By YASMINA KETITA

Female-driven art is powerful. From literature and film to painting and photography, feminist art challenges male-dominated structures and forces us to re-examine the enduring grip of patriarchy. Whether artistic influence is intentionally derived from the creator or the audience’s interpretations, female-centered narratives often contain a pointed message: Misogyny will not be tolerated. Jackie Kong, Roberta Findlay, Amy Holden Jones, Beverly Sebastian and Deborah Brock are among the few women who directed horror films in the ‘80s. In 1989, Tanya Rosenberg directed her first and only film, BLOOD GAMES. 

Filmed in Shaver Lake and Sequoia National Forest in California, BLOOD GAMES begins with a birthday baseball game for Roy, played by Gregory Scott Cummins. (Am I the only one who thinks Mac’s Dad is hot in Hack-O-Lantern?) The spectators consist of beer guzzling hicks (including George “Buck” Flower) who are falling over drunk. Babe & the Ballgirls, an all-female baseball team, are playing against Roy and his crude male friends. Soon, the game degenerates into a chauvinistic display of name-calling, groping and abuse. The women, clad in short shorts and crop tops, win the game, severely damaging the men’s egos and exposing their insecurities. Talk about small dick energy! 

During a post-game birthday party at a redneck bar (prominently displaying a Confederate flag, of course), we witness a testosterone-fueled arm wrestling match. Roy and friends are still butthurt about losing to a bunch of “bimbos.” After an attempted rape, people on both teams are injured and killed. Roy’s dad (played by Ken Carpenter) swears vengeance as the women escape in their bus. He offers the men $1,000 for every girl they kill, and the blood games begin. While the men hunt the women down, the pursuit gets more interesting when it moves off-road, becoming a foot chase through the woods. Using their feminine wit and baseball skills, the women set traps for the men Rambo-style.

Overall, BLOOD GAMES is reminiscent of David A. Prior’s Mankillers, a gender-swapped version of The Dirty Dozen in which a female CIA agent recruits and trains an all-woman squad of prisoners to bring down a drug cartel. Surprisingly, that film contains no nudity. However, BLOOD GAMES is filled with naked breasts, and let’s be honest, no exploitation film is complete without a shower scene. 

Although a woman directed BLOOD GAMES, it was written by three men who scripted other films starring bad-ass women. Jim Makichuk wrote and directed the criminally underrated Canadian horror film Ghostkeeper (featured in a previous REWIND ZONE), starring Riva Spier. Craig Clyde and James Hennessy wrote China O’Brien II, starring the queen of martial arts cinema, Cynthia Rothrock. And speaking of badass women, BLOOD GAMES’ lead actress, Laura Albert, is a full-time stunt woman who has plied her trade in over 175 productions. 

Scarcely anyone I know has heard of this movie, and the few who have are serious VHS collectors. For a long time, BLOOD GAMES was only available on tape. Vinegar Syndrome released a 2K restoration Blu-ray (currently out of print) in 2020, generating more awareness of the film. It has since been reviewed by such critics as Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. With the Blu-ray becoming increasingly rare, the film is back on VHS sell/trade listings.

The VHS cover features some of my favourite ’80s box art: The women armed to the teeth in their crop tops and short shorts is a forceful image (and I love white cowboy boots and vintage high-top sneakers). To me, it ferociously opposes the absurd notion that how women dress plays a role in men’s decisions to abuse them. BLOOD GAMES takes that “she-was-asking-for-it” logic and ruthlessly beats it into submission with a Louisville Slugger. The film concludes with a poignant montage of the women who didn’t survive over somber music. I can’t help but feel this was a deliberate tribute to all victims of abuse. Wherever you are, Tanya Rosenberg, I salute you.