Ball of Wax (2003)

Director:

Daniel Kraus

Writer:

Daniel Kraus (writer)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

It's time to level the playing field.

Plot:

An evil baseball player turns the game into a blood sport by pitting his teammates against one another in violent competitions.

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Mark Mench	...	Bret Packard
Justin Smith	...	Tod Ellis
Traci Dinwiddie	...	Nat Packard
Cullen Moss	...	Ricky Sparks
Daniel Morris	...	Jimmy Ingels
Kevin Scanlon	...	Sal Reilly
Larry Tobias	...	Bob Tower
Jason Davis	...	Dickie Gold
Stephanie Wallace	...	Becky
Elizabeth Roberts	...	June
Tyhm Kennedy	...	Alex Foster
Tom Huff	...	Jacob Moss
William Flaman	...	Francis Filmore
Rob Piper	...	Jed Pierson
Griffin Lyle	...	Andy Packard
Stacy Edmunds	...	Marnie
Shane Callahan	...	Drug Kid
David Schifter	...	Mysterious Reporter
Zach Hanner	...	Angry Fan
André B. Walker	...	Chucky Blank (as Andre Walker)
Shaun Mitchell	...	Cop Voice
Robert Longstreet	...	Cop Voice
Peyton Warren	...	Radio Commentator
Bob Edwards	...	Stadium Announcer

Directed by
Daniel Kraus

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Daniel Kraus		writer

Produced by
Ed Blakely	....	consulting producer
Jason Davis	....	producer
Daniel Kraus	....	producer
Damian Lahey	....	producer
Craig Ouellette	....	associate producer
Allen Serkin	....	producer
Onur Tukel	....	associate producer

Original Music by
Eric Bachmann

Cinematography by
Michael Caporale

Film Editing by
Daniel Kraus

Casting by
John Staton

Art Direction by
Lars Fisk

Makeup Department
Duane Saylor	....	key makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Craig Rogers	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Jennifer Bartlett	....	assistant art director

Sound Department
Michael Piotrowski	....	boom operator

Stunts
Dino Muccio	....	assistant stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
David Harmon	....	electrician
Simone Lueck	....	still photographer

Other crew
Loreto C. Claustro	....	production assistant (as Lorie Claustro)

Production Companies

• Go Pictures

Distributors

• Go Kart Films (2005) (worldwide) (DVD)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Filming Locations:

Raleigh, North Carolina, USA

Company:

Go Pictures

Ugly drama about narcissism at its worst and baseball is just an afterthought.

A baseball movie about a sociopath....but it can't be both at the same time, so which path does it take? It takes the sociopath path which is not a bad path to take in movies...but it's not a very strong path to take when you're limited with your budget (it's a B-movie, period) and you decide to take only 90 minutes of viewing pleasures for your audience. Sociopaths are very complex creatures that none of us (even the best of psychologists and psychiatrists) can figure out completely. The main character is played with a convincing menace and laissez-faire attitude by Mark Mench that you can't help but be drawn in to his struggle to bring everyone else around him down to his level of pure hatred and narcissism. Too bad it's full of dialog that is unreal and too theatrical. Too bad that it does not concentrate moreso on the baseball aspect than the staged settings. Too bad it just doesn't work overall. It's a very dark and brooding film about a very disturbed individual who is determined to bring everyone else around him (including a fictional baseball team of which he is one of the best baseball players of all time) down to a level that is beyond the seven levels of hell imagined by Dante. It's an okay movie, but the ending especially ruined it with its liaise-faire attitude of "fuck the viewer, I'm tired and I'm just gonna end this movie with a cliché ending that ties into a previous moment halfway through this movie...yeah it's supposed to be significant, but only on a superficial level." And for that attitude and ending that the director, Daniel Kraus, gives to us...well, I have to give to you a big "fuck you." Look elsewhere for any type of baseball or sociopath movie, unless you're bored and completely full of narcissism of the deepest levels. So much promise, too much self-pleasure by Kraus.