Blood Games

There are a handful of elements indicating from beforehand already that "Blood Games" will become a pretty bad but nevertheless hugely enjoyable action/sleazy time-waster… The alternative title, which apparently only got used in Australia, reveals the whole set-up: "Baseball bimbos in Hillbilly Hell". Correct me if I'm wrong but little insignificant cult movie titles don't get to sound more promising than this. The whole premise is just as simplistic yet effective as that! Unleash a team of indescribably beautiful female baseball babes into the woods and send a bunch of drunken, testosterone-overdrive rednecks – complete with bullets and crossbows – after them for a bit of chasing, raping and killing fun. Moreover, the director of this obscure piece of junk was also a woman, so be prepared for heavy and obtrusive feminist overtones and cheesy heroine speeches. Just by looking at the plot synopsis, it's a guaranteed fact already that, somewhere at some point in the movie, one of the lead actresses is bound to speech the words: "I'm sick and tired of being pushed around by male chauvinist pigs! Let's stand up for ourselves and fight back!" Admittedly it takes far too long before the film properly kicks into gear and the first half is extremely tedious, but you easily tend to forgive all the shortcomings, as it's more than obvious that this is an ultra low-budgeted amateur production that merely relies on spirited performances and playful teasing rather than originality and spectacular stunts. The film opens with the almost integrally shown baseball game between the babes and the rednecks. A crazy and depraved ex war veteran hired the girls as a present for his porker son, but rednecks clearly can't deal with losing that well. Two of the girls accidentally run over the son with a bus whilst running away from an attempted rape, and before they realize what's going on, they find themselves chased by a whole posse of armed yokels! "Blood Games" really isn't anything special or original, but it's amusing stuff with a handful of exciting moments. The girls are exceptionally beautiful; each and every single one of them, but it's not exactly surprising that none of them ever starred in anything else before or after this film. They're merely sportive types and beauty queens, but not suitable to do any proper acting work. The death sequences are quite alright, and there's a plausible balance of losses on each side. One final but important little argument to convince knowledgeable horror/cult fanatics to watch "Blood Games" is that it stars George "Buck" Flower as one of the hillbillies. He's even the one who got to play the voyeur in the obligatory shower sequence! Go Buck!

A group of softball players are attacked by the angry male members of the team they just beat and, when things escalate to include murder, they have to make a run for it and survive in the woods.

Blood Games wasn't a film I'd even heard about until Vinegar Syndrome put it out on Blu-Ray, but it's a film I'm glad is getting a new lease on life. It takes a tried and true exploitation film premise and runs with it, adding a few surprises along the way and some interesting camerawork. Even more surprising is that this was directed by a woman, Tanya Rosenberg. There's a welcome focus on female friendships in this that's nice and refreshing.

This movie starts out as a female baseball versus men in hicksville, USA. These backwoods men don't take kindly to losing the baseball game to the sexy woman and attack one of the girls before their team bus can get them out of town. Things escalate rapidly and the killing begins. As ultra low budget films goes, this film is average. Given the attractive female leads and their flight and fight for freedom, through the woods, this film is keeper for my film library. Particularly, since films like this disappear, rarely to be seen again. Surely, someone will come up with a B-movie cable channel in my market, someday.

I'd expected more of a slasher flick when I started watching Blood Games, but what I got instead was a well made action-thriller instead. All in all, not a bad trade off.

An all girls baseball team beats an all male redneck team and this leads to all hell breaking loose when members of the redneck team attack two of the girls. As revenge, the girls mow down one of the attackers with their bus and flee the scene of the crime. From there, the rednecks gang up trying to get revenge on the girls. No matter where the run, they'll find them.

Blood Games is a mashup of Deliverance and Friday the 13th with a little hint of The Final Terror thrown in. It moves at a decent pace, is very well shot, and has a handful of very exciting set pieces. If there's any major complaint, it's that it's nearly impossible to tell most of the characters apart on either side. There are only about 2 or 3 guys and girls who we learn anything about or spend much time with. It might just be a case of way too many characters complicating things.

Blood Games is strange in that it's hard to figure out director Tanya Rosenberg's intent. On one hand, it's one of the most misandrist movies I have ever seen, all but one of the male characters being vile, sexist, violent redneck pigs with absolutely no redeeming qualities and double-figure IQs, while all of the women are hot, resourceful and able to best a man at almost anything, whether it be a baseball match or unarmed combat. On the other hand, the film is pure exploitation, Rosenberg missing no opportunity to show the ladies' ass cheeks hanging out of their hot pants or exposing their ample breasts, with gratuitous up-skirt shots and a communal shower scene befitting your average women-in-prison movie. What exactly are we dealing with here? Feminist survival horror or sleazy skin-flick? Thankfully, whatever it's supposed to be, you're bound to be entertained if straight-to-video trash is your thing.

The film kicks off with a prolonged baseball game between all-women team Babe and the Ballgirls, dressed in cropped tees and very short shorts, and a bunch of drooling backwoods scuzz-balls. The ladies take the game comfortably, their coach, Midnight (Ross Hagen), winning $1000 in a bet with losing coach Mino Collins (Ken Carpenter). Collins refuses to settle the debt, however, so Midnight decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, two of the Ballgirls go looking for Midnight, and are sexually assaulted by Collins' son Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins) and fellow redneck Holt (Don Dowe). Things escalate quickly, leaving Midnight bleeding all over the team's RV and the girls running for their lives from the armed hillbillies.

What follows is pure B-movie nonsense, the women abandoning their vehicle to head out on foot through the woods, closely followed by Collins and his gun-toting goons. Pursued by a bunch of men who would struggle to count to ten, the women are able to lay traps and lure several of the rednecks to their deaths, but ultimately only a handful of them survive to face the crossbow-toting Collins in a dilapidated ghost town for the predictable finalé. Rosenberg's strong, powerful women display their tits and ass at every turn, with brutal rape scenes and violent deaths at regular intervals. Check your brain at the door, and get a few brewskis in, and there's a good chance that you'll find this dumb movie quite a bit of fun.