Dark Match ★★★

WE’VE seen quite a few wrestlers in horror films but not too many wrestling-based horror films.

Usually they are B-grade straight-to-video efforts of dubious quality.

Canadian film Dark Match, however, is a notch above and can currently be found on the Shudder streaming service.

While it’s still a clearly low-budget effort, the set-up is interesting, the film craft better than you would expect and it’s acted with plenty of energy and enthusiasm.

Written and directed by Lowell Dean, it’s set in the 1980s and centres around a struggling, independent wrestling troupe featuring characters like Miss Behave, Joe Lean and the Thick ‘n Thin tag team.

Desperate to bring in some much-needed extra money, their manager accepts $50,000 to have the troupe participate in a privately organised event.

When they get to the remote mansion they find the rent-a-crowd consists of a shady bunch of characters, but the organisers are happy to wine and dine their guests.

Hung over the next morning the visiting wrestlers are secreted in the bowels of the mansion awaiting their bouts while upstairs the crowd is being whipped into a frenzy by their mysterious leader The Prophet.

When it comes time to enter the ring, the visitors suddenly come to the realisation that these are fights to the death in front of a satanic cult mob baying for blood.

Ridiculous? For sure. But kind of fun? Hell yeah.

Watched on Shudder.