From Infinity Film Studio and Boisterous Brothers Media, Paintball Massacre is the latest film to take the “what if this were to happen at a normal event” scenario and flip it on its head. Now on DVD, digital and on demand from Uncork’d Entertainment, Paintball Massacre follows a group of old friends who embark on a paintball road trip miles away from civilization, just after enjoying a somewhat awkward reunion. What better way to re-bond than to shoot each other with bullets of colorful paint. Things go terribly wrong, of course, when a masked serial killer joins their ranks and starts picking off the friendly shooters one by one. Starring Katy Brand, Robert Portal, Nicholas Vince, Lee Latchford-Evans, Cheryl Burniston, Lockhart Ogilvie and Natasha Killip, this film brings the horror from overseas (The UK) and plants it right in your living room. It’s exactly what I was expecting, which isn’t a negative thing at all, and is especially worthy of a digital stream!
Paintball Massacre is written by Chris Regan and directed by Darren Berry. It was produced by Joe Hallett and Brendan Carr, and finds cinematography by Ola Mesmer and editing by Daniel Jewell. Usually I take this time to expand on the positive/negative aspects of production, but honestly, this one was on it’s A-game; pun intended. Everything was on point, though the special effects were kind of hokey at times, and I spent part of my viewing thinking about principal photography and how long it took to shoot this baby with all the effort put in. A nostalgic soundtrack backs a movie that combines horror with the thriller-drama genre and the best part of that is it was executed with very little flaws. I will say, however, that Paintball Massacre would be enjoyed more as a Spring/Summer movie and not during the winter months. You need the atmosphere to fit the mood and the season, ya know?
It was pleasing to my experience as the viewer to see how Paintball Massacre deviated from the beaten path; also a pun. First, the target group is much larger than normal horror flicks and allowed for a much larger body count. That’s certainly a huge plus! And to expand on that, boom! Paintball Massacre starts the madness out of no where. Shocking! Throw in dry humor and sarcasm, as well as the deeper bonds that form during trauma, and this film from Chris Regan and Darren Berry has a lot more than meets the eye. And because this is a horror film, I will also mention that the order of deaths is far from stereotypical and will have you on the edge of your seat. Small pinches of originality is all it takes to set a movie away from the pack, to make it stand out, and that was accomplished here. The slow parts are few and far between, and you get exactly what you pay for.
A surprising and colorful splatterfest awaits you in a game of cat and mouse with one diabolical outcome.
Final Score: 7.5 out of 10
