Think of Eli Roth's "Hostel" meets Nico Mastorakis' "The Zero Boys" and you have the low-budget horror action hybrid "Paintball". What the story sets up should have been a lot better than what actually eventuated, as in the end it was a chaotic muddle of frenetically noisy action and mind-numbing characters running around remote woodlands letting their instinctive and primal urges kick in. At times it was simply a whole lot commotion attached with jumpy hand-held camera-work. This really made it quite nauseating in trying to follow the on-going action and gathering the plot details from its variable script was just as frustrating. The story follows that of eight adrenaline junkies taking part in a game of paintball in a forest, but when one of them ends up being killed by a live round. Now they realise it might not just be all fun and games, but a fight for survival in what is the ultimate rush. But that wasn't advertised!? So by that, I guess it should be easy to track. It pretty much throws you right into it and keeps a fast pace throughout. However what the rushed narrative throws up only seems to complicate matters, opening up plot threads and intriguing ideas to only touch on them with minor insight and then to abruptly close things off with little fulfilment. The hunter is kept unknown, toying with the victims and us only seeing glimpses of the foe as his face is kept hidden from the camera creating a creepy ambiguity. Although we get numerous POV shots in thermal imaging which does take away from the deaths, because it's not clearly shown. Therefore it's kind of brutal and organic, but without being overly explicit. The performances are all over the place, either being annoying or disagreeable but the likes of Jennifer Matter, Patrick Regis and Brendan Mackey do stand out from the stereotypical lot.
"To live or not live. It's simply up to you?"
"To live or not live. It's simply up to you?"