Roller derby has been having something of a revival of late, and it’s not hard to see why. A sport centred on spunky women in short skirts, facepaint and glitter knocking each other over in roller skates was surely destined to find a niche of diehard enthusiasts. Combine this with a film genre infamous for the ravenous nature of its hard-core fan base and you’re sure to spark one hell of a cult cinematic experience.
MurderDrome follows a local team headed up by Cherry Skye (Amber Sajben), a half dreamer baby-doll-esque mock up of flirty derby energy with her heart set on a vaguely sweet guy named Brad Blunt (Jake Brown). Unfortunately for Skye, Brad’s ex is rival derby girl Hell Grazer (Rachel Blackwood), who’s none too pleased about the new pairing.
Somewhat more pressing however, is Skye’s accidental resurrection of a satanic supernatural slasher on skates named Momma Skate (B On The Rocks), brought back to life by a cursed necklace given to Skye by Brad. One by one, Skye’s band of acerbic teammates find their time spent at the drome and the local diner (the only places in existence aside from a parking lot or two) comes to a gory, B-grade bonanza of an end.
Fringed with a kickin’, up-tempo, rockabilly punk soundtrack and hellbent on stuffing as many winking horror tropes as possible into this sausage of new wave ozploitation, it’s pretty clear that writer/director Daniel Armstrong is not going for the upmarket end of arthouse. There’s a total absence of real character development, with the cast existing in a vacuum where employment and the need remove your roller skates for anything besides sleep are clearly not given any consideration whatsoever. Similarly, in true exploitation style, the plot only ever seems to limp forward at the behest of the creepy janitor-cum-prophet-of-doom with an indeterminate accent (Max Marchione).
The dialogue is fun but ultimately just filler, although among the general repartee are some top notch dad jokes and cheeky but visceral sexual metaphors such as ‘smashing her cabbage’. Given the little they have to work with, the cast delivers an admirable enough performance, with particular lush drollness emanating from Trans Em (Kat Anderson) and hammy enthusiasm from Psych (Cyndi Lawbreaker). Fans of old school blood and general ick are treated with eye-dangling, head popping campiness that slowly builds towards the climax after a modest beginning. It’s no surprise that the longest roll in the credits goes to the dedicated team behind all the red stuff.
All in all, MurderDrome is a premium low-budget Australian effort delivering exclusively to a pre-set niche market. The graphics aren’t half bad, and there’s some pretty cinematography here and there, but ultimately it’s a love song to the genre that’s perhaps too shackled to what has gone before it. Nevertheless, it’s a sin committed routinely by Hollywood, so really, fair’s fair.
Rating: 2 ½ out of 5 stars.
MurderDrome
Monster Pictures
Written & Directed by Daniel Armstrong
Cinematography by Brendan O’Shea
Starring: Amber Sajben, B On The Rocks, Jake Brown, Kathryn Anderson, Cyndi Lawbreaker and Rachael Blackwood.
DVD Release 19 March
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