Arena Wars Drops June 25th! Movie Review By Michael Errol Swaim

“It’s All Fun And Games When Someone Gets Hurt.” The movie poster says.

Arena Wars is an upcoming science fiction/action film set in the year 2045 where prisoners fight to win their freedom on a televised sporting show.

Written and directed by Brandon Slagel (Attack of the Unknown), this films stars Michael Madsen (Reservoir Dogs), Robert Lasardo (The Mule), Eric Roberts (The Dark Knight), and John Wells (Bermuda Island). Also with Sheri Davis, Kevin Hager, and Mercedes Peterson, each turning in memorable performances.

In the year 2045 Arena Wars is the number one sporting event show that sees unarmed prisoners fight to the death against armed, and enhanced killers for their freedom. They must survive seven separate arenas that each contain one of seven horrifying killers from high security prisons with high kill counts to win the Arena Wars. With names such as Meatwagon, Mr. Smiles, and Cutie Pie, these killers are not to be trifled with.

The show is facing a decline in ratings, and they decide to try to spice things up and get their audience back by adding an innocent prisoner named Luke Bender to the lineup, a marine veteran who took the fall for a superior officer in the name of national security.

Will Luke and the others survive the seven arenas and win their freedom? Will they meet their deaths? Or is something even more sinister afoot?

Overall, it was a fun sci-romp reminiscent of The Running Man. This film is action packed, and full of fight scenes and plenty of gore.

Arena Wars drops in North America on June 25, 2024.

I gave it 7 out of 10 stars.

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MOVIE REVIEWER BIO:

Michael Errol Swaim is a horror and fantasy author and proud citizen of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma. He first picked up a pencil and began to write stories many moons ago before he was even born, and due to several mishaps, including a liver and kidney transplant, he stopped writing. After a 25-year hiatus, he has returned to doing what he loves most: writing. Michael focuses on horror but occasionally dabbles in fantasy and poetry. His first horror publication is in issue three of Carnage House, and his stories will appear in several upcoming anthologies. He also writes film and book reviews for the Weird Wide Web blog. Because he was such a weird kid, his parents dropped him off in the middle of a forest in Green Country, where a rabid squirrel raised him, and he eventually returned to civilization. He currently resides in Colcord, Oklahoma, with his wife, Mandy, his three kids, and his special princess, Wolfgirl the Cat.