Dark Match

Dark Match
Affiliate Ad

Content Advisory: Excessive or gratuitous violence

Film Info

FILM FESTIVAL
Blood in the Snow Blood in the Snow 2024


This Review Is an Expansion of Our Original Review Published as Part of Our Coverage of Fantasia 2024

The stars of a 1980s professional wrestling league find themselves part of a Satanic cult’s ritual in . SAW is a ragtag 1988 wrestling league managed by Rusty Beans () and featuring a roster of stars that includes Mean Joe Lean (), Lazarus Smashley (), Enigma Jones (), Miss Behave (), and her rival Kate the Great (). Rusty accepts a $50,000 offer to host a show at a rural compound. However, it soon turns out that this Lupercalica event is a Satanic sacrificial ritual run by The Prophet (), the former arch-rival of Mean Joe Lean.

Dark Match Synopsis

Dark Match is a professional wrestling-themed horror film written and directed by Lowell Dean (Wolfcop, Supergrid, Die Alone). The plot of the film finds the roster of a 1980s wrestling league lured to participate in a Satanic ritual, where the matches are fights to the death. Professional wrestling superstar Chris Jericho plays The Prophet, a former SAW star, who has now become a Satanic cult leader.

While typically viewed as the villains of the wrestling world, Lowell Dean decides to make the heels of SAW the protagonists of Dark Match. Leading the way is Ayisha Issa in a breakthrough role as Miss Behave, who shares a frenemy relationship with the promotion’s top female babyface Kate the Great, played by a scene-stealing Sara Canning (The Burning Season, Influencer). Miss Behave is in a romantic relationship with SAW’s top heel Mean Joe Lean, played by character actor Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead, Scared Shitless), who turns out to have a history with the mysterious Prophet.

My Thoughts on Dark Match

One of Lowell Dean’s inspirations for the plot of Dark Match is now he interpreted the fans of professional wrestling as akin to a cult, so he made a horror film that literalizes this fact. Dark Match features very little of the comedy from Dean’s debut film Wolfcop and is instead a very dark and violent film, with most of the matches ending in extremely gory fashion. The way the film is constructed, with each match being a different chapter, makes Dark Match similar to the earlier pro-wrestling-themed horror film Monster Brawl.

Despite being a horror filmmaker first and a wrestling fan second, Lowell Dean is able to replicate the atmosphere of pro wrestling’s heyday of the 1980s. This is particularly true in Dark Match‘s opening scene, featuring stereotypical pro-wrestling announcing performed by Dean regular Jonathan Cherry as the SAW promoter Rusty. Many of the wrestlers in the film are interpolations of 1980s stars, with Leo Fafard’s Lazarus Smashley being a type and the Road Warriors-like tag team The Beast Bros.

Dark Match standout performances by Ayisha Issa, Steven Ogg, and of course Chris Jericho. As The Prophet, Jericho isn’t merely a copy of his usual pro-wrestling persona, with the character having a sinister ulterior motive on top of his cult’s Satanic ritual. Featuring violent and gory action and an insane final moment, Dark Match is worth checking out for professional wrestling fans also into horror.

Watch Our Dark Match Red Carpet Interviews from the Fantasia 2024 Premiere

Trailer for Dark Match

61d8717dbd737f197e83017f9202a5ce?s=96&r=pg

Sean Patrick Kelly

Sean Patrick Kelly is a Toronto-based freelance film critic and blogger with a Bachelor of Arts in Cinema and Media Studies from York University. Since founding his site in 2004, Sean has shared his passion for cinema through insightful reviews and commentary. His work has also been featured in prominent outlets, including Toronto Film Scene, HuffPost Canada, Screen Anarchy, ScreenRant, and Rue Morgue Magazine.

Scroll to Top