Gutterballs (2008) User Reviews

Could have been much better

[gorelove · 4/10 · 25 February 2011]

For all the gore lovers, the display pic and the name of the movie will sound like a mouth watering gore fest. But ppl, don't be fooled by that.

The movie does have its share of gore but that's poorly done. The movie guys tried hard to make each and every killing scene look very gory but didn't have that class and touch to make it look like one.

Lots of profanities spoken which did seem out of place in some of the scenes.

Overall, not that good a movie that one would like watching. Can be avoided.

GORFEST

[kirbylee70-599-526179 · 4/10 · 6 June 2020]

Writing a review for a movie like GUTTERBALLS is not an easy task. To do the film justice it has to be reviewed from two very different perspectives. There is the casual movie goers who might watch this film without a clue as to what to expect. Then there is the exploitation/trash cinema/gore hound that will seek it out for all the reasons the first would bypass it. So let me start with a combining of the two to talk about the story and then wind up with two viewpoints.

The movie takes place in at the Xcalibur Bowling Centre, a disco-themed bowling alley, where Egerton, the janitor desk clerk, is allowing two groups to bowl against each other after hours. One group is led by Steve, angry at his ex-friend Jamie who had sex with his girlfriend Lisa who dumped him. This group is your stereotypical frat boy group with fouls mouths and interests combined with Troma type punk behavior. The other group is Jamie's that includes Lisa, her girlfriends, Jamie's friend and a transvestite friend of them all. A fight breaks out between the two groups leading to Steve having his foot crushed with a bowling ball and Egerton kicking them all out.

Forgetting something inside, Lisa tells her friends to go ahead without her and returns to get her things as Egerton polishes the floor with headphones on. What she didn't count on was Steve and his gang still being there waiting for her return. What follows is a violent gang rape sequence that last about 10 minutes and ends with a bowling pin being used for something other than bowling. The gang leaves Lisa battered on the pool table. Afterwards we see a masked figure turning various items from the bowling alley into weapons of sorts.

The next night the two groups return to finish their "competition". This time Steve has brought along to apparent bimbos who are half drunk. No one knows where Lisa is but they proceed anyway. On the scoreboard they see the name BBK and have no clue who it is. What follows is your typical slaughterfest as different individuals and couples are killed in numerous ways throughout the night. As they are picked off one by one a skull and crossbones symbols appear by BBK's name. Just who the killer is isn't revealed until the final reel.

So let's focus on the exploitation/trash cinema/gore hound side of things first since that will be the more positive side. Those folks will be tickled pink at the amount of gore to be seen on hand here. Blood flows freely and guts pour out left and right. Sharpened bowling pins are inserted, strangulations go deep and eyeballs and faces are gouged out. If that wasn't enough there is plenty of skin on display here, perhaps more than you would expect and in some cases enough that the film would have garnered an X rating if it had been submitted. Sexual acts and genital mutilations are on display and seen as opposed to done in silhouette. If you fall into this category there is no way you can let this release of the film go by without picking up a copy.

Onto the casual film goers review of the film. Avoid it. No, seriously, stay away from it. You will be sickened and offended by almost everything found here. The rape sequence alone is enough to make you ill and asking how a movie like this could get made. The gore level is high and it might not upset you near as much as the genital mutilation and death by sex sequences. The language is foul and after about ten minutes I gave up trying to count how many times and variations of the f bomb were used. An equal opportunity offender the director displays both male and female genitalia. This is the kind of film that started mothers marching on video stores way back when.

I've seen more than my share of films like this and they continue to astound me that there are people seeking out films like this. The effects are well done and the photography in some spots is decent enough. But the story is completely lacking for me. The dialogue is far too extensive and repetitive for a film like this. The acting is terrible. Someone once said there is a lack of good low budget films out there like those made in the past by companies like AIP. This movie doesn't match anything they ever did. If nothing else it comes closer to the films of H.G. Lewis.

Director/writer Ryan Nicholson, who died in 2019 at the young age of 48, once said "I make more is more horror. I'm not of the school of thought that showing something off-screen is more effective than showing it on-screen. I like to show everything. I leave nothing to the imagination." I can attest to the fact that with this film alone he backs up that statement.

If you fall into that first group of die-hard fans then by all means pick this up and add it to your collection. If you do not then steer clear of it. If you accidentally pick it up, keep a barf bag nearby.

suxxxesful and hateful exploitation movie with a "fun" slasher facade

[S_Craig_Zahler · 6/10 · 5 November 2011]

The spoiler is very minor-- I discuss an early scene in detail and other stuff in a very vague manner.

Gutterballs is an odd and unsettling movie, especially in the uncut edition that I saw.

Like Irreversible, Gutterballs subverts expectations by giving you a much worse version of what it advertises...a very, very unpleasant and nasty rape sequence that left me unsettled for the remainder of the viewing experience and not ever able to engage at the level of "enjoying" the piece. I believe this is by design and not actually a flaw. Unlike Irreversible, the shot selection of the heinous act alternates between empathizing with the victim (unflattering close ups of the bad guys) and exploitation of the victim (overhead shots of the victim as an object), which gives the movie an odious taint. Again, this seems by design.

After this very unpleasant sequence, the movies depicts loads of mean, dumb and hateful teens, all of whom give over the top performances, though not all of these performances are bad. Several of these histrionic performances are in keeping with the hateful tone of the movie, especially the main bad guys, who were like amped-up versions of the bullies in "History of Violence." They are not at all realistic, yet in this stylized world they are believably malefic. This is one of the reasons the rape sequence is so unsettling-- I completely believe that these guys are capable of doing this even if everything is pushed into cursing caricature.

It's surprising to me how often people refer to this movie as "fun." Although it has a retro slasher facade, the heart of this movie is mean hate and covered with thorns.

If the humor was ever funny in Gutterballs (I laughed more watching August Underground) or if any of the characters were likable, Gutterballs would have been an emotionally richer experience, and a better movie, rather than a monotonously mean one. If the revenge element were logically motivated throughout the piece, I might have engaged at that level of feeling some satisfaction/gratification with the crimes when they are committed, but that is not the path Ryan Nicholson hews with his machete.

As is, Gutterballs is suxxxesful as a piece of hateful exploitation, showcasing some expert gore, but is a monochromatic viewing experience.

Amateurish and tedious, to put it mildly.

[capkronos · 3/10 · 28 October 2008]

The plot - A woman is brutally beaten and gang raped in a bowling alley by four guys, culminating in her getting a bowling pin shoved into her nether regions. The next night while two rival teams (loud-mouthed frat jocks vs. emo/punk/new waver types) are facing off after hours, a killer starts hacking everyone up in gory detail. Typically simplistic slasher movie set-up, but fair enough. I can live with it. The film had some potential. I loved the idea of a slasher flick set in a bowling alley, and the idea of bowling props being used to kill. The synthesizer-sounding music and the neon blue credits reminded me of that wonderfully cheesy 80's staple SORORITY BABES IN THE SLIMEBALL BOWL-O-RAMA too, as did the ball polisher gag. I guess that's an off-the-wall movie to pay tribute to. There was plenty of gore also. Eyes are gouged out, private parts are mangled, people are raped with bowling pins, heads are smashed in, etc. The movie does deliver in that aspect. It also delivers some rather graphic nudity. We're talking porn level close-ups of female anatomy, as well as a brief, but X-rated, oral sex scene that seems to come out of nowhere (and may employ rubber parts, anyway). So why didn't I like this very much?

Mainly because the characters were so bloody annoying, and the dialogue was so incredibly awful (was there even a script?), that the movie became irritating and monotonous right out of the gate. Non-stop profane/vulgar whining coming from a bunch of terrible actors screaming everything at the top of their lungs just simply got on my nerves. The one-liners and pseudo-insults were neither clever or funny; "You're a stupid f***ing c**t!" ... "Go get me a beer you f***ing whore!" ... "I'm gonna kick your f***ing ass you f****t!" Soooo witty, huh? On and on it goes, with no relief in sight. Seemed more like a bunch of adults running around acting like a bunch of misbehaved 12-year-old potty-mouthed brats who think the "f" word in and of itself is high comedy. And it got old right from the beginning. There's not a single likable, amusing or even slightly interesting character to be found in this entire movie. All I wanted to do after awhile was fast-forward to the gore, which is basically what I'd recommend doing since this film offers little else of interest.

The sad thing is that it COULD have been a lot of fun. The initial mood and the neon lights and the setting were the proper groundwork laid out for a fun time. At first I thought I might just like this. But everyone in this movie was so hateful, loud, one-dimensional, obnoxious and over-the-top, that the fun quickly vanished and it actually became kind of depressing to watch. The actors in this film don't seem like a talented bunch to begin with, but I can hardly blame them for coming off badly if what they are reciting here is actual scripted dialogue. I didn't care what happened to any of these idiots. All I wanted was for them to shut up. They didn't die soon enough. Even the "good" guys weren't the least bit likable. I also took little guilty pleasure in the rape-revenge aspect because three times as many innocent people were killed than the attackers, and many of the death scenes reserved for the uninvolved parties were far more sadistic and torturous than what was dished out to the actual rapists. Of course, the movie tries to provide an explanation for this at the very end but like every other aspect of the script, it's basically rubbish.

I'm sure some out there will accuse me of being uptight or say I'm not "hardcore" (whatever the hell that means) enough because I thought this one sucked, but whatever. In reality, I don't mind bad language, bad taste, gore, rape or nudity in my exploitation films. That's fine and dandy. But there's a thing commonly referred to as overkill, and this film suffers from it. By allowing his cast to behave like obnoxious, shrieking cretins and giving them so much lousy, horribly-written dialogue (or allowing them to improvise too much), the director/writer single handedly killed off his intentions for a fun bowling-themed slasher flick. Instead of being entertaining, it's merely tedious and nihilistic. Either learn a little restraint or for the love of God put at least one character in your movie that isn't a shrill, cartoonish, foul-mouthed moron we have to sit and listen to scream for an hour before you finally show we the viewers some mercy by killing them off.

insult to the genre of horror!

[j-cherry-630-782328 · 1/10 · 3 June 2011]

despite my friends general opinion that the genre of horror was invented by a sick moron without anything better to do, i however beg to differ...to truly frighten an audience as the genre is MEANT to do the creator must delve into the human mind to explore what drives terror! then once that is found can then set about bringing that unconscious terror alive through the careful planning of a good story, a gritty script,believable actors,empathetic characters and of course the frights themselves.....this film however had none of the above and was overall the most boring,painful and intelligence insulting movie experience that i have suffered since i watched the first twilight movie!

the acting was terrible,the script sounded like it was spewed by a foul mouthed illiterate on a bad day, the characters where both unbelievable and completely unlikeable and the gore was dull and predictable(but slightly gratifying due to the infuriating nature of the characters). the infamous rape was more distasteful than disturbing due to the highly graphic and exploitive nature of the scene....designed more to "turn you on" than to shock and repulse, adding to the idea i got that the film was made purely to satisfy the perverted needs of the director. likewise the other sex scenes where exploitive and ridiculous and the transvestite scene was, to put it simply, a load of b***s! overall i found the film boring,irritating and a total waste of my time. was just the typical clichéd mysterious serial killer turning up and slaughtering a bunch of typically annoying characters that really were asking for it....warning to all serious horror film lovers stay well away...if you must look at your TV static...it is a lot more interesting and clever than this film!!

Tasteless, yet entertaining.

[jennifer-25-965231 · 28 July 2011]

This movie was entertaining considering the mass amount of woman degradation, over the top blood and gore, and shocking death scenes. The acting was horrible, the script could not have been any worse and I think I even lost a few brain cells watching this. BUT if you are looking for hot chicks, lots of sex, and original and inventive death scenes, then this movie is for you.

I must warn that there is a pretty graphic and overly long rape scene if you are sensitive to such things. This movie is not for the average movie viewer but if you enjoy an excess of sex and gore, then this movie is for you.

ZombieSteak.com - Discover a new world of horror films, designed just for you.

Ick

[doctor13 · 1/10 · 13 August 2009]

When I saw the cover for this movie, I thought that perhaps it might be a fun, gory horror- comedy in the vein of some recent Aussie films. I was wrong. Gory, yes. Fun, no.

GUTTERBALLS is a movie that tries to emulate those bad 80's straight-to-video slasher films, and does so with some success, but ultimately fails. Yes, I get that the director is trying to be "hardcore", balls out, take no prisoners, and probably Tarantino, with his use of graphic oral sex, male and female genitalia and gore, and if he'd just stuck to the gore, he might have succeeded.

Was it amateurishly shot and acted? Yes. But it's spoofing 80's horror flicks, so that wasn't a problem for me. I hated three specific things:

1. The rape scene. I've read other reviews here that mention its brutality, its length, but no one mentioned that it was shot in a titillating way, sexually exploiting the victim's nude body. This was a rape scene that is intended to be arousing, to make guys laugh and nudge each other instead of be horrified. Shame on the director.

2. The use of the F word. I'm no prude, but when every other word is the F word, then you know that either untalented actors are improvising their dialogue, or the writer is either untalented or lazy or both.

3. As a gay man, it made me sick to hear the other F word, "faggot" being screamed out so much. The movie is really homophobic as again, either improvising actors or a lazy, untalented writer or an insensitive director let this hate word be slung around with such frequency. And the tranny, after being murdered by a bowling pin forced down her throat (yuk yuk) has the ultimate indignity of having her male sex organ mutilated into the beginnings of a female sex organ. I felt like I was being gay-bashed on my couch watching this movie.

I love horror films, thoughtful or dopey, gory or dry, but there seemed to be little thought put into this, as though the director made a film for 12-year-old adults.

Awful People Doing Awful Things

[glenmatisse · 2/10 · 14 July 2020]

Does any film really need a rape scene this unpleasant and long? It takes up almost the entire first act of the film and the rest of the film is just watching incredibly disgusting and awful people be killed off in a variety of admittedly creative and gory ways. But why should we care? Everyone's so awful that you don't feel anything when they're put in jeopardy and the film isn't funny, so it's not like they were going for comedy. At least I hope they weren't. If anything about this works, it's the special effects which are wonderful and deserved to be utilized in a better film.

G-utter Balls!!

[impossiblehim · 2/10 · 17 May 2008]

Two rival bowling teams(how bored are these people?) made up of a cast of very unlikable and unattractive actors, who i think, are actually younger but look like they're mid-30's. The 2 two teams are like good vs bad but on the whole most of the characters are hugely unlikeable....although the bad guys are the worst of the lot...in the acting and the looks department...after a while they began to grate on me and it became an annoyance and a distraction because i just wanted them off my screen but it takes a while for them to be dispatched...although when they are offed i found it immensely gratifying and i was thankful i'd never have to see these terrible characters ever again. When the opening 'horror' occurs we have just been treated to a close up shot of the rape victims vagina...now this character is wearing a skirt that is about 5-6 inches in length and has no problem with bending fore-ward and showing the entire bowl-a-rama her front bottom.....this confused me because it didn't help me to sympathise with her character when she is violently raped...yes i found it sickening and brutal but i didn't really sympathise with the girl who readily shows her muff to anyone, regardless to whether they want to see it or not...so it begged the question why the director chose to have her knicker-less...to me the scene would have been more shocking if her character had been easier to relate to....most women don't show their muff to all and sundry....so to me i found it hard to actually care about her character..i just wanted the scene over. Once the scene is over the carnage commences. What carnage their is is well executed and sometimes made me wince and want to cover my eyes....although some of the scenes just didn't do anything for me...the sex=death scene where a cheap slapper(and i mean it..this girl really looks like they dragged her in off a street corner somewhere) and one of the 'good' guys have sex and die during, it's not convincing and looks cheap and naff....in fact none of the sex in this movie is believable or sexy...it just looks like sloppy, nervous encounters between desperate actors...and willies pop up everywhere...but they're very small...and the women are not sexy at all and mostly look like crack whores...except the final 'goth' type girl who seemed to be the best out of a bad lot. Some of the other characters are badly written and badly played...for example the drag queen...they seemed to be making fun out the whole subject and making the least bit of effort into making it believable. The dialogue, combined with the terrible acting is sometimes annoying...the use of the 'f' word became grating and most of the movie is made up of the words f**k, c**t, f*g, b*itch...it really does become tedious after a while.....and some parts are downright pathetic...like when the meanest guy find his dead friend's headless body he asked "where the f*ck is you're head?".... This movie is a good enough attempt but was a huge let-down...some memorable gore scenes bring it up a notch...but the cast(especially the means guys) and the script take it down. Oh and the bowling bag thing on the killers head was silly and completely non-threatening and ruined what could have been a scary aspect of the movie.

Horror Porn... Really?

[terrible2 · 6/10 · 6 January 2009]

My hat is certainly off to Writer/Director Ryan Nicholson...

How he was able to push this past the censorship board is a statement in itself... And I will admit, I have never seen anything quite like "Gutterballs". A comedic slasher film at heart, the 1970's exploitation homage oozes out of every frame in bold (Red) colors. But, besides the gore, you are watching what most Cinemax late night adult movies will not even show... You see it all!!! This might be there for a reason though, to cover up the fact that there really is NO story, or at least nothing the average 25 year old could find interesting. Never really introducing the characters, the writing just seems to be that of an over-sexed 15 year old boy, filled with horror movie cliché's, boobs and explicit language. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but when the dialog becomes nothing more then F-Bombs, followed by more F-Bombs, then a couple of "Where's my whores?", followed by (you guessed it) another F-Bomb, it gets old real fast... Really bad acting is compensated by tons of graphic gore. In fact, the gore-factor (Almost) out-weighs the porn-factor, but alas we are so stunned by some of the nudity that the gratuitous splatter is almost over-looked. I am NOT knocking this film! In fact, I found it extremely fun and a great way to bring back some great old ideas and try a few new ones. Mr. Nicholson obviously has a talent for knowing what entertains (at least 15 year old boys), and I think with a bit more (creative) writing and character development, he will become a horror force to be reckoned with.

Gutterballs (2008)

[SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain · 1/10 · 13 September 2012]

After a rape, a bowling alley is plagued by a series of grotesque murders. As terrible as the rape revenge slasher films it tries to live up to. It's disgusting and repulsive but worst of all, it lacks a brain. The rape and violence is there for pure titillation. The acting is the most offensive thing about the film. Gamble is not only fricking awful, he also insists on shouting every line, making the film difficult to get through. Some of the deaths are rather entertaining, mostly due to some decent make-up and gore effects. Still not worth the time or effort.Plus, there was never really enough bowling. I kind of get the feeling this film was made up as it went along.

Very tasteless and exploitative slasher flick.

[HumanoidOfFlesh · 9/10 · 8 April 2008]

"Gutterballs" opens with tasteless and suitably disturbing gang-rape scene that will surely offend some viewers.It takes place in a bowling alley called the Xcalibur Bowling Centre.Its janitor lets two groups of teenagers for the big bowling match against each other.Soon the members of each group are being gorily dispatched by the frenzied killer BBK,who wears a bowling bag mask..."Gutterballs" is a sleazy blast obviously inspired by Italian giallo flicks and excessively violent slashers from early 80's.The death scenes are seriously sick and gory as hell and the graphic nudity is frequent in the unrated XXX version.The characters are obnoxious,vulgar and outlandish.None of them is likable.Several scenes of bloodshed put the smile of my face including the death of transvestite,who gets his penis sheared off.The double asphyxiation by fellatio and cunnilingus is also worth mentioning as is the stabbing with sharpened pin.To sum up,"Gutterballs" is not for the squeamish,so if you are a fan of tasteless and morbid horror grab the unrated version.

Rape, Nudity, Murder!

[knifeintheeye · 6/10 · 10 April 2008]

This is a hard movie for me to judge. I liked the brutality and non-pc aspects, but wasn't impressed by some of the other elements: 1) The over dubbing was off--often mouths were moving but there was no sound.

2) The over use of the f-word started to grate on me.

3)None of the characters with the exception of the black guy were people you could cheer for--in fact everyone except him was annoying.

However, some of the kills were pretty cool (the tranny penis cutting was very well executed) and nudity is always good…even if some of those girls maybe should have kept their clothes on.

After a 8 1/2 minute set up, we get to meet the black gloved masked killer making weapons that will soon be used to dispatch his/her unknowing victims in due time. And directly after that scene is a long rape scene that was certainly shot not to titillate but to shock. Too bad three goofs happened during this scene: 1) The actress was supposed to be going commando (a term I don't believe was invented in the 80's) but she was clearly wearing underwear.

2) One of the characters was instructed on which end of the bowling pin to rape her with, but still messed up--but was told he was doing it correctly.

3) I kept hearing weird digital sounds that were obviously a glitch with the disk or production.

After the rape, the movie really gets going and BBK wastes no time in killing off the characters one by one in interesting fashion.

The average movie goer may not enjoy this movie, but fans of non-pc, low budget and older slasher flicks should get some enjoyment from Gutterballs. The gore is well done and the acting was good enough. Some serious effort went into it, so it is worth a watch.

Additional cudos for a pretty interesting Canadian soundtrack and "Loonies Only" condom dispenser sign. Also, I don't know how many people got the phone number reference: 976-3845=976-EVIL.

Smash Your Head With a Bowling Ball instead of suffering through this movie

[aqos-1 · 1/10 · 30 November 2008]

This was a VERY juvenile movie that seemed to be made by little boys that just wanted to cuss and show their teeny peenies. The girls were throw- backs to the sleazy girls of the 70's. There was one good actor in the whole movie and her character fell apart at the end. The plot was stupid, the nudity was ridiculous and lent absolutely NOTHING to the movie. The one guy thought he was a hyena with that stupid cackle of his. I don't even remember the slasher "grindhouse" type of movie being this bad in the 70s. The only thing worth commending in this movie would be the special effects. They would have been great in another gore movie, but this movie leaves you not even being able to appreciate them at the end. Whoever did the special effects needs to go find a better class of movie to work in. The actors in this movie need to get plastic surgery so they don't die of embarrassment if they are recognized from this movie. The writer needs to read some horror and notice the the "F" word does not play a prominent role in the horror genre. Perhaps with their focus, they should go into porn. This movie was a complete disappointment that pulled things out of the air to tie it all up. A complete waste of film.

I really wanted to like this.

[treyswint-2 · 3/10 · 8 May 2009]

First, let me state for the record that I really like horror movies (slashers in general) and am not the "pick apart the plot holes" type of guy. My love for even ultra- low budget horror movies was not quite enough to carry me through "Gutterballs".

The saddest part is that the movie had some actual potential. I liked the bizarre "bowl-off" theme between 2 rival groups (remember the days of the 80's "break fight", anyone?), the bowling alley setting was fresh, and having the cast be made up of heavily accented Canadians made the movie a little surreal.

What really stopped the movie dead in its tracks was the writing....I don't believe there was very much involved. The lack of writing is really at the heart of my biggest complaints.

Biggest complaint #1: The characters are shallow. I realize that this is a low budget movie, but it doesn't take any more money for a director to "flesh out" a character for an actor. All the characters are one-dimensional, but the "bad guys" are laughably over-the-top....especially the leader. I haven't seen such villainy since the mustache-twirling blackhearts of the silent film era.

Biggest complaint #2: The motive for the kills is weak. **SPOILERS**

I understand why the "bad bowlers" were killed, of course, but there were only 4 of them. Why were the others killed? Lisa's father says it's because they "weren't there for her, and left her alone"....but yet, he's guilty of the exact same thing, no? And what about the two slutty girls? At worst, they were killed because they were only marginally associated with the bad boy leader. At best, it was a "wrong place, wrong time" thing. Some will call this nit-picking, but a revenge movie lives or dies with the motive for the killings. Again, I'm left with the frustrating feeling that this could have been worked out with a little more writing....it's like the movie needed just one more re-write.

So in the end, I cannot recommend Gutterballs to anyone, except the most die-hard horror fan....and even then with a little trepidation.

I made it through the whole thing.

[don_robeo · 5/10 · 21 May 2008]

I watched this purely based on the score this film got here. Every time I do that it seems I end up sorry. But, this time I'm at odds with myself. The reason this got a five from me and the ONLY reason was the outrageous factor the film had. All the comments based on that are not exaggerated. It was definitely over the top. If you think you might wanna watch this film, make sure you are doing so for the gore/shock factor alone. Do not watch this if you can't handle bad acting. I barely got through it because of that, but I'll admit...the gore kept me going. Never in my life have I seen a film that I wanted everyone to die in so badly, and I do mean EVERYONE. I don't think I've ever hated a whole cast like I have in this my entire life. It's undeniable that there are some very cool things that happen in this movie, although admitting that about myself is kind of disturbing.

Things to hate:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

1. Steve.....If I were on the set I'd have killed him myself.

2. The film didn't know what decade it was in. I think it was trying for late 80's considering the dress (the whole punks vs. preps thing) but the technology didn't fit, i.e. electronic scoreboard (they used projectors back then), siliconed teen (think they waited a little longer to get that procedure), and the only cell phone back then was the 10 pound Zack Morris job.

3. The acting.....The reactions these people had with what was happening to them was ludicrous.

4. The dialog.....If you cut the unnecessary f-bombs out of this film you may be left with 4 complete sentences. The fact that this disturbs ME (got a hum-dinger of a doo-doo mouth myself sometimes) says a lot.

.............................and finally..............................

5. Someone survived.

Belongs in the gutter...

[ant36au · 1/10 · 10 May 2017]

...along with writer.Seriously,the writer of this awful excuse for a film belongs in a sanitarium.The entire movie is complete trash and a complete insult to the 80's genre,not a homage. The acting is pure trash,consisting of a bunch of people shouting as loud as possible while not being able to string three words together without swearing. The gore is over the top and mingled with pure porn,the so called 'horror' is just pure sickness of the mind. Do yourself a favour,don't even start watching this disgrace to the film industry and the horror genre.

Excellent Effects and Not Much Else

[jamesmorgan-04114 · 5/10 · 31 May 2020]

Gutterballs gets the sleazy element of the slasher down, but forgets to give us any characters to root for. The whole thing takes place in a bowling alley the night after a woman was raped by a mob of terrible men and someone begins killing the people responsible (and everyone else unfortunate enough to be in the wrong place at the wrong time).

There's a heavier emphasis on sex and nudity in this one with a surprising amount of male nudity and it includes what must be the most sexually explicit death scene in slasher history. The special effects makeup stands out as well with a few horrifyingly well executed murder scenes. It's just a shame that the rest of the film can't compete thanks to a pretty generic and uninteresting script.

F#@&ing unwatchable

[selfdestructo · 1/10 · 15 December 2022]

And I paid extra for the 2-disc edition, with "over 40 hours" of extras!

Never in my life have I complained about bad language in a movie. Gutterballs is a 96-minute merciless onslought, where every character (and there are quite a few) talks exactly the same. One emotion is expressed. And that emotion is: Hostility. My only guess is that boozed-up frat boys wrote all the dialogue. To make matters even more unbearable, dialogue is poorly recorded, people incessantly talk over each other, and the music is often mixed too loud! And that's just the technical stuff. Movie itself is rape-revenge, set in a bowling alley, with really no story to speak of.

I watched the much-ballyhooed (by the filmmakers, anyway) "Pin-etration" extended cut, where they insert hardcore sex to the proceedings. SPOILER: 50% of the anatomy is fake. Adding graphic close-ups to an inordinately long and violent rape scene seemed, well, misguided and wrong. I mean, this movie has nothing going for it. Gorehounds might like the excessive blood, but you've got to suffer.

Maybe I'm being too hard on this POS.

Extras: On the outtakes disc (which seems to be comprised of everything they filmed), worth checking out is Part 15. Real rough day at work for that guy (that's sarcasm). BTW, all the audio is out of sync this chapter. Guess no one wanted to sit through 40 hours of outtakes for quality control.

Gory, brainless, inconsistent but over-the top slashing fun

[dschmeding · 6/10 · 21 May 2008]

Gutterballs is a strange movie... it seems to pay tribute to the 80ies Slasher Frenzy and carries the theme from shopping malls, cinemas and sorority houses into a bowling alley. Now if you expect Friday 13th style slashing in a bowling alley you not quite right since you get a lot more than that. The movie starts off introducing the characters who are all pretty annoying a-holes splitting into two teams who take a midnight bowling tournament. The first night gets a little out of hands and after a little beating up of one guy the bad team gang rapes one of the other teams girls. Now at this point I was already confused because the movie is full of swearing, teen romp jokes about balls, lots of sexual innuendo as well as pretty gratuitous crotch shots. Now when you think you're in for a brainless fun movie the director gives you a 10minute gang rape scene ending in the penetration with a bowling pin. Although the scene was rather annoying than shocking to me its like throwing "I spit on your grave" into "Scream"... pretty torn up.

Since the movie is brainless anyway all involved get back together the next night for another tournament. You know the girl is out for revenge and one by one people go missing and turning into strikes by an unknown player on the bowling screen. You pretty much know whats happening from there on... the killer slashes his victims in bowling alley fashion with pins, bowling balls and more. The girls are all whores, so you get a lot of t+a shots plus sex thrown in between the kills and the kills themselves all have an extreme push to sexual violence. If you've seen the directors older movie you know he is into genital mutilation. Prepare for some strong stuff here too. Asphyxiation by 69, about every orifice penetrated, eye gouging, a 20second tranny sex change, decapitation, exposed bowels and facial deconstruction.

Now you got a pretty gory slasher movie with loads of sex and cheap jokes thrown in. The movie is nicely shrouded in 80ies music which fits the setting and gives the movie an interesting and kind of different vibe. All in all "Gutterball" has everything the horror community wants Anyway the movie was too torn up for me... the real stupid twist in the end just didn't fit the vibe of the movie and reminded me a lot of "Scream". The acting was medium and many scenes were overacted to a ridiculous degree. The raped lead actress is totally unbelievable and beside the ridiculous overuse of the F-Word I was also appalled by the actors wandering through the alley alone and talking to themselves... "Oh, the door is locked... this is really strange!". I liked the humor and the killer wearing a bowling bag for a mask... especially the Waxatronic with its Robo-Voice was hilarious. But the mixture just doesn't seem right after the movie ended.

After all "Gutterball" is an entertaining slasher with some pretty over the top killings. Anyway, the trashy elements, bad acting and over the top use of swearing, unsympathetic a-holes and crotch shots as well as the ridiculous depiction of women pulled the movie way down.... and my god, the ending is so stupid.

Pure Sleaze

[werewolfgal13 · 5/10 · 7 April 2009]

Wow i revel in gore,violence,and sleaze but this just felt off.

there is very little merit at all to this film other than that it is Canadian and has a fantastic set i mean the neon the set up even a transvestite! but no real payoff.

!!!SPOILER!!! From my first statement you've probably realized that i've seen more than one rape scene in my day but this one was one of few that i had a hard time with gives i spit on your grave a run for it's money just outright bloody disgusting and slightly offensive !!!END OF SPOILER!!!

also on the DVD version that i watched audio sucked so bad except for the commentary which was crystal clear the characters even the good guys weren't really human they seemed to have few emotions or interesting traits the saddest thing about this whole affair though was the great title sequence which really just set the film up for failure and there were a few okay kills with some rather good gore a bowling ball polishing machine gag is brought to mind i don't know Torched was way better see that instead

only watch if hardcore otherwise complete waste of time 5/10

Fun, 80s style exploitation from the director of Torched.

[BA_Harrison · 8/10 · 15 May 2008]

***This review is of the 'balls-out' uncut edition of Gutterballs***

Ryan Nicholson, the man responsible for the excellent, ultra-sick rape/revenge short Torched, returns to that same genre for Gutterballs, this time delivering a full-length feature that draws inspiration from the gory slasher flicks of the 80s. It's not the first film in recent years to look to the rich past of exploitation movies for ideas—Grindhouse, Hatchet, and Doomsday have all sought to emulate 'classics' from the less respected side of cinema—but, although it is not without its drawbacks (more about that later), it is Nicholson's offering that comes the closest to capturing that authentic vintage vibe.

Set in a bowling alley after closing hours, Gutterballs sees a psycho named BBK (short for Bowling Bag Killer) hacking and slashing his way through the members of two rival bowling teams who are taking part in a midnight grudge match. Could the appearance of BBK have anything to do with the vicious gang-rape that took place in the very same bowling alley the previous evening? Well, duh!!!

Nicholson, a director who has proved in the past that he is not afraid to explore the extreme depths of bad taste in order to realise his twisted visions, once again attempts to prove that he considers almost nothing too sick to capture on film. The gang-rape scene is the first evidence that this film is going for broke in the nastiness stakes: it's a truly sickening and relentless attack that is genuinely hard to stomach, but it sure makes you want to see the perpetrators get what they deserve (which, of course, they do).

And if the gang-rape isn't enough to convince you that Nicholson means business, then the first few killings should make matters crystal clear: a couple are killed whilst performing a graphic '69', and a transvestite is choked on a bowling pin and given a messy make-shift sex change (all in sickeningly bloody close-up!). Once those scenes are over, there's no denying that Gutterballs is a truly 'balls-out' horror film.

As I have already mentioned, however, the film is not without its weaknesses. The pacing of the film is rather poor, with the first half lacking gore (most of the juicy stuff is saved for the last half hour), and many scenes are way too talky. The cast seemingly improvise much of their dialogue, causing the action to frequently get bogged down in a deluge of inane chat littered with expletives (surely this film holds some kind of record for the amount of times the F-bomb is dropped). Also, much of the humour is rather juvenile, with a goofy, talking, ball-waxing machine being particularly grating (at least until it removes one character's face!).

Improvements could have also been made to the end of the film, where we finally find out the true identity of BBK: it's a rather over-complicated denouement that quickly becomes confusing.

Still, even with these negative points, Gutterballs is a unique and entertaining piece of indie sleaze destined to become a cult favourite amongst those film fans that like their horror extremely depraved with a warped sense of fun.

Since I gave Torched 8/10, and slightly preferred that film's more nihilistic approach, I will rate Gutterballs a still-very-decent 7.5/10 (which I am happy to round up to 8 for IMDb anyway, 'cos the film has a cool rock soundtrack—April Wine fans, raise your fists!).

What A Way To Go...

[azathothpwiggins · 10 January 2022]

GUTTERBALLS is a slasher-splatter-comedy movie set in that hotbed of intrigue and terror, a bowling alley.

Two hideously annoying bowling teams square off while a murdering maniac bumps them off one by one in various gushy ways, including: decapitation, sexual mutilation, and facial disintegration via bowling ball polisher.

If you're not a fan of blood spraying everywhere or silly porn, then this might not be a good fit. However, if you crave insane gore, have a demented sense of humor, and don't mind a barrage of perverse homicides, then this could be your dream come true!

The operative word here is: overkill...

i've noticed some kind of balls

[trashgang · 6/10 · 12 January 2009]

Being a member of fangoria i noticed a few months ago a review of this flick. Not aware of what we could expect it was written that there was an uncut hardcore version of this flick. Running down a horrorconvention I grapped my copy of Gutterballs, the full uncut hardcore, I noticed it cause the cover reminded me of Maniac. Well, for me hardcore means hardcore and make me think of seeing the real private parts. Also the film was 20 minutes longer then the cut version, hardcore remember. So, yes, the first 5 minutes it's already happening, Lisa shows her fox when bending over, and it's over with the hardcore. The rape isn't gory or explicit as it should have been, she only is nude from above. You never see the intercause. Anyway, the hardcore is a kind of promostunt I guess. Yeah, there are some dicks shown but you can see that in Hollywood productions too. Lisa is one of the main actors and it's obvious that she can't act, her only acting talent is showing her melons and ... the language used is offending with in every sentence the four letter word. So bad acting by some actors, but the script is okay, it's an homage to the 80's slasher. So don't expect a script that make your mind works, it's sit back and enjoy. And you will enjoy it, it has the slasher elements in it, only missing one, the first person shots but it contains, gore, slashing and of course the nudity. It is just on the line of boredom sometimes but the killings are all over the film, the best on the end. You can guess who's the killer but mostly in those good old slashers you know it immediately. A low budget one too, when they show the pit were all the dead bodies are, you see a stomach go up and down due to breathing or Lisa doesn't wear any underwear while bending over, when she is raped in the same scene, suddenly she's wearing underwear . But don't mind that, if you are an 80's fan, go find you a copy, you will see all kind of hard and soft balls.

Heads will bowl...

[paul_haakonsen · 5/10 · 1 January 2016]

Looking past the questionable audio and image quality of this movie, then "Gutterballs" is an enjoyable, albeit corny, campy and simple, slasher movie. It did score points for being unique and different. For a slasher movie, though, the movie was lacking an interesting and stylish killer. Yes, there was a killer, but the design of the costume was just stupid.

The storyline is very, very simple; a group of young people get trapped in a bowling hall with a rampart killer.

While the killer in the movie was very plain and silly, then the movie does have a heap of blood and gore, as well as good ways that some people are killed. And that is what makes the movie watchable.

It should be said that there is an excessive amount of cursing, foul language and the f-word is almost in every single sentence. So if you are offended by such language, then you should perhaps skip on watching "Gutterball".

The characters were generic and lacking characteristics and memorability. As such, you don't really connect with the characters and roles, and they are but mere fodder for the killer. Except for Steve who you just hate right away.

"Gutterballs" is fun enough for a single viewing, just don't expect anything groundbreaking.