Blood Games (1990) User Reviews

Feminist survivalist horror with a communal shower scene.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 8 May 2021]

Blood Games is strange in that it's hard to figure out director Tanya Rosenberg's intent. On one hand, it's one of the most misandrist movies I have ever seen, all but one of the male characters being vile, sexist, violent redneck pigs with absolutely no redeeming qualities and double-figure IQs, while all of the women are hot, resourceful and able to best a man at almost anything, whether it be a baseball match or unarmed combat. On the other hand, the film is pure exploitation, Rosenberg missing no opportunity to show the ladies' ass cheeks hanging out of their hot pants or exposing their ample breasts, with gratuitous up-skirt shots and a communal shower scene befitting your average women-in-prison movie. What exactly are we dealing with here? Feminist survival horror or sleazy skin-flick? Thankfully, whatever it's supposed to be, you're bound to be entertained if straight-to-video trash is your thing.

The film kicks off with a prolonged baseball game between all-women team Babe and the Ballgirls, dressed in cropped tees and very short shorts, and a bunch of drooling backwoods scuzz-balls. The ladies take the game comfortably, their coach, Midnight (Ross Hagen), winning $1000 in a bet with losing coach Mino Collins (Ken Carpenter). Collins refuses to settle the debt, however, so Midnight decides to take matters into his own hands. Meanwhile, two of the Ballgirls go looking for Midnight, and are sexually assaulted by Collins' son Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins) and fellow redneck Holt (Don Dowe). Things escalate quickly, leaving Midnight bleeding all over the team's RV and the girls running for their lives from the armed hillbillies.

What follows is pure B-movie nonsense, the women abandoning their vehicle to head out on foot through the woods, closely followed by Collins and his gun-toting goons. Pursued by a bunch of men who would struggle to count to ten, the women are able to lay traps and lure several of the rednecks to their deaths, but ultimately only a handful of them survive to face the crossbow-toting Collins in a dilapidated ghost town for the predictable finalé. Rosenberg's strong, powerful women display their tits and ass at every turn, with brutal rape scenes and violent deaths at regular intervals. Check your brain at the door, and get a few brewskis in, and there's a good chance that you'll find this dumb movie quite a bit of fun.

Amusing Hicksploitation Bimbofest

[Steve_Nyland · 6/10 · 31 July 2009]

"Blood Games" is one funny movie. I can't quite figure it out yet, but on surface inspection it appears to be a sexist parody of "In A League Of Their Own" crossed with some passable Humans Hunting Humans carnage, a bit of "Repo Man" social satire, along with a Hicksploitation sleaze "Deliverance" ripoff angle thrown in for good measure. The producers went out of their way to make sure there was something in this movie to potentially offend anyone, and I for one appreciate their diligence in the matter.

Now bear in mind this is one of those movies that is only offensive if you're stupid enough to actually think about it in realistic terms. It's a cartoon for grownups, with a busload of blisteringly hot 20 year old women running afoul of a community of foul-mouthed, smelly redneck crackers. Their conflict is grounded in a baseball game since the gimmick of the film is that these Penthouse models are baseball players recruited based on looks who apparently travel from town to town playing pickup games. It is unclear if they are actually paid to play baseball, though their dubious manager has a gambling debt he needs to pay off, and wagers against the redneck team with the resident psychotic Vietnam veteran patriarch businessman who organizes the hicks. Through events left best discovered on your own, his dirtbag son knifes the manager, shoots the driver of the bus & gets killed for his efforts, the hillbillies organize into a drunken beer swilling posse, and chase the girls through the woods trying to kill them. Add ample gratuitous nudity, pepper with some gory death scenes, and presto: A fabulous movie to drink beer with in the company of your friends. It is, on the surface, a sleazy despicable little movie that no less than Joe Bob Briggs recommends heartily.

But hang on a minute, there's something strange about this movie. First off it was directed by a woman -- one Tanya Rosenberg, in her sole IMDb credit -- which is eye opening considering the exploitation element at work. These baseball girls aren't just hot, they are bedecked in an array of costumes that the ladies at Hooter's would refuse. The camera also lingers on them, ALL of them, especially in the obligatory group shower scene (where? at the redneck clubhouse?) which plays out more like something from a Women In Prison movie minus the catfight. There is also a self awareness to the presentation that suggests the girls knew they were being exploited and not just didn't mind but threw themselves into their work with pride like there was a message here. I was especially pleased by the nude sunbathing scene by the stream.

The rednecks also behave oddly to say the least. Sure, baseball is a competitive sport, but wouldn't you think that someone in their midst would have had a problem with them slapping around a busload of aggressively attractive twenty year old women? Wouldn't they want to get to know these chicks on better terms, maybe have them over for a kegger later? They aren't just the only decent women in the movie, they are the ONLY women in the movie. And the rednecks aren't just your typical movie rednecks, they are all hyper-rednecks with nary a decent soul who doesn't drink beer while driving their rifle rack equipped monster pickup trucks amongst them. Even stranger still, the movie was shot in California ... California has dysfunctional cracker trash communities?

The only conclusion to make is that the movie is a parody of some sorts, or a cartoon-like graphic novel brought to life, with behavior and mannerisms so over the top that they can't possibly be confused with the way real people would act, look, dress, etc. Think "Repo Man" with "Dukes Of Hazzard" production design. It's a bizarre, twisted little entertainment for grown-ups, and surprisingly well made with some interesting use of slow motion camera-work, a respectable budget, laughs galore, and never a dull moment. Sadly the film was a direct to video release by a small now defunct company whose work has yet to be resurrected for the DVD era. But it's worth tracking down if you're into junk like this, which is exactly what keeping a functioning VCR around the house is for.

6/10

I have been pushed around my whole life by men, and I'm sick of it!

[lastliberal · 5/10 · 22 March 2009]

I really prefer the Aussie name for this movie: Baseball Bimbos in Hillbilly Hell. It is an apt description. A traveling women's baseball team that dresses like Hooter's girls take on a bunch of drunken hillbillies and whip their ass. Did they not think they would take retribution? Things only get started when Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins) and a buddy try to rape two of the girls and kill the manager. Things are only going to get uglier. Roy and his buddy grab rifles and start shooting and Roy gets killed. His daddy (Luke Shay) puts a bounty on the girls - $1000 each DEAD. Now, the games begin.

Let's get the T&A out of the way right now. The actresses were cast, not for their acting ability, but for their appearance in the shower after the game, and for the time they get their clothes torn off in rape attempts.

After the bus gets on the wrong road, they team sets out on foot. three stay back to fight while the rest move on. Big mistake. The others return, but the losses on both sides are stacking up. The girls actually are in the lead, but they don't know it.

You know who's going to win, but it was fun watching.

Babes, baseball and hillbilly manhunts!

[Coventry · 5/10 · 10 August 2009]

There are a handful of elements indicating from beforehand already that "Blood Games" will become a pretty bad but nevertheless hugely enjoyable action/sleazy time-waster… The alternative title, which apparently only got used in Australia, reveals the whole set-up: "Baseball bimbos in Hillbilly Hell". Correct me if I'm wrong but little insignificant cult movie titles don't get to sound more promising than this. The whole premise is just as simplistic yet effective as that! Unleash a team of indescribably beautiful female baseball babes into the woods and send a bunch of drunken, testosterone-overdrive rednecks – complete with bullets and crossbows – after them for a bit of chasing, raping and killing fun. Moreover, the director of this obscure piece of junk was also a woman, so be prepared for heavy and obtrusive feminist overtones and cheesy heroine speeches. Just by looking at the plot synopsis, it's a guaranteed fact already that, somewhere at some point in the movie, one of the lead actresses is bound to speech the words: "I'm sick and tired of being pushed around by male chauvinist pigs! Let's stand up for ourselves and fight back!" Admittedly it takes far too long before the film properly kicks into gear and the first half is extremely tedious, but you easily tend to forgive all the shortcomings, as it's more than obvious that this is an ultra low-budgeted amateur production that merely relies on spirited performances and playful teasing rather than originality and spectacular stunts. The film opens with the almost integrally shown baseball game between the babes and the rednecks. A crazy and depraved ex war veteran hired the girls as a present for his porker son, but rednecks clearly can't deal with losing that well. Two of the girls accidentally run over the son with a bus whilst running away from an attempted rape, and before they realize what's going on, they find themselves chased by a whole posse of armed yokels! "Blood Games" really isn't anything special or original, but it's amusing stuff with a handful of exciting moments. The girls are exceptionally beautiful; each and every single one of them, but it's not exactly surprising that none of them ever starred in anything else before or after this film. They're merely sportive types and beauty queens, but not suitable to do any proper acting work. The death sequences are quite alright, and there's a plausible balance of losses on each side. One final but important little argument to convince knowledgeable horror/cult fanatics to watch "Blood Games" is that it stars George "Buck" Flower as one of the hillbillies. He's even the one who got to play the voyeur in the obligatory shower sequence! Go Buck!

Watchable Junk

[Jimbo-96 · 13 August 1999]

This movie starts out as a female baseball versus men in hicksville, USA. These backwoods men don't take kindly to losing the baseball game to the sexy woman and attack one of the girls before their team bus can get them out of town. Things escalate rapidly and the killing begins. As ultra low budget films goes, this film is average. Given the attractive female leads and their flight and fight for freedom, through the woods, this film is keeper for my film library. Particularly, since films like this disappear, rarely to be seen again. Surely, someone will come up with a B-movie cable channel in my market, someday.

Boys chasing girls with bows and arrows but the girls carry big bats and have even bigger balls then the men

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 18 April 2022]

I gave it a 6 out of 10 IMDb rating because the action was continuous and the kill scenes were choreographed better than what is in most T&A action films. There wasn't a single male lead with any redeeming features so it was easy to cheer for the girls baseball team to come up with one more big win for their dead Gipper.

It's a redneck Hillbilly non stop chase through the forest and waterfalls and who will come out on top in this game of death?

Ladies, start your engines. Vroooom! Vroooooooom! Vrooooooooooom!

Where are the authorities? Bystanders? Other people on the road?

[johnhsmith-00056 · 4/10 · 28 January 2022]

This film would make much more sense if it was a post-apocalyptic story instead of set in the USA in 1990. Because after multiple shootings, stabbings, car chases, car crashes, rapes, murders, and serious injuries, some of it in the middle of a town, no one anywhere, thinks to call the police, sheriff, or even an ambulance? It's like a different world entirely.

Plenty of violence and nudity though if that's what you are looking for.

Good Action and Thrills

[karenevers-49804 · 7/10 · 21 June 2020]

I'd expected more of a slasher flick when I started watching Blood Games, but what I got instead was a well made action-thriller instead. All in all, not a bad trade off.

An all girls baseball team beats an all male redneck team and this leads to all hell breaking loose when members of the redneck team attack two of the girls. As revenge, the girls mow down one of the attackers with their bus and flee the scene of the crime. From there, the rednecks gang up trying to get revenge on the girls. No matter where the run, they'll find them.

Blood Games is a mashup of Deliverance and Friday the 13th with a little hint of The Final Terror thrown in. It moves at a decent pace, is very well shot, and has a handful of very exciting set pieces. If there's any major complaint, it's that it's nearly impossible to tell most of the characters apart on either side. There are only about 2 or 3 guys and girls who we learn anything about or spend much time with. It might just be a case of way too many characters complicating things.

Meh

[jellopuke · 5/10 · 30 June 2021]

An okay hicksploitation movie about a girls softball team being hunted by rednecks. It's both trashy and not trashy enough. Nothing stands out really, but you could do way worse. The main problem is that you don't care about any of the girls, the kills are very basic, and the villains are interchangeable. A solid meh all around.

More Entertaining Than Expected

[benjithehunter · 7/10 · 30 October 2020]

A female softball team gets terrorized by a rival male team who are upset they didn't win and a chase ensues.

Blood Games is a simple movie with simple pleasures. You won't come away remembering any vibrant character arcs or awards worthy performances, but it's a memorable enough journey into depravity with a nice girl power message. It does get into icky rape/revenge territory at times, but it usually pulls the plug before it gets too intense.

The Perfect Film for those Who Enjoy Bad Movies

[Raptorclaw155 · 5/10 · 21 June 2020]

I was not expecting much from this film as its premise alone sounds like it has the potential to be a really bad film. Despite this, Blood Games turned out to be one of the most enjoyable stupid movies I've ever had the pleasure of seeing.

By no means is this a "good" film by conventional standards, but rather this is Best-of-the-Worst material. This is the kind of thing you put on when you're with your friends who also enjoy stupid, low-budget, late-80s, action schlock. There are so many great, hilarious moments in this film and it has all the hallmarks of what makes films like these so enjoyable: nudity for the sake of it, car chases, guns, crossbows, a wooded location, bludgeoning, shooting, technical errors, questionable acting, etc.

Reading the description will be enough to inform you about whether or not this is a film you should watch, but if you enjoy really stupid, Best of the Worst-tier action movies, look no further.

If you are in the mood for a great exploitation film ... THIS IS IT

[merklekranz · 8/10 · 29 January 2012]

"Don't let those knockers hypnotize you." "Blood Games" opens strong and never lets up. The plot is extremely simple. First it's the babes against the beer swilling rednecks in an anything goes, grab assing, baseball game. This is immediately followed by a shower scene that compares favorably with the best "women in prison" films. Next comes a nice assortment of violence, including death by baseball bat, knife, crushed by a bus, gun shot, hanging, cross bow, and that old stand by, kicked down a grain elevator. This hunted in the woods classic has moments of backwoods humor, nice photography, some nifty stunt work, acceptable character development, and acting that ranges from professional (Gregory Scott Collins), to not so good (pick any babe). Nevertheless, "Blood Games" delivers exactly what it promises and that is why it is a great exploitation film, and highly recommended of it's type. - MERK

Great Exploitation Flick

[ericritter-01765 · 7/10 · 5 October 2020]

A group of softball players are attacked by the angry male members of the team they just beat and, when things escalate to include murder, they have to make a run for it and survive in the woods.

Blood Games wasn't a film I'd even heard about until Vinegar Syndrome put it out on Blu-Ray, but it's a film I'm glad is getting a new lease on life. It takes a tried and true exploitation film premise and runs with it, adding a few surprises along the way and some interesting camerawork. Even more surprising is that this was directed by a woman, Tanya Rosenberg. There's a welcome focus on female friendships in this that's nice and refreshing.

Adult female baseball Bad News bears meets "Deliverance"

[jordondave-28085 · 5/10 · 28 July 2023]

(1989) Blood Games THRILLER/ ACTION

Trashy exploitation flick that at first, appears to look like a routine baseball movie with an all woman's baseball team "Babe and the Ballgirls" starting with coach/ manager father, Midnight (Ross Hagen) with the team that include his daughter and baseball player, Babe (Laura Albert), Donna (Lee Benton), Stoney (Julie Hall) Mikey (Lisa Zambrano), Ingrid (Randi Randolph), Connie (Sabrina Hills), Shorty (Sonjia Redo), Louise (Paula Manga), and Wanda (Rhyve Sawyer). And after they had played, beat/ humiliate the opposing team, sore loser and sponsor, Mino Collins (Ken Carpenter) and his baseball player son, Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins). And on top of it all, it happened on the day on Mino's son, Roy's birthday too. And upon Midnight coming to collect a baseball bet, Mino then makes a promise that he'd pay him later. And rather than Mino keeping his promise, he then sends someone to give him half of what was owed. So Midnight then goes over to come and collect which is at the bar, and just as soon as Mino uses the bathroom, it is during then he forces Mino at the point of the gun to collect what was owed. Meanwhile, while waiting at the team bus, two of the players become worried, decide to go and look for the coach who they become assaulted by the son, Roy and his best friend Holt (Don Dowe). And just as Midnight comes back to the team bus with the money, he then goes and look for them and prevents any further assault toward the women, but he gets himself stabbed in the process. And they then go on the run as soon as they attempt to drive away they ended up killing Mino's son Roy. Mino exacts revenge to the entire team confronting much of the them at the forest.

Came out before "League of the Their Own" with many familiar nuances with "Deliverance" which despite the second rate acting and fake action, it does provide a different approach which without some of the nude scenes it would have been a hit and miss for me.

if it was a 70's flick it would have been a classic in exploitation

[trashgang · 5/10 · 23 March 2011]

Tanya Rosenberg, the director of this flick only made one movie. Blood Games, and it surely shows that she is a girl. It's some kind of revenge on a revenge. let me explain. The girls in this, for me exploitation, are in a baseball team. They play against some rednecks and the rednecks loose. So they have to pay the coach but they don't. The coach goes out for the money and get's killed while the rednecks are raping some of the baseball girls. The girls take their revenge by killing on of the opponents. But they are now also out on revenge to kill the girls. As I said, the director was a woman too so you can see were it's going. Being made in 1990 it's a bit low on gore or even blood but here the girls do deliver the stuff. They all look sexy, eighties style!, and some of them even go naked. There are some nice killings shown in ultra slow motion and of course the language used by the rednecks is laughable. Some of the actors never appeared in another flick afterwards and for some it was their only flick but Laura Albert for example, the leader of the baseball girls made it into blockbusters like Pirates of the Caribbean, Wanted or Batman Begins. Ken Carpenter, the main lead of the rednecks became the camera cenobite in Hellraiser 3. Sure, you can file it under horror but I see it more as a exploitation revenge due the cheap effects used but still, it's watchable and predictable, but only available on rental VHS. If it was made years earlier it could have become a classic in the genre...

Stupid mashup of stalker horror and baseball

[lor_ · 13 June 2023]

My review was written in December 1990 after watching the film on RCA/Columbia video cassette.

Stalker horror mixes uneasily with baseball in "Blood Games", an attractively packaged but uninteresting entry for video fans.

Laura Albert toplines as Babe, the pitcher for her dad Ross Hagen's all-girl softball team. Barnstorming through the South, the gals predictably raise the ire of local good ole boys by whipping them on the field.

Led by evil Gregory Cummings, the men rape the women, and film turns into an extended chase after Hagen is stabbed to death trying to protect them.

What follows is a survival epic for the scantily clad femmes trying to defend themselves in the woods with baseball bats (natch). Picture's only imaginative scene is quite hokey: a thug grabs the team's catcher, who signs a pitch to Albert, who proceeds to bean the killer with a stone and save her battery mate.

Elsewhere director Tanya Rosenberg's work is below par, with one girl killed via an arrow in the back, displayed sticking out of a highly visible block underneath the actress' shirt. Overuse of slow motion during the violent scenes and jiggling around the basepaths is another drawback.

Cast is attractive but never convincing as athletes. Acting is generally poor.

Not entirely unlike an Andy Sidaris action flick/T & A fest.

[Idiot-Deluxe · 4/10 · 26 March 2021]

Now here's a nasty little title that's managed to elude my notice for the past 30 years, having only been familiar with it for a short time I can say upon first impression that "Blood Games" is entertaining enough for the most part, but yet at the same time, owing much to the fact that it's a B movie, it's also quite inconsistent. I found this to be VERY much the type of movie the late great Andy Sidaris would have put together, had he ever gone in a more "Hard R" direction as the similarities between his films and this are obvious and undeniable. But unfortunately Blood Games falls a bit short of the mark and doesn't have anywhere near the charm and likeability factor that the Sidaris films have; nor is there as much nudity, plus the Sidaris films simply had hotter chicks, who were typically cast straight from the pages of Playboy (and Penthouse) magazine.

I found the main thing that Blood Games excels at (it's main thrust so to speak) is how quickly and strongly the movie builds up it's air of vindictive hostility and violence that looms over "Babe & the Ball Girls". Who must endure the very real and ever-present threat of rape and murder (by the hands of vengeful alcoholic mountain yokels), a terrible fate hangs over these lovely ladies and the tension is often so thick you can cut it with a knife. Fortunately for them most of the rapin' and murderin' hillbillies aren't competent, incontinent likely yes, but competent no not so much and their often more of a threat to themselves then they are their quarry. Perhaps if they'd put down their brewskies for just a minute or two, they would have had more luck hunting down, raping and murdering people with lethal weapons and live ammunition. Just a thought.

If there's a technical aspect that comes to mind that works against the film it would be sound issues. In several scenes the dialog is hard to make out and is very low in volume, it's sounds like the boom mike wasn't close enough. On the plus side the films location photography is strikingly beautiful with mountainous terrain, pine trees and a waterfall. I found that many of the films most action-packed moments were surprisingly well staged and there impact was further enhanced by some notably slick film editing; definitely of a higher caliber than one would expect from such a movie. On a side-note, I can't stop thinking how awesome a scene involving a bear trap would have been. Lastly, whoever composed this films music was very obviously using Jerry Goldsmith's score for First Blood as a blueprint, yep, almost to the point of plagiarism at times.

Ultimately if you like sleazy, violent, trashy, cinema than Blood Games, while no masterpiece, is certainly a fun way to spend and hour and a half of your time on a Sunday afternoon. Also a bit of advise and that is to have cold beer and pork rinds at the ready, because for this type of trash they'll make the perfect companion I promise you.

Conclusion: Blood Games is a very ugly and mean-spirited jaunt through the woods fully living up to it's grim title and the level of misogyny on display here is off-the-charts; and, of course, scores additional points for it's high T & A factor.

Hot women, action, what more would a guy want?

[Evolution-X · 6/10 · 11 January 2010]

Just got done watching this. I read the description and it seemed like it was a "most dangerous game" type storyline in the sense of "Surviving The Game" and "Hard Target". Of course, the difference between this film and those two is that there is no Van Damme, no John Woo style action sequences, nor is there Ice-T, Rutger Hauer and big name actors in a low budget movie. Just beautiful women and a bunch of rednecks. Anyway, the storyline is that this baseball team of scorchingly hot women beating the team of rednecks in their neck of the woods. The main guy on the team and his buddy want a peace of action and try to rape two women on the opposing team but end up being saved by their manager, only to be stabbed. Since the main guy of the team got killed by being rammed by a bus, his father wants his friends to take out the women. Reminded me more of "Surviving The Game" than "Hard Target" since it mostly took place in the woods and that the women were doing everything they can to survive. I watched this on Comcast On Demand, and figured that this would've been the only chance I would have to watch it. I enjoyed it, but I know it was far from the greatest I've ever seen. Of course, the acting was bad and the budget was really low, but still, it was an enjoyable bad movie. Watch it some way you can. You'd be surprised.

Bloodthirsty for the Games

[RavenGlamDVDCollector · 6/10 · 17 March 2014]

Yet another one on my list of Hard-to-Find DVDs and actually a horrendously bad movie in several different ways. The six stars all go to Laura Albert. Had she been like the others, this movie would have been mercifully forgotten, where it actually belongs. But Ms. Albert really caught my fancy despite this being basically a slasher movie and thus generally lower than snail droppings. It is at least a whole goddamn universe better than AEROBICIDE, but that's another story. Any movie that's going to focus on blood flowing down a girl's leg in a glorification of violence against poor, little innocent girls, with throwaway characters I couldn't care less about, isn't going to get my vote, no way. Anyway, I can't get this one, and remember too little for an actual fair review, and this shoddy little entry, just begging to be deleted, has proved to be one of my least-liked attempts, but guys, I can't help it, it's really just a cry for assistance, so if anybody can come to the rescue, especially with a pre- recorded memory card, that would be of such a merciful relief I'd gladly reward you. Currently, mid-November 2015, there is a spark of hope on this front, with negotiations being made with a board member. Until I note otherwise, I continue searching. Reward still being dangled!

There clearly was room for a much better flick than what emerged. Poor script with poor acting shot it to hell, but they definitely did not go Oscar-hunting with this one. This is a Class A exploitation movie and the director (Tanya Rosenberg) lucked out with Laura, the rest wasn't worth mentioning.

Thank you to the boring dude on the Net who spoke and spoke for what seemed like hours and hours about the movie, repeating himself over and over, but then added the trailer. Yes, it's a cheesy flick, but there were enjoyable moments. Especially Laura, mostly Laura. Only Laura, really...

addendum: April 2019. There just ain't no mercy. Currently watching this on YouTube. I don't know how to download there. So I surrender. I'd always be willing to pay for a proper release. It doesn't matter to me how grotty the movie is, I would still want it. I'M A LAURA ALBERT FAN.

One the best worst movies you will ever watch

[carlos-pires · 10/10 · 20 July 2020]

This is so bad, it is very good, and... extremely useful: if all else fails, it is useful as the lower marking on the gauge of movie quality. I give it a 10/10, because there is nothing disappointing in this movie: if, at the very end, you somehow feel disappointed, then you have no business watching movies in the first place. You are either an extraterrestrial being who never watched an Hollywood movie before, or you have been kidnapped before you turned 3 (that's about the age you start forming long-lasting memories) and you have been living a life sheltered from the insidiousness of moving pictures. or you have had the misfortune of having been born into a cult, like the Quakers or some other cult where moving pictures are considered the work of Satan. Yes, most of it is camp. You already knew that. Yes. most of everything else is crap. You already knew that. But it's so funny! Enjoy it.

If you can look past the over-the-top circumstances, there's a lot to like here

[kevin_robbins · 7/10 · 20 October 2023]

I recently watched Blood Games (1990) on Tubi. The story follows a female softball team involved in a brawl with some male players during one of their games. In retaliation, the embarrassed male players track down the ladies' bus and seek revenge by any means necessary.

This movie is directed by Tanya Rosenberg, her only directorial picture, and stars Gregory Scott Cummins (Cliffhanger), Laura Albert (Stone Cold), Lee Benton (Scarface) and George 'Buck' Flower (Back to the Future).

This movie exceeded my expectations by a wide margin. The storyline is unique, intense, and highly entertaining. The female characters are gorgeous, and there's even a classic shower scene. The cinematography is top-notch, capturing the essence of a 70s/80s grindhouse films. The opening softball game and bar scene set the tone perfectly, and the action and kill scenes are fantastic.

In conclusion, if you can look past the over-the-top circumstances, there's a lot to like here. I would rate this a 7/10 and strongly recommend it.

Blood Games

[BandSAboutMovies · 6/10 · 5 October 2022]

Israeli director Tanya Rosenberg only made one movie and this is it. And that's a shame because I haven't seen a movie that can somehow combine the roughest moments of 70s exploitation with female characters that are given plenty of agency and personalities that are explored more than their bodies. I mean, yes, it's scummy as it gets, but it also surprises you at every turn.

Babe & The Ball Girls - Babe (Laura Albert who went from sexy scenes in movies like Angel III and Dr. Alien to the stunt work she still does today and oh man, I can't forget that she's in Stephen Sayadian's Dr. Caligari), Donna (Lee Benton), Wanda (Rhyve Sawyer), Stony (Julie Hall), Louise (Paula Manga), Connie (Sabrina Hills), Ingrid (Randi Randolph), Shorty (Sonjia Redo) and Mickey (Lisa Zambrano) - have been brought to this backwater swamp by Mino Collins (Ken Carpenter) to play against his son's softball team. Despite the guys getting physical and actually even breaking Stony's nose, the girls easily defeat them and leave a few of them with aching balls. Their coach and manager Midnight (Ross Hagen) wants to get them out of town, but Collins isn't paying up and his son Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins) recovers from getting a softball to the ball bag by trying to assault Mickey and Connie. Midnight saves them and gets stabbed for his troubles; the rednecks chase the bus and half the girls want to fight back and the others want to run.

Things don't go so well. This is a dark film that somehow combines Deliverance with A League of Their Own and who knew that could even be a thing? It also has George "Buck" Flower sneaking into the locker room of the ladies and getting pummeled while wearing a hat that says "The check is in the mail."

Writers Craig Clyde and James L. Hennessy also wrote China O'Brien 2 before this, so you know they know direct to video pacing. They were joined by writer Jim Makichuk, the very same person who directed, wrote and produced Ghostkeeper.

This is a movie that delivers slow motion death on every side in this war, women in barely there outfits playing softball for money and a crossbow.

When I grew up, one of the biggest events in my hometown was when a Globetrotters-like softball team called The King and His Heart came and played against our hometown's best softball players. Led by Myrle Vernon King, there only had a pitcher - of course that was Myrle - a catcher, a fast baseman and a shortstop against full teams. When asked why his team only had four members, Myrle would sometimes say that they needed someone to get on every base and still hit, but if he was feeling cocky, he'd say that no team could take on his pitching so thought that he should just reduce the roster to just himself. He may have been right, as during a February 18, 1967 charity game, Myrle struck out Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Brooks Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Maury Wills and Harmon Killebrew in order.

It's so odd because this movie is erotic and exploitative yet it doesn't make you feel bad about it. It helps when the women kill the men, doesn't it?

Batter up!

[Hey_Sweden · 8/10 · 23 October 2022]

The smoking-hot ladies of "Babe and the Ballgirls" best a bunch of grunting-pig redneck men in a baseball game, and of course the guys' macho pride is wounded. Later that night, things escalate quickly, and soon the guys' star player, Roy (Gregory Scott Cummins, "Cliffhanger") is dead. Naturally, Roy's father Mino (Ken Carpenter, "Hellraiser III: Hell on Earth") becomes hellbent on exacting revenge. So all of his simpleton sidekicks set after the girls, who are forced to run for their lives.

Filmmaker Tanya Rosenberg, whose only film credit this is, seemed to want to have her cake and eat it too: the exploitation-action-thriller "Blood Games" is at once blatant exploitation (complete with shower scene and a leering camera) and feminist empowerment. The girls are mostly a rough & ready bunch who can do anything these creeps can do, and better. (That said, the only male in this movie who is at least a halfway decent guy is the girls' coach Midnight (Ross Hagen, "Action U. S. A."), but even he is flawed.)

It's to the movies' benefit that the pace is breakneck once the story really kicks into gear. Rosenberg and company throw so much action and violence at you that you don't spend an undue amount of time seriously scrutinizing the script. As befitting this sort of movie, the antagonists are set up as SO loathsome that it would be hard not to cheer every time one of these creeps meets a nasty demise. And yet, there is time for SOME humor, and the third act includes one particularly atmospheric, suspenseful sequence.

All in all, a good time for devoted trash lovers, complete with an appearance by that lovable, prolific cult character actor George "Buck" Flower ("They Live"), who is in his element as one of the pursuers. (The laughs are largely the result of his presence.)

Eight out of 10.