Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle & Bone review
A wrestler’s dream turns into a nightmare.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle & Bone
Directed by Jebediah Koszewski
Written by Jebediah Koszerski
Starring Vinny Pacifico, Bobby Fish, Rob Ryzin, Nick J, McNeil, Jamie Stanley, Carly Pacifico and Jebediah Koszewski
Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle & Bone Review
I started watching wrestling when I was around 7. It’s a hobby I’ve mostly kept up with in the many decades that followed. I’m not the most hardcore fan in the world…but my (useless) knowledge of it certainly places me out of the “casual” audience. So, when a wrestling related horror film comes along…it’s a real world’s colliding scenario for me. Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone is the latest such endeavor.
The history of wrestling and horror is fairly extensive. From Roddy Piper starring in John Carpenter’s excellent film, They Live to Shudder’s not too long ago release Dark Match…there’s been a consistent stream to marry the concepts. You can go back to El Santo fighting off all kinds of monsters see how long they’ve been entangled. It works the other way too. Bray Wyatt and his family brought horror to WWE audiences. WCW had several factions in their history as well. That’s without even getting into individual characters like The Undertaker or any masked demon character in lucha libre. Horror and wrestling fit together pretty easily.
But they don’t always make for great movies. Sure, Roddy Piper can charm his way through an alien invasion…but most of the horror movies about wrestlers see them fighting off hordes of zombies or other monsters…and they usually suck. Sometimes you get lucky and SCREAMBOX drops a Here for Blood which sees…basically that exact plot except it rocks. Mostly though…wrestling horror is pretty paint by numbers.
One thing you can’t say about any aspect of Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone is that it is paint by numbers. It’s more of an experimental film about the psyche of an independent pro wrestler than it is a standard horror film. It features real life wrestlers…and the up and down acting you’re going to get as a result. But it has the decided advantage of being about something. Something strongly tied to wrestling itself. The movie uses the phrase “boyhood dream” a lot to describe it. Essentially, it’s that drive that a pro wrestler has to make themselves a star. Something they developed watching wrestling on TV as a child. More importantly, it’s about how a shadowy society led by a masked mad man will turn it against you.
We can’t go any further without talking about how Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone presents itself. The best way I can describe it is some kind of warped promotional piece/documentary about the fictional wrestling company and its mad owner. Mr. Reset is the masked mad man in question. He offers prospective independent wrestlers everything they’ve ever dreamed of. At a price. The main story we’re following is that of Vinny Pacifico. He signs of to be “reset” at the cost of his own wife. If he fails…Mr. Reset takes her. If he succeeds…he gets everything he wants.
Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone is 62 minutes or so of music, on screen text, flashbacks to the featured wrestler’s backstories and some in ring action. It’s not like anything you’ve seen before…for better or worse. If you watched those innovative ECW video packages way back in the mid-90s…you have some idea of what Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone does for its entire runtime. Frankly, it’s wild. And oddly compelling. Aside from quick character studies on the few other competitors that we meet across the story…the plot sticks closely to Pacifico chasing a dream that turns into a nightmare.
The style certainly won’t be for everyone. Nor will the lack of concrete answers regarding who Mr. Reset is and how his society really works. The latter isn’t the point, of course. The point is turning a man’s dream against him…which Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone does pretty well. Even if it ends up more interested in setting up a sequel than delivering a third act. Of course, what we’re watching isn’t really a movie, right? It’s a promotional piece/documentary about an evil society preying on the hopes of independent wrestlers. It’s a pretty good one of those. But it’s probably not as good as a movie. As an experiment, however…it is interesting.
Scare Value
Your mileage with Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone is going to vary wildly. If you like wrestling and experimental films…there’s something here. If you want well performed pieces with strong narratives…not so much. But…if nothing else…it sure beats a by the number’s zombie movie starring whatever washed up wrestlers they could get to say yes. Mostly because Mr. Reset and the Society of Turnbuckle & Bone uses the industry it’s commenting on to weave a simple, dark tale. I said it didn’t have a third act…but it really doesn’t have a first or second act either. It’s committed to being an overproduced hype piece for the demented company on display. And that part works.
2.5/5
Mr. Reset and The Society of Turnbuckle & Bone Links
Get it on VOD now from Apple TV and Google Play
