31 days of Horror year 3 day 02

Gutterballs
2008
TLA releasing Unrated DVD

Before seeing this film I had heard about Ryan Nicholson on various horror message boards. It seems that he pissed off a bunch of people. Well I have always loved slashers. Mainly the ones from the 80s. And I heard that Gutterballs was a throwback to the 80s slashers so I had to see it. Rented it and loved it so much I put it on my "Must Buy" list. And just recently I found it for a price I was willing to pay.

Gutterballs is about 2 groups of late teens/young adults who go every night to a local bowling alley and after it closes they bowl. One group is made up of douche bag jocks. The other group is a nice mixture of social groups. You got two girls that dress like early 80s Madonna. One guy that has a 80's hair metal look. A guy that dresses like early Run DMC. A drag queen,and the main girl. Now while it is never said the film seems to be set in the early 80s. If it isn't all the stars are into a retro 80s look. Now with in the first 10 minutes I see why the film is unrated. The main girl ,who is wearing a very very short skirt,goes up to bowl and when she bends over you get a nice close up of her vagina. Well a fight breaks out between the jocks and the other kids and the head jock gets bruised up pretty bad. And one of the Madonna girls drops a bowling ball on his foot. Everyone leaves for the night.

But it seems that the main girl has forgotten her purse she goes looking for it. And finds it in the video arcade that is upstairs. But all the jocks are waiting on her. And they take turns raping her. But one of the jocks ,who seems to be more of a nerd than a jock,doesn't want to rape her and keeps trying to get the other guys to stop. The lead jock walks off and comes back with a bowling pin. And forces the nerdy guy to shove it into the girl's vagina. After this they leave and she is show laying in shock on top of the pool table with blood puddling up in between her legs. This scene has become well known cause of how graphic it is and how long it is. It is almost 15 minutes long and is the most graphic rape scene I have ever seen in a movie.

We cut to the next night and both groups of kids show up to bowl. The main girl is wearing these huge dark shades. And the lead jock has a cast on his foot. Plus he has brought two skanky blondes with him. Well both groups start putting their names on the automatic scoring system. And then noticed one more name has appeared. This name is BBK.  After a few frames of bowling one of the skanky blondes and a guy from the other group head to the bar to get some beers. He starts flirting with her. And she takes him into the bathroom. She takes her top off and gets him to lay down on the filthy bathroom floor. They start 69ing. But the killer sneaks into the room. He is wearing a Bowling Bag over his head. And now I see another reason why this is unrated. You clearly see the skank with the guys penis in her mouth. The Bowling Bag Killer shoves her head down and holds it till she chokes to death on the guy's penis. Then he smothers the guy with the skank's ass.

Well one by one most of the kids are killed off. The drag queen gets choked by having a bowling pin shoved down "her" throat. And then BBK takes out a knife and slices "her" dick in half length ways. The hair metal guy gets two sharpened bowling pins to the eyes. One of the Madonna girls gets strangled by the laces on some bowling shoes. One of the jocks goes to the ball waxing machine. And discovers that a someone has attached a screw to the bottom of the bin in which you are to place your ball. And BBK shoves his face into the bin and waxes it till all that is left is a bloody pulpy mess. Another of the jocks goes to the area where the pin setting machines are and get decapitated. The other skanky blonde gets her head crushed by two bowling balls. And the lead jock goes back to the pin setting machines to see where his friend is. And BBK shoves a sharpened bowling pin up his ass. After every kill one the scoreboards BBK gets a skull and crossbones in the next frame. Well the main girl and the nerdy guy haven't been seen for a long while. So Run DMC guy and the other Madonna girl go to look for their friend. And discover that all the exits are chained shut and the phones aren't working. When the get to the main door they see the nerdy guy chained up and dead right outside the front door.They run off and end up in a part of the alley that seems like renovations are going on. And we get a couple of nice twists to wrap the film up.

I have heard complaints about the amount of cussing in this film.And it is full of fucks and cunts. But I know back when I was that age most of my friends and I cussed almost that much. The kills are all well done. With great practical FX,no CGI at all. And most of the kids are decent actors. We get some nudity,and thankfully it isn't just during the rape scene. If I remember right only the skinnier Madonna girl doesn't show anything. The DVD has a fun commentary with Ryan Nicholson. In which he reveals some of what inspired him to make this film. Plus there is also a 40 odd minute making of Gutterballs feature that is pretty good. Gutterballs is a nice tribute/recreation of the 80s style of slasher. And I give the film a A-