Availability: I caught this film on “IFC in Theaters”, which is an On Demand channel that shows films on cable at the same time they are playing in small venues around the country. As of this writing there is no release date for a DVD/Blu-Ray.
The Skinny: As far as subject matter, the title speaks for itself for the most part, but this being a horror film what we get is a whole lot more. The film opens with a nice infomercial that explains what type of experience a person can expect from “Redball Woods”. I don’t know about anyone else, but if your infomercial looks like it is brought to from the same group who torture people in “Hostel”, I don’t know how excited I would be to join in the fun. Next we find a group of people riding in the back of a truck and getting ready to take on this outdoor experience. What they actually get though is a lesson in survival they will never forget, or they will, because they’ll be beyond caring (wink wink, nudge nudge, if you know what I mean). Don’t expect to get much of a paintball experience because things turn ugly pretty fast and after that we get yet another version of “The Most Dangerous Game”. Although to be fair this could also be derivative of any number of slasher films as well.
The Good: A high school buddy of mine and I used to play grape wars (slingshots and grapes), which graduated into paintball when we could purchase guns. This was before constant air and semi/fully automatic paint rifles. These were paint pistols and you had to use the little disposable CO2 canisters. We had a blast getting together with friends to play the classic “capture the flag” as well as simple “elimination” tournaments on weekends. We even snuck onto some land with an abandoned house and barn separated by a dry creek bed that was about the finest time I had playing the sport. What got me more than anything was how paranoia worked in the game, especially if you had point (recon). There is this constant fear that you’ve already been seen and are being tracked, when the reality was that most of the time if you didn’t see them, they didn’t see you. This type of fear is what this movie had going for it more than anything. That plus a Thermal Imaging gimmick that made for some pretty gruesome deaths that I think were more effective in the eerie white glow instead of in full color.
The Bad: What the movie didn’t have going for it was much sense. Maybe this was by design, but nothing seemed to have much of a point. I was reminded of another (superior) foreign film that had similar subject matter that came out in 2006 called “Severance”. “Paintball” is ultimately flawed by poor execution. It’s never fully explained what the “game within a game” is all about. One device in the film, which I won’t spoil, but needless to say it was a kind of puzzle turned out to be a complete dud. They show the pieces of this puzzle, and show how dangerous some of the parts are, but when it comes time to complete, it just falls apart (literally). Then there’s the ending which didn’t make any sense whatsoever. It reminded me of the original British ending (American “uncut”) of “The Descent”, although that at least made a sort of sense.
The Verdict: Worth a look for a horror geek, but normals will probably hate whoever made them watch it. Also, if you hate shakey cam, stay far far away.
Official Site: http://www.paintballthemovie.com/#/home
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