Dark Match has screened at the Fantasia festival; it’s also programmed at FrightFest
Writer-director Lowell Dean made the fun, scurrilous Wolfcop movies. This is equally loopy in its premise – 1980s wrestlers lured into taking part in bouts hosted by a cult who are either making snuff movies for VHS distribution or performing a ritual to summon the Devil – but a little more nuanced in its characterisation … which basically makes it a cross between The Wrestler, Vacancy and Ghoulies, but I’m reasonably fine with that.
It’s a smart move that the viewpoint characters – Miss Behave (Ayisha Issa), Mean Joe Lean (Steven Ogg) – are the predestined perpetual losers of the ring, the scripted bad guys … and, if anything, Dean downplays the bizarre side of American pro wrestling. Enigma Jones (Mo Adan) wears a luchador mask, but this is a comparatively sensible film set next to the average Santo vs vampire women lepers evil brain hombre lobo momias movie. Rusty (Jonathan Cherry), manager of the small-time SAW federation, takes a big payday to drive his regulars to an enthusiastic small town for a dark match (not televised, though recorded) where a hooded mastermind (Chris Jericho) presides over a set-up which rings alarm bells for any viewer of folk horror (overly friendly locals, free and easy pre-match sex and booze, occasional smirks to camera, frequent sinister figure Michael Eklund lurking in a corner).
The ring action, when it comes, isn’t as over-the-top as the dick-ripping frenzy of WolfCop but gets bloody enough – true outrageousness is saved for a tag scene which pitches a sequel Dean probably hasn’t yet got the budget to make. The best thing here is the relationship between Issa and Ogg – who on their names alone ought to be toplining a string of down-at-heel buddy comedy capers – as an up-and-comer and a veteran who take an equal battering and perform as rotters in the ring but are loving partners outside.
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