Masterblaster (1987)

A paintball tournament goes from a fun, exciting weekend to an exercise in survival when someone starts killing the competitors.

Director:

Glenn R. Wilder

Writers:

Randy Grinter (story), Randy Grinter (screenplay),

Stars:

Jeff Moldovan, Donna Rosea, Joe Hess

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jeff Moldovan	...	Jeremy Hawk
Donna Rosea	...	Samantha Rosen
Joe Hess	...	De Angelo
Robert Goodman	...	Mike
Richard St. George	...	Monk
George Gill	...	Snake
Peter Lundblad	...	Lewis
Earleen Carey	...	Laura
R.J. Reynolds	...	Jimmy Roy
Julian Byrd	...	Gary Lee
Ron Burgs	...	Bobby Jo
Tracy Hutchinson	...	Lisa
Bill Wohrman	...	Brad (as Bill Whorman)
Raymond Forchion	...	Lincoln (as Ray Forchion)
Yoshimitsu Yamada	...	Yamada

Storyline

The national 'Gotcha' championship brings a variety of queer fellows together. A Vietnam veteran always looking for adventure, a female police officer with a trauma, because she once could not shoot in the right moment, a Japanese martial-arts master always looking for the opportunity to train his skills as well as some people who wish nothing more as to get the 50,000 dollars which await the winner. All in all it could be an exciting weekend, when suddenly the game becomes reality as someone is shooting live rounds.

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Plot Keywords:

survival | tournament | paintball | gotcha | soldier | 

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Genres:

Action | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

July 1987 (USA)

Also Known As:

Masterblaster - Kontra me to thanato

Filming Locations:

Florida, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Overseas Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min 80 min (video)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

User Reviews

More 80's than anything you've ever seen!

You've probably never heard of this before and there's a good reason for that. The IMDb also lists very few user-comments and external reviews and, once again, there's a very good reason for that, too. The only people who accidentally stumbled upon a copy of "Masterblaster" probably just watched it because the title sounded cool and the VHS cover art looked cheesy enough to guarantee undemanding 80's entertainment. Well, surely this prototypical 80's guff keeps you entertained, but for all the wrong reasons. The soundtrack is atrocious, people have the weirdest and absolute most flamboyant hairstyles, the plot is utterly senseless (just wait until you witness the final twist!) and the one-dimensional characters are all such losers you hope none of them will survive. "Masterblaster" is a movie about grown up people participating in a paintball-tournament for money. A never before seen collection of stereotypes (including the introvert loner on his bike, the meditating oriental guy, the drunken redneck trio and a long list of others…) gather for the national "Master Blaster" finale in the Southern woods to 'kill' each other with toy guns and bullets of red paints until there's only one contestant left to take home the $50.000. Needless to say someone's taking the game and his/her competition a little too serious and starts eliminating the players with slightly more effective weapons. The set-up, and in fact the entire film is somewhat similar to "TAG: The Assassination Game" (Nick Castle, 1982). Sadly enough both movies largely ignore the horror/thriller elements of the potentially suspenseful concept and go straight for clichéd situations and goofy humor. "Master Blaster" actually just turns into a survival thriller – and not even a very compelling one – after more than 45 minutes of drunken jokes and terrible shots of idiots spontaneously dancing to the most horrid 80's tunes you've ever heard. But, in spite of all the ineptitude you'll at least have to admit that the script tries hard to uphold the "mystery" regarding the killer's identity and motivations. There are several miserable excuses for red herrings, like vengeful hillbillies and romances of the past, but it's all just a little too obviously misleading. Besides, the eventual denouement is so unbelievably stupid (downright retarded, in fact) that nobody in their right state of mind could ever predict it. Okay, this is really bad stuff, but I have to admit it was fun to watch. At least the film is never boring and it's undeniably charming to see enthusiast amateur 80's actors try their best and yet still fail. There's also a bit of nudity, although it's always the wrong chick who takes her top off, and – as stated before – the soundtrack is just priceless.