Year: 2000
Director: Guy Crawford, Yvette Hoffman
Cast: David Heavener, Monique Parent, Joe Estevez
Fright Meter Grade: 
Director: Guy Crawford, Yvette Hoffman
Cast: David Heavener, Monique Parent, Joe Estevez
The Catcher is a direct-to-video slasher film that very few people have heard of or seen. The premise sounds intriguing, as horror films have been set in a plethora of creative locations, from bowling alleys to supermarkets to cruise ships, but this is the first and only one that I know of that is set in a baseball stadium. However, having a creative location does not equate to a great film, and the filmmakers here really failed to do anything but create a lazy, incompetent film that offers nothing new or original to the genre.
At the beginning of the movie we witness a kid who murders his verbally abusive father with a baseball bat during one of their routine baseball practices. Then (of course) we flash forward a few years later to the last game of the season at a minor league baseball stadium. The catcher, a character named Davey Walker, finds out his contract isn't getting renewed for the following year, and, as one would expect, starts to murder of several players who have decided to stay in the stadium for one reason or another after the game. This film set-up a lot of creative death scenes, mainly involving a baseball bat, but they were done off screen with very little blood or gore. Now, I don't like excessive gore, but with a movie like this where plot isn't a priority, I think that it should be thrown in as a redeeming quality because, as it stands, there aren’t really any redeeming qualities to the film.
With that said, the isolated setting of the baseball stadium is effective enough; the shots of the dark corridors and empty locker rooms are uneasy, but used very minimally. A stronger director would have utilized this setting to create suspense and tension, but it is virtually wasted here.
Instead, with this we get mediocre acting and a very rushed, confusing ending. I mean, who WAS the killer after all?? My suggestion, avoid this one. There is a reason you have never heard of it.
At the beginning of the movie we witness a kid who murders his verbally abusive father with a baseball bat during one of their routine baseball practices. Then (of course) we flash forward a few years later to the last game of the season at a minor league baseball stadium. The catcher, a character named Davey Walker, finds out his contract isn't getting renewed for the following year, and, as one would expect, starts to murder of several players who have decided to stay in the stadium for one reason or another after the game. This film set-up a lot of creative death scenes, mainly involving a baseball bat, but they were done off screen with very little blood or gore. Now, I don't like excessive gore, but with a movie like this where plot isn't a priority, I think that it should be thrown in as a redeeming quality because, as it stands, there aren’t really any redeeming qualities to the film.
With that said, the isolated setting of the baseball stadium is effective enough; the shots of the dark corridors and empty locker rooms are uneasy, but used very minimally. A stronger director would have utilized this setting to create suspense and tension, but it is virtually wasted here.
Instead, with this we get mediocre acting and a very rushed, confusing ending. I mean, who WAS the killer after all?? My suggestion, avoid this one. There is a reason you have never heard of it.
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