REVIEW - Kill City Cup (Directed by Luke Robert)

At the MegaFlix Film Awards we have always championed independent films of all genres and styles, with a special affection for the world of ‘sports entertainment’ and pro-wrestling inspired content. Our jury has even included producers of the long-running world-renowned smash-hit TV shows WWE: Monday Night RAW and WWE: Friday Night SmackDown – so when ‘Kill City Cup’ was submitted, there were high hopes and intrigue behind the scenes here.

Touting itself as a science-fiction action comedy, with a cast which includes several familiar faces and well-known names from shows like WWE: Monday Night RAW and WWE: Friday Night SmackDown, but also Ring of Honor, All Elite Wrestling and Lucha Underground (as well as a few others) – this film certainly promises to pack a punch!

Kill City Cup, written by Luke Robert, Paul Glantz, Chris Scoville (TNA iMPACT! Wrestling, WWE: Monday Night RAW), Rye Mullis (Were the World Mine, Meow), Jon Thornhill is a primal and gritty presentation which will be appreciated by those who harbour a nostalgic love of the 90s ECW style television programmes. There isn't much of a plot or character development within the movie, which plays out like a retro PPV filmed in the bowels of a futuristic industrial hellscape.

Brian Edward Kahrs (American Ninja Warrior, Guinness World Records Gone Wild, Outlast, House of Blood) takes the helm as the authority figure Mr. Kill, a quasi 'Vinnie Mac', presiding over "America's MOST BADASS Tournament", and as the action unfolds, he continues to appear on-screen to inject large doses of comedic melodrama and rubber-faced theatrics to the proceedings.

Viewers are also treated to on-screen in-ring apprearances from an all-star cast of pro-wrestling and sports entertainment icons, including none other than a former incarnation of the legendary He-Man, defender of Grayskull in Brian Button (Fall of Grayskull, Conundrum: Secrets Among Friends, All Elite Wrestling, TNA iMPACT! Wrestling), who is joined by Queen Gia Love (Selfgags, Swimsuit Bondage, Cannibal Claus, MILF GiGi's Bondage Fantasies, Matthew Corklan (WWE: Monday Night RAW, WWE: Friday Night SmackDown, WWE Superstars, All Elite Wrestling, TNA iMPACT! Wrestling, Ring of Honor), April Hunter (WCW Monday Nitro, TNA iMPACT! Wrestling, The Meat Puppet, Gravedigger) and Natalia Markova (All Elite Wrestling, NWA USA, The CruciFire, Lolipop Gang). The action is fast-paced and all 'competitors' deliver in the ring, with an array of high-octane stunts and knock-out visual fun.

Cinephiles and film fans who chance upon this hoping for an intricate storyline and complex narrative will be sorely disappointed however, but that is not the point of Kill City Cup - it is a violent stunt show, a visual showcase of physical theatrics, a nostalgic callback to the punk-rock inspired era of 90s backyard wrestling, presented as a post-apocalyptic sci-fi gameshow - and it is aimed predominantly at a very specific audience: the Jackass generation, those who lived through the 'Monday Night Wars' rooting for the underdog promotion of ECW, flipping channels, trading tapes, and attending the live shows.

Kill City Cup echoes the sense of excitement from backyard and DIY promotions and of the early output from Glasgow’s beloved Insane Championship Wrestling, managing to capture a similar flavour of violent theatrical mayhem, over-the-top (and over-the-top-rope) fun, laced with a dash of comedy, a pinch of showmanship and a smidgen of bad language. The ‘commentary’ is a bit cheesy in places and seems to come outta nowhere in a clunky manner, which isn’t necessarily a criticism - for those well-acquainted and endeared to the unique cocktail of pro-wrestling, sports entertainment and computer games will be instantly cast back to their misspent youth, with this appearing to be a deliberate and amusing parody of the commentary we all came to know and love on early wrestling games on consoles like the PlayStation.

Kill City Cup is not to be taken too seriously, and is great fun for fans of professional wrestling and sports entertainment, with impressive stunts and a stellar cast. This movie will be most enjoyed by film fans who are or have been regular viewers of weekly episodic sports entertainment or wrestling shows, but will also be enjoyed by those who like watching combat sports, stunt shows, physical theatre, slapstick comedy, athletic competitions and gynmastic performances.

Score of 7/10.

WATCH THE FULL FILM BELOW!