WRESTLE MANIAC

Six attractive youths travel through sunny Mexico in their van. We get pot-smoking Jimbo (Zack Bennett, THE UTOPIAN), fat cameraman and wrestling buff Steve (Jeremy Radin, BAR STARZ), wannabe porno director Alphonse (Adam Huss, SUGAR CREEK) and three aspiring porn starlets - Daisy (Catherine Wreford), Jimbo's sister Debbie (Margaret Scarborough) and Dallas (Leyla Razzari).

They're looking for a location to shoot their porn film, but have taken a wrong turn and are now completely lost. Stopping at a disused gas station so Debbie can pee, they meet the owner who warns them that they're miles from anywhere and the nearest town is the legendary La Sangre De Dios (The Blood of Christ) - and warns them from travelling there.

Alphonse and Steve, then, insist that the group drive straight there. Along the way, Steve tells the others that the place is apparently a ghost town. It is also, he tells them, where the world's greatest ever wrestler El Mascarada was dumped when he went crazy and started killing people many moons ago.

Before long the group find the town and break into it. It's not much longer before Alphonse and the girls are getting on in a derelict bar while Steve films the action.

Mid-shoot, Daisy becomes nauseous and wanders off to spew. She wanders a fair old way away from her friends until she is confronted by ... something.

When Jimbo goes looking for Daisy (he's only concerned because she's carrying his weed), he too disappears.

The others aren't too perturbed by their friends' absences, or the fact that their van won't start, until they happen upon Jimbo - with his face torn off. Steve warns the others that this was the classic trait of El Mascarado: he ripped the masks of his opponents off after defeating them.

Sure enough, the big fella (professional wrestler Rey Misterio Sr) turns up to get violent with the remaining group.

First-time director Jesse Baget's WRESTLE MANIAC is dumb fun with its tongue firmly wedged in its cheek. It's also a briskly paced, compactly told yarn, clocking in at less than an hour and a quarter.

Well-shot and making good use of its gorgeous sun-hued Mexican locations, WRESTLE MANIAC looks extremely attractive. It helps too that the young cast are easy on the eye - the three girls are clearly cast for their potential to live up to the "porn star wannabe" roles!

Okay, the plot is pure hokum and doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. Nor is it original: teens fall off the map and end up as bait for a psycho in weirdsville? But it's the content that's all-important in a film like this. And there's plenty of bronzed female flesh, pert breasts and gushing gore to please most.

Probably enjoyed best with a couple of friends and a few beers, WRESTLE MANIAC is a well-made low-budget contemporary horror along the lines of 2001 MANIACS, that gets surprisingly graphic in a couple of places.

There's a neat downbeat ending to it too ...

The film is presented by Revolver in its uncensored state, in 1.85:1. It's been enhanced for 16x9 TV sets. The picture is flawless, really sharp and slick, to match the polished visual style of the movie.

The English 2.0 audio does a similarly fine job.

An attractive animated main menu gives way to a less interesting static scene selection menu, allowing access to the film via 12 chapters.

There's no extras, just 'forced' trailers as the disc loads up. These are for THE KILLING FLOOR and ARE YOU SCARED?

Inoffensive and unlikely to make your Top 10 list, but enjoyable low-budget nonsense with it's fair share of gore, gals and visual polish. Worth a rent.

Review by Stuart Willis