and certainly would dominate the wrestling ring , she is no exception.

Her romance with the excellent Steven Ogg rings true and he convinces as a older wrestler just trying to earn a living.

This fun if forgettable horror is a mash up of The Running Man and The Wrestler.

Running a special show in a new arena, a woman hoping for a big break in her career joins several other local wrestlers in a run-down venue for a shady promoter, but when they start to become suspicious of their host they realize that there's Satanic rituals in play and must get away alive.

This was a bit underwhelming and had some issues with it. Among the main enjoyable factors with this one is the central setup of the group arriving at the venue and finding themselves at the beginning stages of the takeover. With just enough background on the different characters as to why they would go through the short-notice program just days before the supposed show, there's a lot to enjoy here with this one going for the slow-building revelation about them being duped once they get to the facility and put through the ringer during their matches. As the night goes on and they realize that the whole thing has been a setup, using the type of matches they're to go through involving special rules and stipulations as well as being fought to the death, this offers up an intriguing enough premise and some fine brutality in the action playing up to that. However, beyond that, there are some big drawbacks holding this back. The main detrimental factor here is that there's no clue what the plan for the villains really is as they introduce multiple plot threads to be an acceptable point but never settle on one. Initially brought into the venue thinking the purpose is to participate in a special show for locals only to get put off by the barbaric rituals, this sets up the idea of the show being a revenge killing against the new group arriving for the show. Then it brings up the purpose of the whole thing as a Satanic ritual used to summon their dark masters before bringing up the experience being recorded and broadcast to others who enjoy this kind of material and then finally a bit of revenge for his family. This is immensely disorganized and jarring leaving this one too scattered to be of much use. The other real detriment to this one is the rather unimpressive plot as a whole where it never really feels like much of an actual story is taking place. The idea of getting the group to the building and using them for nefarious purposes other than a wrestling card is fine, but how this one presents everything needs a lot of work. From the general lack of information on the different figures going along with the mission while also getting all the confusing information about the villains, what the purpose of the wrestling matches is supposed to accomplish, and where the throughline of the whole congregation of cultists getting what they wanted only to be turned off and frightened at it so the finale makes little sense, this has some real trouble getting some cohesion out of everything. As well as some rather obvious low-budget material found here, this one has some issues to hold it back.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, and drug use.

Over the years, there have been a few attempts to bring film and wrestling together. While this has resulted in modern favourites such as The Wrestler or The Iron Claw, there have also been some real stinkers, such as Death From Above. There has also been a few attempts to mesh wrestling and horror together too, which yields mixed results in the world of professional wrestling and thus far has provided little entertainment on film, but Dark Match proved to be a step up from the likes of Pro Wrestlers Vs Zombies.

First and foremost, there's some decent acting in this movie, with Steven Ogg once again stealing the show. Very few actors become successful after starring in a video game, but since his infamous role as Trevor in Grand Theft Auto V, he's made the most of every opportunity he's given to display his versatility, even in roles such as this where's if anything, he's the anchor that keeps the viewer, especially wrestling fans, grounded. Elsewhere, Chris Jericho, who isn't the greatest actor in the world but always understands the assignment, does a perfect job as the villain, falling somewhere between Linus Roache's performance in Mandy and Gene Simmons in Never Too Young To Die, giving us a solid mix of cult and camp.

While it's an enjoyable film that has some Easter eggs for fans, it is nonetheless predictable and at times a little flat. In particular our heroine, Miss Behave, feels less like the badass they attempt to portray her as, and more grumpy. Ayisha Issa may also be best known for her role in a video game (namely Fliss from Man Of Medan,) but she feels more real in that role, ironically. She doesn't do a bad job here, but the character itself feels a bit cookie cutter. I won't spoil the ending, but I think I audibly said, "Oh, they're going with this?" which left me a little disappointed.

All in all, Dark Match is a fun way to spend an hour and a half, with plenty of violence for horror fans and insider terms and a good adaptation of the grappling itself to please wrestling fans. Worth a watch if you just want to be entertained.

Saw this at the Imagine film festival 2024 in Amsterdam. The plot itself may not be interesting or relevant, but it is shown in a beautiful way, yet not for the faint of heart, with lots of blood and gore. Even fatalities can be expected, so not everyone (euphemism alert) is still standing in the end. The supernatural twist in the end may not satisfy everyone, however, but the pentagram in the basement predicted that something bad was planned all along, and dark powers need dead corpses as an unwritten rule.

Outside normal arenas and without official rules, this type of wrestling can be very destructive, as we see here. The audience cheers, whatever happens, and doesn't mind open wounds, reams of blood, broken limbs, or other serious injuries. Previously, I always assumed that a lot of theater was involved when I saw it on TV. That may be so for the official wrestling matches, but what we watch here is beyond mercy for the losers. Moreover, it was planned from the outset by the event organizers that five fatally wounded were to be "produced" for the pentagram to complete.

Lucky for us, and for the tension we were waiting for, the division between winners and losers is not along the lines that were foreseen by the one who presided over the match. The visiting group of wrestlers was more creative and resourceful than we thought at first.

All in all, though I am not interested in this type of sport, it was interesting to watch this story and all its developments, most of which were unexpected and unplanned. The supernatural twist did not harm either to arrive at a 4/5 score for the audience award when leaving the venue.