Gutterballs

R1 DVD

TLA Releasing

This edition of Gutterballs is the uncut “balls out” edition from TLA releasing and it certainly is a shock to the system. This is a film where the slasher and rape-revenge genre of the 1980’s meets the post modern violence of the “naughties”. It is filled with excessive violence, gratuitous sex and rape and a lot more to shock and offend. It is deliberately over the top, showing explicit sex, buckets and buckets of gore and lots of very politically incorrect humour. The Raison d'être of Gutterballs was to make a homage to the slasher and rape-revenge films of the Eighties, ranging from Friday 13th to I Spit on your Grave. The question is Does it work? This is hard to answer.

As a cult film packed with excess it certainly packs a punch, you will not see another film with as much explicit sex and violence as well as deliberately skewed murder sex set pieces anywhere else. From oral sex gone horribly wrong to a transsexual given her sex change by force, it certainly pushes the limits.

A brief synopsis will give you some feel for the film. Two bowling teams converge on an Xcalibur, a bowling alley to have a game; however they take their sport very seriously. One team is filled with foul-mouthed sexist, homophobic inbred morons. The other team is a group of “outsiders” including all manner of punks, slutty woman, gays and cross dressers. This allows the filmmakers to indulge in all manner of obnoxious dialogue and off-colour humour, the problem is that the humour runs out very quickly and the film becomes vicious, very vicious.

After a violent clash over the game, the morons steal one of the girl’s handbags and use it to lure her back to the game room and rape her. This scene is especially troublesome. It is explicit, extremely violent and way too extended – eight minutes for a rape scene seems to go on forever. While this is meant to be a homage to rape-revenge films, it goes way beyond what is necessary. There is a gratuitous focus on the rape which is uncomfortable and even seems to delight in what it shows. Personally I have little trouble with the sex and penetration shown in other sections of the film, but the rape scene and some of the prejudicial killings (such as the murder of the cross dresser/transperson) seems to be nasty and vicious rather than amusing. This is a comedy film, which loses its humour quickly and becomes rather spiteful.

Anyway, as the morons return to the bowling alley, both parties are locked in and a killer (known only as BBK) starts knocking them all off. He not only kills the rapists but the other team as well, since the rape it seems all bets are off and everybody is fair game.

Gutterballs is controversial and shocking, it is a love letter to extreme cinema and on one level works exceptionally well. At the same time Gutterballs seems to illustrate a trend in recent “indie” films, a deliberate exaggeration of violence and sex to “make a name”. It is as though they feel that if they shock, stun, horrify and offend their audience they will be remembered forever and this is the best way to succeed in the film industry.

It is not that I did not find Gutterballs entertaining; it is that it is deliberately skewed to offend. The rape scene is extended, the killer attacks everyone (not just the rapists) and the killings are deliberately offensive including what could be perceived as rather nasty attacks on sexual minorities. The explicit sex doesn’t especially worry me even thought it doesn’t add a lot to the film, except perhaps a bit of spice !

Ultimately Gutterballs, especially the balls out uncut edition, is a film that the viewer will need to make their own decision on. It has a lot going for it yet at the same time seems to “cut its own throat” by not having a good editor look over the script and tighten the plot. Sometimes less is more and you can make a more powerful film by inference rather than showing every last second of a scene.

I have thought a lot about Gutterballs and recommend it as an in your face horror cult film experience, however, just remember, in regards to content, you have been warned.

This review will appear in Volume 2 No.2 (2009) of the digital and print edition of Synergy Magazine.

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