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.
9 Reviews
Paintball!
BandSAboutMovies2 October 2021
Warning: Spoilers
Glenn R. Wilder is a stunt guy. Maybe he thought he could be Hal Needham and direct. This movie is the result, one of the few slashers that has guns in it - at least on the cover. And until Paintball Massacre came out in 2020, this was the only paintball slasher I could think of, unless you count Hostile Intent, Backwoods, Gotcha!, Rampage, The Zero Boys and Tag the Assassination Game.
Jeremy Hawk (Jeff Moldovan, who also wrote this) is a PTSD-having Vietnam vet who wants to win the Master Blaster Grand Championship - the movie can't decide if it is Master Blaster or Masterblaster which drives me crazy - and get the $50,000 prize, which is big enough that someone is killing everyone else to win.
There's also a scene where a bunch of dudes accuses our hero of having AIDS and then try to beat him up, reminding me that 1987 was many thousands of years away from being non-problematic.
The other players - and maybe one of them is the killer - are martial arts expert Yamada the Shadow Warrior, bodyguard De Angelo, headshrinker Laura, rocker Lewis and a cop named Samantha whose last partner didn't just die...his head got blown up real good and she tried to put it back together.
Can one find love, money and meaning through paintball? Or Masterblaster? Or Master Blaster? I watched it and believe that it can be yours, my friend.
Jeremy Hawk (Jeff Moldovan, who also wrote this) is a PTSD-having Vietnam vet who wants to win the Master Blaster Grand Championship - the movie can't decide if it is Master Blaster or Masterblaster which drives me crazy - and get the $50,000 prize, which is big enough that someone is killing everyone else to win.
There's also a scene where a bunch of dudes accuses our hero of having AIDS and then try to beat him up, reminding me that 1987 was many thousands of years away from being non-problematic.
The other players - and maybe one of them is the killer - are martial arts expert Yamada the Shadow Warrior, bodyguard De Angelo, headshrinker Laura, rocker Lewis and a cop named Samantha whose last partner didn't just die...his head got blown up real good and she tried to put it back together.
Can one find love, money and meaning through paintball? Or Masterblaster? Or Master Blaster? I watched it and believe that it can be yours, my friend.
Blaster, but no Master.
gridoon23 February 2003
War games with paintball guns turn lethal when an unknown maniac starts picking off the participants one by one. Bottom-of-the-barrel action fare, with a cast of actors you've never heard before or since, directed by a man who never directed another film, before or since. Wait till you hear the killer's motivation; it will make you fall off your seat (or bed). A solid 0 out of 4.
Not bad if you like cheesy 80's flicks
doctorhogan2 September 2007
This movie isn't for everyone. Going in, I expected it to be a 'bad' movie, really that's why I bought it. It was $1 by the way, my local video store went out of business so I bought like 20 tapes. But, bad as it is, it was still fun for me to watch.
Two things that bothered was the police woman asking the Vietnam dude if he really killed women and children in Nam. Well...if they just met a few hours ago, they only announced he was 'a real killer' in the war at the meeting, and the guy is a loner, how the hell does she know this? Also, the ending is pretty stupid. But, I laughed because of how corny it was. The theme song is pretty sweet too.
Worth a rental if you're into obscure 80s movies with poor acting, weak plots, and clichéd characters. My only misfortune is that the video store I bought this from was the only good one around here and Blockbuster doesn't rent stuff like this.
Two things that bothered was the police woman asking the Vietnam dude if he really killed women and children in Nam. Well...if they just met a few hours ago, they only announced he was 'a real killer' in the war at the meeting, and the guy is a loner, how the hell does she know this? Also, the ending is pretty stupid. But, I laughed because of how corny it was. The theme song is pretty sweet too.
Worth a rental if you're into obscure 80s movies with poor acting, weak plots, and clichéd characters. My only misfortune is that the video store I bought this from was the only good one around here and Blockbuster doesn't rent stuff like this.
Cheap thriller
Knight Of The Cross6 September 1999
For the first time I watched this movie ten years ago and then I thought that this one is great. Well, in that time I was 7 years old and each primitive movie was a great for me. Two months ago I watched "Master Blaster" again, but only now I understand as far as this movie stupid and absurd. It's more looks like thriller than action.
I Love This Movie!
blurnieghey19 September 2020
First and foremost, this movie has one of the greatest title tracks ever produced. Be warned for, if you have never seen this movie, the Masterblaster theme song will likely be etched into your brain until your dying day, should you choose to watch. It's just that good.
I've watched this stupid thing countless times and I have to admit that I love this movie. In fact, it is one of my all-time favorites. All the characters are over the top cheesy, serious 80's action flick stereotypes to the hilt, and they even had the courtesy of starting the movie with the redneck bar fight scene, rather than wait 20 or 30 minutes into the movie, like most action flicks do. They don't mess around! And the ending? Spectacular! One of the best ever! If you are a fan of 80's action schlock, I can't recommend this one enough.
I've watched this stupid thing countless times and I have to admit that I love this movie. In fact, it is one of my all-time favorites. All the characters are over the top cheesy, serious 80's action flick stereotypes to the hilt, and they even had the courtesy of starting the movie with the redneck bar fight scene, rather than wait 20 or 30 minutes into the movie, like most action flicks do. They don't mess around! And the ending? Spectacular! One of the best ever! If you are a fan of 80's action schlock, I can't recommend this one enough.
Bloody paintball.
HumanoidOfFlesh9 August 2010
A group of assassination game participants go to some woods in Florida to play.Quickly people start getting eliminated for real by an unknown killer and it's up to Vienam vet Jeff Moldovan to stop the violence.Low-budget survival thriller/slasher movie with cheesy sequences and amusing comic relief.There is an obligatory shower scene that ends in strangling,a pretty bloody decapitation and some nicely choreographed fights.I highly doubt that "Masterblaster" will be ever released on DVD,so grab the VHS copy and treasure it.Overall,if you liked "Gotcha","The Zero Boys","TAG" or more recent "Paintball" check out "Masterblaster".7 out of 10.
"Welcome To Masterblaster!"
tarbosh2200014 February 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Somewhere in the wilds of Florida, the "First Annual Master Blaster Grand National Championships" is going on. Here, the best people in the world at paintball (truly something to be proud of in life) assemble to win the fifty thousand dollar prize. But something sinister is afoot. Someone in their midst is using real weapons and killing off these "weekend warriors" for real. Will the Vietnam Vet loner/drifter Jeremy Hawk (Moldovan) be able to save the day, meanwhile romancing the ex-cop with a tragedy in her past, Samantha Rosen (Rosea)? A clear attempt to marry the prevailing 80's trends of paintball and wilderness horror movies best exemplified by most of the Friday the 13th series, with a dash of Romps thrown in for good measure as exemplified by some of the crude and juvenile summer-camp humor, Masterblaster truly exemplifies the phrase "jack of all trades but master of none" and fails at providing fans of any of these three things with what they really want. But that's not to say the movie is a failure. The way we see it, these malformed elements place it in a unique position to be an underground 80's classic. The ridiculous music (check out the awesome title song by Ezo Hernandez), hair and clothes, not to mention the absurd cast of characters, provides entertaining fun for most of its running time.
Speaking of some of the crazy characters (the movie is a character study if nothing else), we have Moldovan as Jeremy Hawk (not Jay Sherman's friend from The Critic), a man who really knows how to look at stuff. His reaction shots are priceless and worth the price of admission right there. As this is a "rural" movie, we have menacing redneck Leon (Antoni Corone), Snake and Monk (George Gill & St. George, respectively), the Cheech and Chong of the film. Many of the competitors have painted-on beards, which seems odd for the people that are supposedly the best in the world at this activity. There's Yoshimitsu Yamada as Yamada, "The Shadow Warrior", a nod to the Ninja Boom going on at the time. The "Oriental" music on the soundtrack every time he appears could be described as ill-advised, if not downright racist. Speaking of the soundtrack, there's bizarre, funny male operatic vocals that appear at times. Just weird.
There are others vying for the top paintball spot, but top, top honors go to Ray Forchion as Lincoln. He steals the movie with his hilarious performance. The man really stands up for his Kobe beef.
It's silly, there's funny dancing, alliances between paintballers (or "blasters" as they are called), and it all has a Young Warriors (1983)-style schizophrenia to it. It's pretty clear the filmmakers had no real grasp of what makes things suspenseful or interesting, but that's what makes Masterblaster so engaging. In the grand tradition of other "paintball gone wrong" movies such as TAG: The Assassination Game (1982), Gotcha! (1985), Hostile Intent (1997), and Backwoods (2008) , Masterblaster is recommended, even with its flaws, for Moldovan's stare, the performance of Ray Forchion, and all the 80's goodness it provides.
NOTE: Masterblaster was released on VHS in the U.S. by Prism. The box states the running time is 95 minutes, but it is actually 80 minutes.
For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
Speaking of some of the crazy characters (the movie is a character study if nothing else), we have Moldovan as Jeremy Hawk (not Jay Sherman's friend from The Critic), a man who really knows how to look at stuff. His reaction shots are priceless and worth the price of admission right there. As this is a "rural" movie, we have menacing redneck Leon (Antoni Corone), Snake and Monk (George Gill & St. George, respectively), the Cheech and Chong of the film. Many of the competitors have painted-on beards, which seems odd for the people that are supposedly the best in the world at this activity. There's Yoshimitsu Yamada as Yamada, "The Shadow Warrior", a nod to the Ninja Boom going on at the time. The "Oriental" music on the soundtrack every time he appears could be described as ill-advised, if not downright racist. Speaking of the soundtrack, there's bizarre, funny male operatic vocals that appear at times. Just weird.
There are others vying for the top paintball spot, but top, top honors go to Ray Forchion as Lincoln. He steals the movie with his hilarious performance. The man really stands up for his Kobe beef.
It's silly, there's funny dancing, alliances between paintballers (or "blasters" as they are called), and it all has a Young Warriors (1983)-style schizophrenia to it. It's pretty clear the filmmakers had no real grasp of what makes things suspenseful or interesting, but that's what makes Masterblaster so engaging. In the grand tradition of other "paintball gone wrong" movies such as TAG: The Assassination Game (1982), Gotcha! (1985), Hostile Intent (1997), and Backwoods (2008) , Masterblaster is recommended, even with its flaws, for Moldovan's stare, the performance of Ray Forchion, and all the 80's goodness it provides.
NOTE: Masterblaster was released on VHS in the U.S. by Prism. The box states the running time is 95 minutes, but it is actually 80 minutes.
For more insanity, please visit: comeuppancereviews.com
Uneventful survival games opus
lor_17 March 2023
My review was written in July 1987 after watching the movie on Prism video cassette.
Currently in regional release ahead of its home video destiny, "Masterblaster" is another entry in the stillborn genre of mock killing games that get out of hand (e.g., "TAG: The Assassination Game", "Gotcha" or "The Zero Boys").
Jeff Moldovan (who also co-scripted) plays Jeremy Hawk, a Vietnam ve involved in a tournament to decide who is masterblaster, the best at a survival/fortune hunt course in which losers are shot with red paint rather than bullets. Of course, a madman is on the loose, killing the participas for real. Despite humorous red herrings, including Hawk's rumored background of war atrocities, killer's identity is fairly easy to guess, though his motives are unbelievable when finally revealed.
Low-budget actioner shot in Florida is heavy on talk. Typical of recent pictures in which stunt persons figure prominently both behind and in front of the camera, pic's acting is flat, particularly that of taciturn lead Moldovan. Several false endings in which characters thought to be dead turn out to be still kicking come off as extremely hokey.
Currently in regional release ahead of its home video destiny, "Masterblaster" is another entry in the stillborn genre of mock killing games that get out of hand (e.g., "TAG: The Assassination Game", "Gotcha" or "The Zero Boys").
Jeff Moldovan (who also co-scripted) plays Jeremy Hawk, a Vietnam ve involved in a tournament to decide who is masterblaster, the best at a survival/fortune hunt course in which losers are shot with red paint rather than bullets. Of course, a madman is on the loose, killing the participas for real. Despite humorous red herrings, including Hawk's rumored background of war atrocities, killer's identity is fairly easy to guess, though his motives are unbelievable when finally revealed.
Low-budget actioner shot in Florida is heavy on talk. Typical of recent pictures in which stunt persons figure prominently both behind and in front of the camera, pic's acting is flat, particularly that of taciturn lead Moldovan. Several false endings in which characters thought to be dead turn out to be still kicking come off as extremely hokey.
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