There is much gristle and gauzy VHS vision in this high-energy horror, but the knuckle-trailing concept drags it down

Presumably there are easier ways to invoke Satan than organising a multi-bout wrestling tournament-cum-occult ceremony, but practicalities are low on the priority list of Lowell Dean’s fifth feature. Dark Match’s chief preoccupation is cramming in as much grindhouse gristle as possible as a bevy of luchadores perform for a mob of rabid cultists, with much haemoglobin decorating the arena floor. Energetically executed in order to hide an essentially knuckle-trailing concept (true to the wrestling tradition, to be fair), it somehow ends up less fun than it should be.

As a heel for the 80s Saw wrestling league, Miss Behave (Ayisha Issa) is disgruntled at never getting a title shot. So when her cokehead manager Rusty (Jonathan Cherry) receives a $50,000 offer for his posse to take part in a private tournament at a backwoods complex, she, lover Joe Lean (Steven Ogg) and the rest of the troupe jump in the van. On arrival, they’re wined and dined – and drugged enough to pay scant attention to a programme promising elementally themed “air/water/earth/fire” bouts, as well as the sinister leader’s (Chris Jericho) toast “to sacrifice”.