The Catcher (1998)

This movie was actually pretty cool. It's got a killer baseball catcher going around killing people at a baseball stadium. It is low budget, but has some pretty original death scenes and a big twist near the end. The movie is very cheap too; I bought it online for only $1 new! It's probably the best $1 I've ever spent online too. Joe Estevez as the Father was my favorite character in the movie. He was one mean dad in this movie; no wonder his kid had problems and went nuts. I like the fact that he comes back as a ghost in the movie too. The movie is pretty low budget though and the only extras you get are a few trailers from Dead Alive's other films. There website is apparently gone now, so that's not a good sign. It's worth seeing at least once, I'd say. It's not for everyone though, my sister hated the movie, but I enjoyed it for what it was.

"The Catcher" is a DTV slasher that few people have heard of or seen. The premise sounds intriguing, as slasher 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 get a kid who murders his verbally abusive father with a baseball bat during one of their practices. Well, then we flash forward to a few years to a 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 one expect, starts the 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.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.My Grade: F

This review may contain some SPOILERS.David Heavener has proven many times that he can't act. I have watched two other movies he made: `Outlaw Force' and `Deadly Reactor.' `Outlaw Force' wasn't a total bust because there were good scenes featuring Paul Smith and Frank Stallone, but Heavener wasn't in any of those scenes. `Deadly Reactor,' quick frankly, was one of the worst movies I have ever seen, which sure says a lot coming from me. And now I get Strike Three from Heavener, `The Catcher.' Heavener has one mode of acting: stink. He never gives any emotion, no depth to his characters, and reads his dialogue like it were on a cue card in front of him. Still, I can't blame Heavener for what I got in `The Catcher.' That honor goes to EVERYONE else involved, except for one person, whom I will speak of later. Truly `The Catcher' is a step-by-step pamphlet on how not to make a slasher movie. The plot is simple and could have worked in proper hands. It is set in a baseball stadium where a minor league team, named The Devils, has just played the last game of the season. They didn't do so well because their catcher, Heavener, is no longer the hotshot player he used to be. He botched the game and made everyone look bad. So bad, in fact, that a new team employee in charge of personnel, Monique Parent, has been commanded by the owners to fire Heavener. So now the stadium is ready to close down and there are a few people hanging around. Suddenly, someone dressed up in Heavener's uniform begins to eradicate the players still in the stadium one by one. Is it Heavener, getting revenge on his teammates for their hatred of him? Or is it someone else? And why is this happening? The answers are extremely laughable. But then again, so is the entire movie. Never before have I seen such banal filmmaking in a horror movie. The whole thing is set-up, slash; set-up, slash; set-up, slash. The slashing in question goes beyond tasteless and sensibility. Some are laughable in their impossibility, the rest are just lame. And there is virtually no backstory to any character, so it consists entirely of the bad slashing. Factor in bad acting and extremely terrible editing and directing, and you have yourself one big foul ball. Just watch the scene with the automatic pitching machine very closely. You will see a blip right in the middle of the scene. If you pause the tape in that spot you will see the first frame of an entirely different scene! I couldn't believe my eyes. Nor could I believe them when I saw characters (Parent being the biggest offender) that are supposed to be running for their lives instead trot oh-so-slowly down a hallway like the only thing of to be concerned with is an overflowing toilet. Factor in almost inaudible, tension-sucking music, too. I mentioned that one person was good. Joe Estevez, of all people, was the only one that even tried to add life to this movie. He plays the ghost of the killer's father, and his lines and the vivacity with which he says them are the best things in the movie. I think he was ad-libbing. When I think about it, I bet everyone was ad-libbing, with Estevez being the only one who was any good at it. I mean, there is no writer credited, which could mean there was no script for anyone to work off of. That would explain some, but not all, of the movie's atrocities. I'd like to add one more thing: the being responsible for this movie was caught on tape. Oh, I know it was supposed to be a guy in a rubber mask playing the mascot for The Devils, but you can't fool me. I know the Prince of Darkness is at work in the lives of mortals, and I need present no further proof than the existence of this film. Zantara's score: 1 out of 10.

I rented this movie the other night and I was totally disappointedI was hoping it would be a horror comedy (along the lines of Uncle Sam & Jack Frost), but it turned out to take itself too seriouslyI hate movies which have a silly premise and goofy death scenes and STILL try and scare ya!It has to be done right and The Catcher just wasn'tIt was a very boring movie, with really rubbishy effects.the only saving grace was the baseball bat up the butt scene (made me laugh)and the fact that it starred the gorgeous Monique ParentAvoid at all costs