Netflix And Chill: Girls With Balls (2018)

The main premise of Girls With Balls is a decent one. A female volleyball team ends up endangered when they are stuck in the middle of nowhere, and viewed as great sport for some dangerous locals to hunt and kill. But the killers don't count on the girls being so strong and determined. If only they can actually work together as a team then they may just get out of the situation alive.

Mix the strained friendship dynamics of The Descent with any number of films from the "hillbilly horror" movies we've had over the years and, once you've added a bit of volleyball action, you end up with this. Although not interested in any real level of suspense or scares, you do get a horror comedy that deals in a nice selection of over the top gore gags, most of them amusing enough thanks to the sheer amount of blood spilled and damage caused.

Where Girls With Balls falls down, unfortunately, is in all of the moments that aren't based around the violence and death. The characters and various relationships aren't as strongly developed as they could be, the villains (headed up by an entertaining Denis Lavant) are mostly an anonymous mass of hooded figures, and the comedy doesn't work half as well when it isn't being accompanied by sudden sprays of blood.

The cast all try to do their best, with a number of them managing to stand out, despite being given only one or two main traits. Manon Azem is the most competitive one, and also the most selfish when it comes to staying alive, so she stands out from the others. Anne-Solenne Hatte is the captain, and obviously has her moments. Camille Razat is adorably ill-prepared for fending off murderous bad guys, especially as she takes the time to confess to some big mistake to a team-mate who doesn't want to hear it, and Louise Blachère is brilliant as a nerd who turns badass in this time of crisis. Victor Artus Solaro is fine as the coach, and Margot Dufrene is the other main player worth mentioning, but she gets a bit lost in the mix, along with one or two others.

It's unsurprising to see that director Olivier Afonso, who also co-wrote the film with Jean-Luc Cano, has a background in makeup and special effects. This is his directorial debut and it's easy to see that he tried to work with material that would play to his strengths. Perhaps next time he will manage to balance things out a bit better, although this is a decent bit of fun for his first effort.

6/10

No links here, as this is not on disc yet, but feel free to use any link from my blog to do some shopping, and make today a win win for both of us.