Review by Dragan Antulov
½ star out of 4
Due to the events like 1985 Haysell stadium massacre or the
dirty little war fought between Honduras and Salvador in
1969, people usually tend to associate sport-related
bloodbath with soccer. But other sports also have the
potential to incite events that would lead to large-scale
homicidal violence. At least this happens to the
protagonists of BLOOD GAMES, 1990 action thriller directed
by Tanya Rosenberg, where the chain of escalating violence
starts with something as innocent as a softball game in
small American town. On one side we have a big-city team
made entirely of gorgeous-looking women, while their
opponents are local rednecks. Despite having to play in most
uncomfortable circumstances girls manage to win, but the
local bigwig who had arranged the game refuses to pay them.
In such heated atmosphere a simple row between girls and the
locals escalates into extremely violent conflict that would
claim lives on both sides. With an entire town turned into
one big lynch mob, girls are forced to run through the woods
and use all their skills to survive and reach civilisation.
At first glance, BLOOD GAMES might look a low-budget version
of DELIVERANCE with some kind of feminist spin.
Unfortunately, the pseudo-feminism of the script is quickly
compromised with the first sight of the protagonists, who
are almost all played by actresses cast primarily because of
their physical appearances - which indicates that BLOOD
GAMES used to be made mostly for the male audience. However,
any audience, whether it is male or female, is going to be
disappointed with this film's atrocious acting and utterly
predictable plot. Not even the nudity helps, and few
humourous scenes failed to turn BLOOD GAMES into
unintentional parody of itself.
Copyright © 2001 Dragan Antulov
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out of 4
