I love horror movies, foreign films and baseball. So when I came across BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL at my rental store, I was elated. A Japanese zombie baseball flick? Excellent!
Or so I thought. For a horror movie, there's disappointingly little gore. For a foreign film, little insight into its land of origin. And why does a movie with "baseball" in its title have virtually no baseball action in it? (The "battle" mostly uses bats, while the "field" is in dire need of a grounds-keeper.) Is it wrong to complain about what a movie should have been, instead of what it is? I was curious to see the myriad ways one could defeat the undead on a baseball field generally within the games rules: Anticipating a line drive decapitating the pitcher, or a base-runner sliding into second with razors on his cleats, eviscerating a middle infielder while breaking up a double play.
But there's nothing like that here. There's also little sense of the game how it's played and revered in Japan, and the tiny differences I did notice I'm not sure I believe. Do they really employ cheerleaders? (Outside of the Florida Marlins, who should be ashamed of themselves, that's unheard of here in the States.) Do their umps really use whistles? Do they really score points instead of runs?
Apart from the lack of actual baseball and blood & guts, the movie offers little to recommend it otherwise. There are a few small, funny moments, but most of the movie is shot through a sickly pea-green filter, the characters substitute nuance for monotonous yelling (just like DAY OF THE DEAD, the most disappointing American zombie movie I've seen), the zombie makeup is embarrassingly bad (they've got more pancake than IHOP), and, for some reason, the lead ghoul is dressed in vaguely Old-West fashion, resembling the elderly zombie from HOUSE II (*not* a movie one should be reminded of).
And the humans keep coming back to life. Why care about what happens if there's no doubt everyone will be around at the end?
Oh well, burned again on another bad baseball flick. Hope BALL OF WAX, when I get around to buying it (my store doesn't have it to rent), is at least watchable - a low-expectation descriptive that certainly does not apply to BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL.
Or so I thought. For a horror movie, there's disappointingly little gore. For a foreign film, little insight into its land of origin. And why does a movie with "baseball" in its title have virtually no baseball action in it? (The "battle" mostly uses bats, while the "field" is in dire need of a grounds-keeper.) Is it wrong to complain about what a movie should have been, instead of what it is? I was curious to see the myriad ways one could defeat the undead on a baseball field generally within the games rules: Anticipating a line drive decapitating the pitcher, or a base-runner sliding into second with razors on his cleats, eviscerating a middle infielder while breaking up a double play.
But there's nothing like that here. There's also little sense of the game how it's played and revered in Japan, and the tiny differences I did notice I'm not sure I believe. Do they really employ cheerleaders? (Outside of the Florida Marlins, who should be ashamed of themselves, that's unheard of here in the States.) Do their umps really use whistles? Do they really score points instead of runs?
Apart from the lack of actual baseball and blood & guts, the movie offers little to recommend it otherwise. There are a few small, funny moments, but most of the movie is shot through a sickly pea-green filter, the characters substitute nuance for monotonous yelling (just like DAY OF THE DEAD, the most disappointing American zombie movie I've seen), the zombie makeup is embarrassingly bad (they've got more pancake than IHOP), and, for some reason, the lead ghoul is dressed in vaguely Old-West fashion, resembling the elderly zombie from HOUSE II (*not* a movie one should be reminded of).
And the humans keep coming back to life. Why care about what happens if there's no doubt everyone will be around at the end?
Oh well, burned again on another bad baseball flick. Hope BALL OF WAX, when I get around to buying it (my store doesn't have it to rent), is at least watchable - a low-expectation descriptive that certainly does not apply to BATTLEFIELD BASEBALL.