This past weekend I had the awesome opportunity to attend the inaugural Pop Rock ‘n Horror Convention in Gettysburg, PA. It was sort of an impromptu trip, so I didn’t have my normal convention budget, but I did manage to pick up a few goodies. One thing I grabbed was a copy of the newish indy horror flick WrestleMassacre.
Directed by Brad Twigg (Killer Campout), WrestleMassacre follows a down-on-his-luck landscaper called Randy (played by longtime pro wrestler Richie Acevedo), who longs to follow in his father’s footsteps to become a professional wrestler. After deciding to take the first step to accomplishing his dream, he is humiliated at a local wrestling school. Already discouraged, Randy is fired from his job. Because of this, he develops a bloodlust. Donning his wrestling gear, Randy snaps and goes on a murderous rampage, destroying anyone who got in his way
I had a blast watching this film. Those who know me know that my two favorite forms of entertainment are horror movies and professional wrestling. In fact, for the last few years I have done some play-by-play commentary for different pro wrestling organizations in Pennsylvania. Not only did this particular flick have a wrestling themed storyline, there were a ton of wrestlers in the movie. Aside from the cast of independent wrestlers, we also had such legends as Nikolai Volkoff (in his last role before he passed away), Tony Atlas, Manny Fernandez, and the Sandman. There’s also a very memorable scene with the Boogie Woogie Man, Jimmy Valiant, which was probably my favorite wrestler portrayal in the movie.
The two best things about this movie are it’s hilarity and violence. There is something very Troma-esque about WrestleMassacre, and that is something I absolutely love. Not only was the film’s use of humor on point, it’s use of gore-soaked brutality was also exciting. I just loved seeing some of the more typical professional wrestling moves peppered with ultraviolent death scenes. As a fan of deathmatch wrestling (CZW, BJW, FMW) it was neat to see something sort of similar done in cinematic fashion. There was tons and tons of gore, which is always a plus for a gorehound like myself.
All in all, what started out as a blind buy due to a cheap price tag and attractive women selling it, turned into a hell of a good time. This is indy horror at its most entertaining. Tons of humor and violence, paired with some outrageous performances by legends of the squared circle made for a fun flick that I’m glad I bought. It’s important to support independent horror filmmakers, so you should definitely do what you can to get your hands on a copy of Brad Twigg’s WrestleMassacre!
IMDb: 6.6/10
BloodSoaked13: 7/10
