5.9 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 1.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
A brutally sadistic rape leads to a series of bizarre gory murders during a midnight disco bowl-a-rama at a popular bowling alley. One by one, players of two teams meet blood-drenched gruesome deaths at the hand of a black bowling-gloved masked killer. This alley runs red with blood by sunrise.
Starring: Nathan Witte, Nathan Dashwood, Dan Ellis (IV), Ryan NicholsonHorror | 100% |
Sport | Insignificant |
Comedy | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.83:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: LPCM 2.0
None
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 1.5 | |
Video | 2.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 1.5 |
Give Gutterballs credit where credit is due: many films featuring a bunch of hormonally out of control teens getting slaughtered one by one have been placed in outdoors settings, frequently isolated wilderness locales where something sinister might be hiding behind the next tree. This film at least tries to do something different, positing a group of often pretty repugnant characters getting offed in — a bowling alley. Gutterballs makes no pretenses about being anything other than a gory, foul mouthed, sexually charged Grade Z horror film, and in that regard it probably succeeds as well as could be imagined. But this is obviously a film designed for a (maybe not so?) small niche audience, and even some of those folks may be at least temporarily gobsmacked by the sheer audacity of some the presentational aspects, which include both male and female nudity, bodily mutilations (including of the most intimate variety), a script that seemingly can’t get even one line of dialogue out without utilizing an f-bomb, and some “acting” that if one were to be charitable might be described as not even making it to “not ready for prime time” levels.
Gutterballs is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Unearthed Films and MVD Visual with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.83:1. With environments bathed in either outright darkness or deep blue tones, this is often a pretty chunky, almost pixellated looking presentation at times. Compression just doesn't seem quite able to capably handle the combo platter of extremely dark environments and heavy grain, as can perhaps be gleaned in some of the screenshots accompanying this review, where things can look noticeably splotchy. The colors here often seem skewed slightly toward purples, which may only exacerbate the blue end of the spectrum that is so often on display. That said, the palette's relative vividness is arguably one of this transfer's general strengths. But considering the lighting conditions and overall blue tones on display, detail levels are pretty highly variable, depending on how wide the frame is and how bright and naturally lit things are. Grain also tends to ebb and flow, and it's interesting to note that the final couple of minutes of the film, where a couple of characters finally make it outside in daylight, the palette perks up considerably and grain finally looks a bit less rough hewn and more natural. The overall imagery is pretty soft on the whole, and can look a bit "flat" and less film like than I personally would have expected. Some of the special effects work here is rather good, all things considering, and close-ups of various maimed bodies may bother the more squeamish.
Gutterballs features an enjoyable LPCM 2.0 track that makes the most of some cheesy eighties music coursing through the underscore. Amplitude is a bit variable here, and I personally found a couple of lines of dialogue hard to make out, and unfortunately there are no optional subtitles to help in that regard. That said, the large bulk of this audio presentation sounds fine, occasional niggling qualms notwithstanding, with generally fine fidelity and rather nicely forceful low end.
One of the better things about Gutterballs is its utter lack of pretension, something that comes through fairly forcefully on Nicholson's commentary as well. Nicholson obviously knew what kind of a movie he wanted to make, and he made it. Whether or not it will appeal to every viewer is probably questionable. Technical merits here are on the spotty side at times (especially with regard to video), but some of the supplements are engaging, for those who are considering a purchase.
(Still not reliable for this title)
2016
Limited Edition
1982
Collector's Edition
1988
2023
2022
2021
Slipcover in Original Pressing
1990
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