Virtual Death Match (2020)

 

(It’s a bit of a work in process, but I’m currently toying with the idea of doing audio versions of these reviews, so if you’d like to listen to this review its up on archive and youtube, while a text version follows.)

 

Louisa Warren, the hardest working woman in modern British horror (16 feature films and counting) gives a low-budget, horror themed spin on Ready Player One (with an eye on the recent Jumanji movies too) with Virtual Death Match, in which several down on their luck peeps enter into a virtual reality world. There- for the delectation of a bunch of jaded, champagne drinking, eurotrash types- they fight against evil nuns, killer scarecrows (Warren really, really loves her killer scarecrows), and a psycho mime and chainsaw wielding clown double act (the latter played by Warren herself). Virtual Death Match (or Virtual Death Day, as the version I saw was called) captures Warren at her most silliest and liveliest. Despite this being one of Warren's longest films- nearly two hours- it is positively hyperactive by her standards, with few dull spots. On the down side the over reliance on CGI gore brings things down a few notches, and hopefully won't become a regular trend in her films, but Warren does demonstrate a far greater flair for action scenes here, which has been a weak spot in some of her earlier films. Characters who initially come across as one dimensional and grating, become surprisingly more endearing, human and understandable as the film progresses, especially when their motives for competing in the death match are revealed. As the venal, back stabbing VR player, Richard Myers makes for a great scumbag though, even after you discover the motives for his ruthless behavior. Tiffany-Ellen Robinson is cute and adorable, and wins your sympathy for the leather boots they've outfitted her in alone, which are clearly causing her problems in all those running around scenes. Saying that I did watch a trailer for another film she is in, the other night, and she does appear to be wearing similar, if not the same boots, in that one as well, so either she has fallen victim to a heartless costume department twice over, or those just are her own boots. In which case, if further scripts call for lots of running around, maybe Tiffany-Ellen should consider leaving the boots at home in future..she does seem to be suffering for her art in Virtual Death Match. Even Kate Milner Evans' wonky American accent and face pulling are starting to become amusing, and lend unintentional laughs here. So if you loved her ahem…animated approach to acting in Scarecrow’s Revenge, and all the funny face pulling she did in that one, she is back for more of the same here. I do apologize if this is becoming a bit cast-ccentric, I tend to find that because Warren’s films are usually so dialogue and character driven, they tend to sink or swim on the basis of who is in them. Warren’s better films tend to be ones that have genuinely charismatic cast members, or at least people with quirky personalities, whereas if she get stuck with dull, not very interesting casts this tends to bleed on into the films themselves, and those are the Warren films that tend to be a chore to get through. Fortunately, this isn’t an issue with Virtual Death Match which also gives a feisty, asskicking lead role to Sarah T Cohen, who Brit horror wise has been really knocking it out of the park recently with standout roles in Cupid and Clowndoll/Joker Clown. Maybe on account of this and the upcoming HellKat (in which she plays a character who descends into hell to battle werewolves and demons in MMA matches) she'll become Nu-Brit horror's answer to Gina Carano. If you watch many of the recent British horror films, you'll propably be familiar with Sarah T Cohen, but this is the first film I've seen to show her off in an action heroine capacity, something which I guess will continue over into HellKat, and something she does appear to have a flair for, although if you've only seen her in non-action roles, like playing a pregnant lady in Clowndoll, it does take you aback to see her fighting with nuns here..these are evil nuns...but I suppose nuns being violently beaten up is itself something you don't see in movies everyday. Incidentally the T in Sarah T Cohen apparently stands for Topchik, which does crack me up, I know that technically it's spelt TOPCHIK but on the basis of this and the HellKat trailer she more than earns the name of Top Chick.