User reviews

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.

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.

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.

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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.

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" 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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

***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!).

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.

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.