Oversexed, extreme violence, raunchy, filthy, gratuitous nudity, gross, hardcore, sleazy, pornographic, etc, etc, etc. The list goes on and on to describe Gutterballs. When I first watched Gutterballs it felt like I had found an old unmarked VHS tape with an 80’s horror film in it that nobody heard of. I was flipping out and could not believe that someone perfectly captured what made 80’s horror so great and still be original while doing it.
The characters were a bunch of horny, filthy mouthed teenagers and I loved everyone of them. The performances were dead on and the cast had such great energy, probably the best energy I’ve seen from a group of actors in a while, probably since the movie The Lost. Ryan Nicholson wrote a great screenplay, and his directing was fantastic. You can totally tell he knew exactly what he was going for with this movie.
The opening titles shows the BBK (Bowling Bag Killer) making his weapons which are bowling pins shaved into deadly spikes, this scene is very close (but not ripping off) the opening titles to Nightmare on Elm Street. The first film that came to my mind while watching this movie was Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. And any of you guys or girls out there that has seen Sorority Babes will get the connection. If you haven’t seen it please do it’s a fun scream queen movie, with spanking, nudity, and an awesomely bad monster. But lets get back to Gutterballs.
The kills in this film a very original and sick as hell. The one kill that stole the show in my opinion was death by 69, I’ve never seen a kill like that in any other movie. The makeup effects were very realistic. Ryan Nicholson, who started out doing make-up effects for X-Files and has two movies under his belt (Live Feed and Torched), does a great job in Gutterballs.
There is a rape scene in this movie that goes on for like 15 to 20 minutes and it’s one of the most brutal rape scenes you will ever witness. Not since I Spit on your Grave and Last House on the left have I been so disgusted by the scene Nicholson creates. I won’t go into details but the rape ends with a bowling pin going some where a bowling pin should never go.
So in conclusion I would have to say this is one of the best horror films I’ve seen from a new director in a long time. In the past me and my friends would quote Big Lebowski every time we went bowling, but now we quote Gutterballs, yeah it’s that good. I’m looking forward to Ryan Nicholson’s next films which are sure to be classics one day. There is a Gutterballs sequel on the way called Gutterballs 2: Balls Deep, I can’t wait to see it. Oh, and by the way, when you watch Gutterballs, be sure to have your beer and whores close by.
