Pro Wrestlers Vs Zombies
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies'' (also known as ''Cody Knotts' Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies'') is a 2013 sports action horror film that was directed by Cody Knotts. An early version of the film was shown at an international horror festival in Whitby, England in October 2013, and the movie was released to DVD on March 28, 2014 along with a limited theatrical release. The movie was funded partly through a successful ''
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
'' campaign and through private funds from three investors and stars including several former
WWE World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) is an American professional wrestling promotion. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority-owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. A global integrated media and entertainment company, ...
and current
TNA TNA may refer to: Organisations * Tamil National Alliance, a political coalition in Sri Lanka * The National Alliance, a political party in Kenya * The National Archives (United Kingdom), a UK public body * Tonga Nurses' Association, a trade union ...
wrestlers that portray themselves fighting against a horde of zombies.


Synopsis

Pro wrestler "The Franchise"
Shane Douglas Troy Allan Martin (born November 21, 1964) is an American professional wrestler, manager, and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship ...
catches his girlfriend
Taya Parker Laurie Anne Maria Mull, better known as; Taya Parker is an American reality television star, and model. Best known for winning VH1's reality show '' Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels''. She was also the 2009 ''Penthouse Pet'' of the year. ...
cheating on him with his friend Brutaliser Billy in the locker room of an independent wrestling show. Later that night as Shane and Billy are wrestling in the ring, Shane performs a piledriver that results in Billy's death. Billy's brother Angus swears revenge and summons an ancient demon which gives him the power to create a horde of zombies in exchange for eating the heart of a female victim, a nurse whom Angus kidnaps from a hospital. Six weeks after the events, Shane is offered a huge amount of money for an appearance at a wrestling show taking place in an abandoned prison. Shane agrees to make the show and travels to the prison along with old friend "Rowdy"
Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the Wo ...
who travels with his girlfriend Sarah, "Hacksaw"
Jim Duggan James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best-known for his time in World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), where he won the first ...
,
Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he a former List of TNA World Tag Team Champions, three time TNA Wor ...
and his girlfriend
Reby Sky Rebecca Victoria Hardy (née Reyes; ; born August 6, 1986) is an American actress, model, professional wrestler, and television personality. She gained prominence as a model, appearing in various magazines including Playboy, and later transition ...
. Shane learns to his distress that Taya will also be at the event. Meanwhile Angus has lured numerous pro wrestlers, including
Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler. He first earned recognition for winning a Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, gold me ...
, to the prison and has turned them into zombies. The zombies have retained their wrestling abilities and when the wrestlers arrive at the prison they are ambushed by the zombies and trapped in a wrestling ring until Angus commands his horde to kill Shane and his friends. Shane, Piper and Duggan unite with Taya, indy wrestler Facade and pornographic actor turned wrestler Matthew Rush and take cover in a locker room. Shane explains to Piper what happened to Billy but Piper assures him that Billy's accident was due to inexperience and the fact that he did not tuck his head in order to protect himself from the piledriver. The group find a way out of the locker room but Rush is overpowered and killed by the zombies. Matt is separated from the group and after a brawl with a zombie in one of the prison cells is overpowered and disemboweled by the zombies. He crawls back to the group but quickly turns into a zombie and bites Reby as the wrestlers flee. Shane betrays Duggan by shutting a door behind him and leaving him to be eaten by the zombies and later betrays Facade by locking himself inside a prison cell and refusing to let him in, stating "Jobbers die. Main-Eventers live". Soon after he reunites with Taya and confesses to her that he meant to kill Billy and that he does not care what happens to the group or to her since her adultery is what caused the whole mess which causes Taya to abandon Shane and run off to fend for herself but is killed by the zombies while trying to escape. Piper and Sarah reunite and find a way out of the prison while Angus confronts Shane who tells him that he's glad he killed Billy and that he'd do it again. Angus commands his hoard to kill Shane but he fights them off and manages to escape the prison. Piper and Sarah see the zombie hoard leaving the prison and realize that if they get to the city then it could lead to a full blown outbreak and so decide to stay and fight. They manage to fend the zombies off but Angus asks for and receives more power from the ancient demon. Shane escapes the prison soon after and Piper confesses that he knows that Shane killed Billy on purpose, heartbroken that his friend would do something so careless. Angus summons another group of zombies who turn out to be Shane's family, including his brother Troy, his nephew Nicky and his mother. Shane pleads with Angus to turn them back but when he is refused he tearfully makes the decision to kill his family members to spare them a fate worse than death. With Shane emotionally broken, Angus summons more zombies and Shane is finally overpowered and killed. Piper and Sarah notice that every time the zombie of the nurse Angus originally turned is hit, the other zombies seem to suffer damage as well. They realize that she is the original zombie and kill her which breaks the spell and causes the other zombies to die once and for all. With his army of the undead defeated, Angus tries for one last kill shot at Piper but is overpowered and killed. Piper and Sarah embrace and rejoice at having survived their ordeal.


Cast

*
Roddy Piper Roderick George Toombs (April 17, 1954 – July 31, 2015), better known as "Rowdy" Roddy Piper, was a Canadian professional wrestler and actor. In professional wrestling, Piper was best known to international audiences for his work with the Wo ...
as himself *
Shane Douglas Troy Allan Martin (born November 21, 1964) is an American professional wrestler, manager, and promoter, better known by his ring name Shane Douglas. He is best known for his tenures in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), World Championship ...
as himself *
Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler. He first earned recognition for winning a Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, gold me ...
as himself *
Matt Hardy Matthew Moore Hardy (born September 23, 1974) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and actor. He is signed to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), where he a former List of TNA World Tag Team Champions, three time TNA Wor ...
as himself *
Jim Duggan James Edward Duggan Jr. (born January 14, 1954), better known by his ring name "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan, is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best-known for his time in World Wrestling Federation (now WWE), where he won the first ...
as himself *
Taya Parker Laurie Anne Maria Mull, better known as; Taya Parker is an American reality television star, and model. Best known for winning VH1's reality show '' Rock of Love Bus with Bret Michaels''. She was also the 2009 ''Penthouse Pet'' of the year. ...
as herself *
Reby Sky Rebecca Victoria Hardy (née Reyes; ; born August 6, 1986) is an American actress, model, professional wrestler, and television personality. She gained prominence as a model, appearing in various magazines including Playboy, and later transition ...
as herself *Adrienne Fischer as Sarah *
Richard John Walters Richard John Walters (born November 15, 1961) is an American film and television actor, best known for playing Harry Warden in the 2009 horror film, ''My Bloody Valentine 3D''. Biography Walters was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Walters atte ...
as Tezcatlipoca *Shannon M. Hart as Serena *Ashton Amherst as Angus *
Camera Bartolotta Camera Chatham Bartolotta is an American politician. A Republican, she is currently the Pennsylvania state Senator for the 46th district. Education Bartolotta attended Corvallis High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Los Angeles. She ...
as Amber *
Cody Michaels Mark Keenan, better known by his ring name Cody Michaels, is an American former Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. After suffering a serious neck injury, Michaels retired and has worked behind the scenes as a Glossary of professional ...
as Troy *
Sylvester Terkay NC State Wolfpack Sylvester Matthew Terkay (born December 4, 1970) is an American retired professional wrestler, actor, and mixed martial artist best known for his run in WWE. He has held NWA Zero-One's United States Championship ...
as himself *Cody Knotts as himself *Michael Cichowicz as Facade


Production

Filming for ''Pro Wrestlers vs Zombies'' took place in
Parkersburg, West Virginia Parkersburg is a city in Wood County, West Virginia, United States, and its county seat. Located at the confluence of the Ohio River, Ohio and Little Kanawha River, Little Kanawha rivers, it is the state's List of municipalities in West Virginia ...
during 2013, and Knotts raised part of the funding for the film via a successful ''Kickstarter'' campaign. Kurt Angle was brought in to perform in the movie after he was approached by one of the film's producers. Angle's role required a scene where he appears as a zombie, and he stated that the makeup process took about five hours and that he greatly enjoyed the experience. He further commented that as most of the zombies were also professional wrestlers, he felt more comfortable performing various wrestling moves as they would be experienced with the various techniques employed in the ring and in practice. The movie experienced some difficulties with filming when one of the performers was accidentally hit with a cooking pot by Roddy Piper, but did not otherwise have any major setbacks.


Reception

''
Bleacher Report ''Bleacher Report'' (often abbreviated as B/R) is a website that focuses on sports and sports culture. Its headquarters are in San Francisco, with offices in New York City and London. ''Bleacher Report'' was acquired by Time Warner's Turner B ...
'' gave the film a positive review stating "It isn't trying to be smart or groundbreaking, just a lot of big, silly, violent fun" but noted that the movie would appeal most to wrestling fans. However, ''
Fangoria ''Fangoria'' is an internationally distributed American horror film fan magazine, in publication since 1979. It is published four times a year by Fangoria Publishing, LLC and is edited by Phil Nobile Jr. The magazine was originally released i ...
'' panned the film overall as they felt that "Instead of capitalizing on the concept and going full-force, ''PRO WRESTLERS VS. ZOMBIES'' stretches its novelty to the breaking point by sitting on a repetitive story structure."


References


External links

* {{IMDb title, 2240046
Kickstarter page
2013 films 2013 horror films Films shot in West Virginia Professional wrestling films American zombie films American films about revenge American supernatural horror films American exploitation films American action horror films 2010s action horror films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films American wrestling films Sports horror films English-language action horror films