| Blood Games | |
|---|---|
 VHS cover art | |
| Directed by | Tanya Rosenberg |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Story by |
|
| Starring | |
| Edited by | Rick Mitchell [1] |
| Music by | Greg Turner [1] |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | RCA/Columbia Pictures Home Video [1] |
Release date |
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Running time | 90 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Blood Games is a 1989 American exploitation film directed by Tanya Rosenberg and starring Gregory Cummins, Laura Albert, and Shelley Abblett. [2] The film concerns the plight of a stranded all-girl baseball team. [1] [3]
Plot
After Babe & the Ball Girls, a team of female softball players, trounces the local team, their travel bus breaks down in the woods. Attempting to hike to safety, they end up getting lost and the group is set upon by disgruntled fans of the losing team. They are beaten, raped and some murdered. They desperately fight back with baseball bats and guns.
Cast
- Laura Albert as Babe
- Ross Hagen as Midnight
- Ernest Wall as Vern
- Julie Hall as Stoney
- Luke Shay as Mino Collins
- Gregory Cummings as Roy Collins
- Shelley Abblett as Donna
- Don Dowe as Holt
- Rhyve Sawyer as Wanda
- Paula Manga as Louise
- Sabrina Hills as Connie
- Randi Randolph as Ingrid
- Sonjia Redd as Shorty
- Lisa Zambrano as Mickey
- Doc Willis as Ronnie
Reception
From contemporary reviews, Variety referred to the film as an "attractively packaged but uninteresting entry for vid fans" noting that Tanya Rosenberg's direction was "below par" and that the "cast is attractive but never convincing as athletes. Acting is generally poor." [1] Michael Weldon wrote the film suffers from having too many slow motion scenes, but declared it was "not as bad as it could have been". [3]
From retrospective reviews, John Kenneth Muir wrote in his book Horror Films of the 1990s that the film was "a horror movie that is more than just watchable. It's compelling, entertaining and scary. And, yes, entirely exploitive." [4] Muir compared the film to I Spit on Your Grave, stating that Blood Games "panders in true exploitation movie fashion" with long locker room and shower scenes but also with the way it exploits women's bodies it also makes a point that they are exploited creatures. [5] In discussing the chick flicks of the horror genre, author Philip Green wrote that Blood Games is "also the most visually erotic of the movies in this genre", [2]
Home media
In the 1990s, Blood Games was released on VHS. [6]
In 2020, a 2K restoration of Blood Games was released on Blu-ray by Vinegar Syndrome. [7]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Lor (1994). Variety TV REV 1991-92, review March 18 1991, 'Blood Games'. Vol. 17. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 0824037960. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ a b Green, Philip (1998). Cracks in the Pedestal: Ideology and Gender in Hollywood. Univ of Massachusetts Press. pp. 171, 240. ISBN 1558491201. Retrieved 5 January 2015.
- ^ a b Weldon, Michael (1996). "review 'Blood Games'". The Psychotronic Video Guide To Film. Macmillan. p. 64. ISBN 0312131496. Retrieved 5 January 2016.
- ^ Muir 2011, p. 60.
- ^ Muir 2011, p. 59.
- ^ VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever 1996. Visible Ink Press. 1995. p. 219. ISBN 0-7876-0626-X.
- ^ Orndorf, Brian (May 31, 2020). "Blood Games Blu-ray Review". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
Bibliography
- Muir, John Kenneth (2011). Horror Films of the 1990s. McFarland & Company. ISBN 978-0786484805.
External links
- Blood Games at IMDb
