Shudder’s Wrestling Horror Film Will not Fulfill Followers of Both
Dark Match makes an attempt to take two of our greatest cult entertainments — horror films {and professional} wrestling — and smash them collectively right into a hybrid amusement that can attraction to followers of both. Sadly, the ensuing film is not sturdy sufficient to appease each teams unconditionally and can probably solely function a curio to those that are as psyched for WWE Uncooked as they’re the subsequent huge slasher movie. If you happen to’re into horror however aren’t a lot of a wrestling individual (or vice versa), Darkish Match is not prone to persuade you the opposite aspect is value your curiosity.
Following its premiere at Fantasia Competition final yr, Darkish Match, written and directed by Lowell Dean (Wolfcop, Die Alone), will get its normal launch on Jan 31 on Shudder. The movie follows a bunch of Nineteen Eighties novice wrestlers who take a gig performing a sequence of dwell, untelevised matches for a small group of followers at a big compound out in the midst of nowhere. What looks as if a straightforward job for some fast money turns right into a nightmare when it is revealed that they have been employed by a Satanic cult, led by a self-proclaimed prophet (performed by real-life professional wrestler Chris Jericho). The matches aren’t for leisure — they’re meant for sacrifice — and all of the sudden, profitable is the one strategy to get out of the ring alive.
‘Darkish Match’s Heroes Fare Higher Than Its Villains
Let’s begin with the positives: Anchoring Darkish Match are three compelling heroic leads. The formidable Ayisha Issa performs the wrestling villain (or “heel”) Miss Behave; she’s a proficient performer who desires her shot on the title however is held again by her pores and skin shade. TV “That Man” Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead, Higher Name Saul) performs her older boyfriend, “Imply” Joe Lean, a neighborhood wrestling legend who’s been across the block a time or two. As they try to flee the entice they’ve walked into, they group up with Enigma Jones (Mo Adan), a masked luchador who by no means speaks or takes his masks off, even when he is exterior the ring. Rooting for this trio is straightforward, and when the film leans into its throwback VHS vibes, all three really feel up for the job.
Associated
Emilie Blichfeldt places a feminist, bloody spin on the traditional fairytale.
Much less compelling are the villains. You do not have to look at Jericho for lengthy to know that not all wrestling superstars are created equal with regards to crossing over into performing. He isn’t notably menacing in Darkish Match, and his cult quantities to little various generic henchmen and a bunch of extras. Not serving to issues is the truth that the movie takes means too lengthy earlier than deciding on what story it is even telling. Is Jericho’s “Prophet” only a nutty ex-wrestler with an axe to grind in opposition to Joe, with whom he has knowledgeable historical past? Or does this cult have cash on its thoughts, staging lethal wrestling matches to file and promote as snuff movies on the underground VHS tape market? OR are these two issues simply aspect hustles connected to the first aim of being literal Satanists and calling forth a darkish entity from one other dimension? Darkish Match waffles between the three, lastly selecting a solution … roughly 90 seconds earlier than it hits its finish credit. There’s a greater model of this movie that arrives at that revelation a lot sooner and takes the story to the gnarlier locations it deserves to get to.
The Wrestling Matches in ‘Darkish Match’ Make Some Odd Decisions
A hearty chunk of the movie consists of the cult’s “Lupercalia” — a sequence of wrestling matches themed to the assorted parts (there is a wind match, a hearth match, and so on.) that the Satanists take into account a “celebration of rebirth.” The wrestling motion is shot up shut with a good quantity of shaky cam, and the gimmicks of every match really feel fairly primary. The wind match merely consists of an industrial fan being embedded within the wrestling mat, and sprinklers get turned on for the water match. Just about each contest turns bloody by the top. There are some odd selections (presumably associated to finances and manufacturing) with regards to how the matches are introduced to the viewer.
Although there’s a crowd of cultists there cheering on the violence, they typically appear to vanish (not simply visually however as a part of Darkish Match‘s ambient noise), leaving the combatants within the ring feeling an excessive amount of like actors acting on an empty set, the place the house simply past the ropes rapidly fades to silent darkness. You would argue it is a stylistic alternative, but it surely typically breaks the phantasm that our heroes are alleged to be trapped by an unruly mob and combating for his or her lives.
‘Darkish Match’ Is Too Severe for Its Personal Good
Darkish Match additionally does not have a lot of a humorousness. Once more, that is Dean’s prerogative — it is his film — however being that this can be a movie about novice wrestlers squaring off in opposition to hillbilly Satanists within the Nineteen Eighties, I would not have objected to having extra enjoyable whereas I used to be watching. This isn’t an Evil Dead 2-style comedy-horror romp; it is a visually darkish film, typically blanketed with harsh purple and inexperienced lighting, and it appears like everyone seems to be taking issues extra significantly than maybe the fabric deserves.
I’ll say that wrestling followers ought to benefit from the single phrase of dialogue that Enigma speaks in the course of the film. That bought a chuckle out of me. However Issa and Ogg really feel constrained by the slim path of their roles. There are elements of this movie that enterprise into dark-and-grisly-thriller territory, nearer to one thing like Se7en or Joel Schumacher‘s 8mm. But, on the identical time, you possibly can really feel the very idea of the movie resisting that stylistic alternative and eager to be one thing extra deliriously enjoyable and oddball.
The movie lastly breaks by way of and agrees with that evaluation in its closing moments, however, by then, it is a lot too late. A horror movie set within the milieu of novice wrestling appears like an thought that would result in time on the films. Sadly, Darkish Match by no means fairly settles on what sort of horror film it desires to be, and, too typically, its total tone does not play to the strengths of its premise.
Darkish Match releases on Shudder on Friday, September 31.
- Ayisha Issa and Steven Ogg are well-cast leads who’re straightforward to root for.
- Darkish Match is simply too severe for its personal good, and, by the point the film arrives the place you are hoping it’s going to go, the top credit are rolling.
- Nice villains ought to both be compelling or entertaining. Sadly, Chris Jericho fails on each fronts.
