Last night I had the chance to attend the premiere of Kwai Daniels’ Bodybag Ohio in Youngstown, Ohio. I have covered one of director Kwai Daniel’s films previously this year; The Refractor. The Refractor also starred a few wrestlers, some of who, also appear in Bodybag Ohio. Kwai is breathing new life into Youngstown with his movies and even offers a city film school to help local kids learn about the art of film production.
Bodybag Ohio is about a street criminal’s struggle to come up and his unfortunate ties to a local crime lord who fancies himself a celebrity. Two detectives are closing in on a case against the street criminal but things go sideways when one of their confidential informants goes missing and the detectives have to figure stuff out quick before the trail goes cold. The cast is quite large for an independent film and it features a handful of wrestlers from the area.
Bouncer (left) and Curt Fury (right) on the red carpet at the premiere
The wrestlers in this movie include, Bouncer (RAPW, MEGA Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Rampage, Main Event Wrestling League), Curt Fury (RAPW), Kip Paige (RAPW, various independents), Zoey Skye (Shimmer Women Athletes, RISE Wrestling, MEGA Wrestling, RAPW), Shawn Blaze (MEGA Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Rampage, RAPW), Kage (RAPW), Aftermath (RAPW), and Levi Masterson (RAPW). It was great to see them on screen and getting a chance to shine on the silver screen.
I had fun with this movie, it’s a low budget film but it is filled with so much love and charm that I couldn’t help but be totally smitten by it. Bouncer plays the local crime boss Earl the Pearl’s right hand man, Jimmy. Jimmy is an imposing character and Bouncer is perfect for the role. It was wonderful to see him have more to do in a film then just look tough and lay the smackdown. His line delivery was well done and I will always check out anything that he is is.
Curt Fury plays a councilman named Curt that is in a particularly tight spot since Earl is trying to revive film production in the city but the council is pushing for Hollywood to get involved in the city. Kip plays another one of Earl’s cronies, while Zoey plays an especially badass local that Jimmy hires to get some compromising photos of the character that Shawn Blaze is portraying. Unfortunately for Shawn’s character, Zoey beats the tar out of him. The blood effects of the broken nose he suffers was extremely well done! The other wrestlers were in smaller parts but no part is too small, without cameos and background characters movies would be pretty boring.
Everyone involved in this film gave their all but some of my favorite parts were the news reporter who kept having to cover all the craziness happening in Youngstown, and one of his interviewees, a local bar owner who was played by Paul Worley who owns and operates Benny’s Comics in Sharon, Pennsylvania. The house burglars turned bounty hunters also brought some comedic gold into the film. It has little issues here and there with sound quality, odd transitions, and a slight hiccup with a opera song in the background of an Italian festival not being sung in Italian but German but those are minor nitpicks. Body bag Ohio had a perfect blend of seriousness and silliness and I recommend it to everyone who wants to see a fun independent film. I look forward to the sequel and hope to see some more wrestlers in it. Be sure to pick this one up on DVD when it is released. I will link to it when it is released and will update this article with screenshots as well.
Wrestling With Film 