When it comes to movies, sports hasn’t always fared that well. Sure, there have been some emotion-laden, rags-to-riches stories that have tugged at the heartstrings over the years. But it seems as though directors can’t always get the details right enough for sports fans without losing the drama needed to please movie fans.
But when you introduce horror into the mix, the result tends to be gory, bloody and action-packed. There might not be too many films that fall perfectly into the sports-horror crossover genre but here are five of the best ever made. By the way, you won’t find the sports teams featured in these films on any of the online sports betting sites.
Rollerball, 1975
This is probably the most well known film on the list. Directed by Norman Jewison – of In the Heat of Night fame – Rollerball stars James Caan as the captain of a team who is forced out of the game when it degrades to senseless violence and members of Caan’s team are killed.
Caan’s character is bribed to leave the sport and discovers that Rollerball is turning into a game to the death. He returns for one last appearance, where there is more violence, but refuses to kill his opponent and scores the only point of the game to the rapturous reception of the crowd.
Gutterball, 2008
This one is not so much a sports team horror, as a slasher movie that uses bowling (technically a sport!) as the background to a deranged serial killer’s rampage of evil. A brutal ra*e starts the whole thing off and from there it lurches into more gory murders being committed at a late night bowling alley.
The reception to this graphically violent and sexually explicit falls broadly into two camps. It is either praised as an ultra-weird slice of slasher-gore, or derided for its bad acting and questionable content. There were enough fans for a sequel, Balls Deep, to be released in 2015 though.
Monster Brawl, 2011
You may now have seen a pattern emerging with the titles of these sports-horror crossovers. Featuring a cast of relatively well know, mainly Canadian actors, Monster Brawl brings together eight classic monsters – think Frankenstein’s Monster and Zombie Man – in an action-packed wrestling competition.
The bouts are predictable brutal and we get to see the backstories of all the competitors before each fight. There is blood and gore galore as the eight fighters are whittled down to the final two. Not to give anything away – but the end of the championship title fight only raises the possibility of more violence.
Downhill, 2016
This Chilean film could be classified as a thriller more than an action-packed sports horror. But there are enough elements of the latter to allow it to be included in this list. The story follows a bike star who agrees to one last race but gets more than he bargains for on a test run with his girlfriend.
As they make their descent into the scenic Chilean wilderness – caught with stunning GoPro footage and cinematography – they meet a man dying of a mysterious virus. They are then hounded by a group of killers keen to keep their secret in the mountains.
Fatal Games, 1984
This movie has also been known as The Killing Touch and Olympic Nightmare and comes from the classic 1980s slasher film mold. The plot centers on a high school gymnastics team that is attempting to make the nationals – but comes up against a homicidal maniac.
The black tracksuit-clad killer stalks his prey and kills them one by one with a javelin – we did say these were sports horrors after all. The team must discover the killer’s identity before everyone is permanently and fatally injured.
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