How many "paintball movies" have you seen?
Above, a scene from Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story. (Which you can watch on Daily Motion if you are so inclined.)
Blackballed is one of the few films featuring paintball with an original, essentially based on the game, story. Bobby Dukes, a legendary player, gets caught cheating, is banned from play and then tries to stage a come back.
The rest? Take a look at these synopsis and tell me if you don't see a pattern:
A group of friends embark on a camping trip for a ten-year high school reunion. Their celebration soon turns into a battle for survival when they realize that the locals, who are not what they seem, are hunting them down. - Backwoods, 2008
Eight strangers engaged in an intense game of experts-only paintball find their friendly game taking a terrifying turn when one member of the team begins playing by a different set of rules. It started as a remote raw battle of wits and wiles set against the backdrop of majestic wilderness. With each shot fired, the stakes grew higher. But something horrible has happened, and what was once a team sport has become a relentless struggle for individual survival. The danger growing by the minute, the combatants gradually come to realize that their greatest adversary may be the very game they set out to play. Paintball, 2009
Old school friends go on a paintball trip miles away from civilization. But things go horribly wrong when they discover a cold-blooded masked killer is amongst them. Now, they must fight to survive their school reunion. Paintball Massacre, 2020
A group of friends travel to a wilderness area to play a survival game. Soon they unexpectedly find themselves in a real-life survival situation. The Zero Boys 1986
Robbie and his girlfriend, Amy, are among a group of students who play their private night games in the romantic thriller that catapulted Kidman to center stage. On screen throughout, Kidman discovers what will happen when a friendly game becomes real life ... and real life becomes a deadly game. Watch the Shadows Dance, 1987. (That's Nicole Kidman, btw)
Two deranged and homicidal escaped convicts terrorize a group of teenagers engaged in a paint-ball war. Born Killer, 1989.
Regional finalists of the Masterblaster paintball competition gather together at the national championship for a chance at the title and fifty thousand dollars in cash. The competition turns deadly when someone stops playing games and starts taking lives. Masterblaster, 1987. (Note: THE Master Blasters of NY fame had their own reality show on FoxNation titled Paintball: America's Secret Pastime, which you can still watch. No connection to the movie though, thank goodness.)
I think those are plenty of examples. (I did a search under paintball movies and came up with lists on IMDB, TheMovieDB and others.)
Don't you all think its about time that we had a feature film that was actually about the game? Too bad Rodney Dangerfield isn't around anymore, we might have at least gotten a sports comedy film about the game (Like Caddy Shack or something like Dodge Ball) at the very least.
Of course, there have been movies about paintball, made by paintbllers...John Amodea's recent and ongoing documentary series springs to mind. You can watch a trailer of
The Complete History of Paintball on Vimeo. Not to mention the legendary PUSH, Patrick Spohrer and Bryan Benini's legendary documentary that finally managed to capture the energy and intensity of the game in a way non-ballers could appreciate and understand. You can watch the entire thing on
Monkey with a Gun on Youtube.
Yes, we've had some live to tape broadcasts of tournaments as well - the legendary first on ESPN in New York, followed by another in Florida, the Disney Game produced by our own Fred Schultz, Milt Call/All Americans Vegas series, even an event in 2000 called PaintFest, some coverage of NCPA games. I even think I remember a series in South America featuring the Mercenarios.
But no matter how you slice it, paintball has gotten short shrift from media over the years (starting with the "these crazy gun nuts play army in the woods - they're a danger to society" crap early on), with our primary engagement with it being, alternatively, "No serial killer would be able to do that to MY team" or "OMG! They're not even holding their gun right! What a buncha...!". Not to mention the all to familiar cliché of actors ALWAYS lifting their goggles to talk, or to look at something better in order to shoot it.
(My favorite right now is
Paintball from 2009, a film billed as "Eight strangers engaged in an intense game of experts-only paintball...". Try not to laugh at the "experts". You might hurt yourself holding in the laughs, but that's about the only way a paintballer, expert or newbie, can watch this film without looking for a bucket.)
Of course, there's also lots of good stuff on Youtube and various other video sharing outlets, including Facebook, and that will do I suppose until a decent feature length film that shows a little understanding of the game manages to come along.
Below is the list of films (if you want to checking some out) from, including some by and about real paintball. Note that not all will link to a viewing opportunity. The list below was sourced on
The Movie Data Base.
Gloria Bell
March 7, 2019
Gloria is a free-spirited divorcée who spends her days at a straight-laced office job and her nights on the dance floor, joyfully letting loose at clubs around Los Angeles. After meeting Arnold on a night out, she finds herself thrust into an unexpected new romance, filled with both the joys of budding love and the complications of dating, identity, and family.
November 4, 2008
It's summer camp as usual at Camp Manabe where the kids torment each other for fun while the underpaid camp staff provides as little supervision as possible. Greedy camp owner Frank and junior partner Ronnie do their best to keep everyone in line, but something sinister is about to put a slash in the roster. When campers and staff mysteriously begin disappearing and turning into gruesome corpses, paranoid Ronnie can't shake the memory of a series of grisly murders that took place at Camp Arawak. As the paranoia worsens, Ronnie's list of possible killers starts growing just like the body count. Only one thing is for certain, something is carving a bloody new trail at Sleepaway Camp where kids can be so mean and surviving this summer is gonna be a real killer!
January 3, 2008
A group of friends embark on a camping trip for a ten-year high school reunion. Their celebration soon turns into a battle for survival when they realize that the locals, who are not what they seem, are hunting them down.
April 24, 2009
Eight strangers engaged in an intense game of experts-only paintball find their friendly game taking a terrifying turn when one member of the team begins playing by a different set of rules. It started as a remote raw battle of wits and wiles set against the backdrop of majestic wilderness. With each shot fired, the stakes grew higher. But something horrible has happened, and what was once a team sport has become a relentless struggle for individual survival. The danger growing by the minute, the combatants gradually come to realize that their greatest adversary may be the very game they set out to play.
December 7, 2020
Old school friends go on a paintball trip miles away from civilization. But things go horribly wrong when they discover a cold-blooded masked killer is amongst them. Now, they must fight to survive their school reunion.
January 1, 1986
A group of friends travel to a wilderness area to play a survival game. Soon they unexpectedly find themselves in a real-life survival situation.
January 1, 1987
Robbie and his girlfriend, Amy, are among a group of students who play their private night games in the romantic thriller that catapulted Kidman to center stage. On screen throughout, Kidman discovers what will happen when a friendly game becomes real life ... and real life becomes a deadly game.
March 15, 2017
Since the start of 2014, Edmonton Impact has put together one of the most dominant runs in professional paintball history. But amongst all their series championships and individual tournament wins, paintball's most respected prize has continued to allude them: The World Cup. Follow Impact as they look for one final victory in their historic 2016 season run, and see how a simple father and sons' outing for the Yachemic family helped create one of professional paintball's most dominant franchises.
December 15, 2017
A fast paced, action packed sports drama. Think "Fast and Furious" meets the competitive sport of Paintball.
November 12, 1989
Two deranged and homicidal escaped convicts terrorize a group of teenagers engaged in a paint-ball war.
January 1, 2010
The new Dutch owner of a Croatian marketing agency is organizing an action-style team building for his employees over weekend. After rafting which ends up with an incident, the employees divide in two paintball groups. While making their way through the forest full of surprises – a local family who is plotting against their lives, suspicious instructors, a random pair of hikers and bizarre accidents. As the day comes to its end, it is clear that, after this game, nothing will ever be the same.
December 1, 1987
Regional finalists of the Masterblaster paintball competition gather together at the national championship for a chance at the title and fifty thousand dollars in cash. The competition turns deadly when someone stops playing games and starts taking lives.
June 15, 2017
August 22, 1997
Brilliant renegade hacker Mike Cleary and his crack team have finally debugged Guardian, his software program designed to block government cyber snooping. It's going to make them all rich. Now it's time to celebrate with a game of paintball, played in rugged wilderness far from the digital devices of their everyday lives. Not even an ominous encounter with a militia-style survivalist can dampen the weekend warriors' spirits. But someone is playing for keeps. Instead of getting hit with paintballs, soon they're getting splattered for real. As the body count climbs, Cleary discovers he's at the center of a worldwide web of deceit, aimed at gaining control of the program at any cost. Stalked with high-tech weapons, betrayed by trusted friends, only his programming savvy and a bizarre strategic alliance forged on the battlefield can keep him alive. If he fails and Guardian falls into the wrong hands, the game is over for everyone in the nation.
The Complete History Of Paintball
April 18, 2020
Negative public perception of the game in the 1980s nearly caused its early demise. Since the first game ever played on June 27, 1981, nearly a half billion people have played paintball! This is the story of those that created the game, preserved it and built its gear, playing fields, international presence, tournament circuits, scenario games, teams, media and its long lasting culture. This Is THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF PAINTBALL
October 11, 2019
When a paintball team hops the fence to go play with their friends on private property, a reclusive land-owner strikes back in full force with an arsenal of remote-controlled vehicles.
March 18, 2023
It's the final game in the biggest paintball tournament in town. The German School must defend the flag while the English School must capture it, but where is the flag? Luis and Sebastian have been tasked to find the location of the flag and report it to the captain before the attack begins. Will they find the flag and report it on time?
December 28, 2015
In 2001, a brash group of teenagers took professional paintball by storm, winning The World Cup of Paintball. San Diego Dynasty has created a dominance like no other in paintball, winning at least one professional tournament every year since. But all things must end, and a season filled with bad luck, controversial officiating, industry politics, health issues, and one of paintball’s biggest icons deciding to step away from U.S pro circuit to find himself living abroad puts Dynasty’s hope of a 15th consecutive season with a tournament victory in jeopardy.
May 6, 2007
The 11th Love Sport short film.
September 30, 2007
In 2007, EMR Paintball hosted Castle Conquest XXIII. This was the largest, craziest, and most special event EMR has seen in it's over decade long history. With Blue and his Crew joining the attackers and Team Joint Fury leading the defenders inside Castle AArrgh, it is guaranteed to be an event of epic proportions.
August 16, 2011
Five yuppies go on a paintball session up in the hilly area of Zagorje where they soon lose contact to one another, but they've been discovered by a family of native villagers who make a home-made delicacy. They soon find out what are the ingredients of their hosts' recipee.
June 16, 2013
Follows the highs and lows of professional paintball team Dynasty's 2013 season with player interviews and event footage from the 2013 PSP Dallas Open, 2013 Huntington Beach NPPL and 2013 PSP Mid-Atlantic open.
January 1, 2000
This is the video that set the standard that all other paintball videos will be compared to, professionally captured on film and video by people who play the sport. This documentary covers all aspects of the professional paintballer’s life. PUSH features top teams such as Ironmen, Avalanche, Aftershock, and Image to show you what it takes to be the best. Experience their drive, adrenaline, joy and sorrow as you watch them play at the biggest tournament of the year-World Cup. You will share the exhilaration of winning or the agony of defeat, depending upon if their hard work has paid off. Complementing every scene is an awesome sound track, including music by AFI, Promise Ring, Hot Water Music, and Jets to Brazil. PUSH is sure to get you fired-up to play!
Planet Eclipse Emortals. The free DVD included with some of their older paintball products.
January 1, 2009
The learning curve jumps yet again as players from both leagues step up their game and give chase to the teams that have been dominating the pro paintball circuit. New rivals emerge as teams like Aftermath, Infamous and Damage claim victory at national events. Dynasty gets their first NXL victory and Todd Martinez takes down the field at the MAO. The Ironmen nearly win BOTH series titles, and prove to be an unstoppable force at World Cup. For some, the competition is still their life, and defeat is not an option. For others, they're dead before they step onto the field. BRING OUT YOUR DEAD.
PSP World Champion is the most coveted title in the paintball world. After an entire NXL season it came down to the defending champs Los Angeles Ironmen battling the Philadelphia Americans through three intense, hard-hitting games, to determine who would wear the crown. In the end it came down to a best of three and one of the most exciting finals in World Cup hstory. This is the ground breaking live Webcast available on DVD, so you can own a piece of history.
March 1, 2007
“Heroes for a Day” is a documentary that follows a group of Professional paintball players, some former champions, who form a team to take down the current world champs. A two-year emotional and physical battle ensues on and off the field, as they travel around the globe juggling real life and the paintball world in the continuing quest to win redefining
Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story
January 1, 2004
Caught cheating and banned for ten years, Bobby Dukes, paintball's first superstar, returns to reclaim his title and erase the memory of his tainted past.
Paintball the Movie: Court Jesters
01/01/2005
Overview
A group of troubled teens finds direction in this inspiring underdog story. Abandoned by his father, Indigo (Chris Tschupp) wastes his days watching cartoons. When he persuades a few of his friends to play paintball with him, it doesn't take long for the boys from the wrong side of the tracks to form an unbeatable team. Their triumphs on the paintball field give the boys an outlet and the confidence and support they need to succeed in life.
(And hey, if you've found a paintball movie not listed above, how about mentioning it in the comments on our Facebook page?)
***
Visit the WCPL on
Youtube,
Facebook and sign up for our newsletter, right on the
front page of our website!
The WCPL's 2023 Event Schedule:
June 9, 10 & 11 - New York Classic
July 29 & 30 - U.k. Classic
August 5 & 6 - Northen California Classic
The WCPL is committed to provide top level events for top level players.