Professional wrestling is once again taking over Hollywood — next January Shudder will release a horror-themed wrestling film, Dark Match, which they recently acquired rights for. Wrestling legend Chris Jericho, who is no stranger to Hollywood films, is set to star. Jericho most recently appeared in the Terrifier threequel which released earlier this month.
Dark Match, which was written and directed by Lowell Dean, follows a small wrestling company which accepts a well-paying gig in a rather sketchy town — the backwoods. Per the synopsis, they do this “only to learn, too late, that the community is run by a mysterious cult leader with devious plans for their match.”
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The film follows on the heels of several major pop culture wrestling-adjacent projects, like STARZ’s Heels starring Stephen Amell and Alexander Ludwig, A24’s Iron Claw biopic which tells the story of iconic wrestling royalty the Von Erichs, and Netflix’s recent Vince McMahon documentary.
Alongside Jericho, the project stars Ayisha Issa (Transplant), Steven Ogg (The Walking Dead, Westworld), Sara Canning (The Vampire Diaries), Michael Eklund (The Call) and Jonathan Cherry (Goon).
The poster pictured below features a variation of what appears to be a pink Cross of Lorraine. Above Issa, who is sporting a wicked bloody lip and bruised eye while holding chains, is a masked gunman. The rest of the crew look ready for battle, surrounded by what looks to be blood splatters.
The film is produced by John K. MacDonald, Don Depoe, Michael Feehan, Rhonda Baker and Michael Peterson. Executive producers include Eleanor Wiebe and Jericho. Additionally, cinematography was done by Karim Hussain, CSC.
Wrestling has been dipping its toes into the horror realm for decades, featuring characters like The Undertaker, manager Paul Bearer, Kane, Mankind and vampy stable The Brood among many others. They all found great success in a landscape that was transitioning away from the ways of the colorful babyfaces that ruled the 1980s. It paved the way for modern characters like AEW’s Abadon and Danhausen to pick up a ton of steam with fans because of their uniqueness.
Jericho isn’t the only full-time wrestling figure following in the footsteps of The Rock, John Cena and Dave Bautista. Drew McIntyre starred in The Killer’s Game alongside “The Animal.” CM Punk has two projects lined up that will likely keep him out of commission in WWE for some time and AEW’s MJF is taking the acting world by storm starring alongside Adam Sandler in the Happy Gilmore sequel.
Dark Match heads to Shudder on January 31st, 2025. In the meantime, get your spooky fix by checking out our list of the best horror movies that are currently available on Shudder!
