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The Backyard

Play trailer Poster for The Backyard 2003 1h 20m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
72% Tomatometer 18 Reviews 54% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
With the soaring popularity of the WWE in the late 1990s came a wave of amateurs who wanted to join their ranks, and this film chronicles the dangerous and often bloody wrestling matches that people would set up in their backyards for small audiences. Some of the participants are in it only for the adrenaline rush, while others look at the matches as a potential springboard to fame. This documentary features interviews with the wrestlers as well as their conflicted friends and family members.

Critics Reviews

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Noel Murray AV Club 03/14/2007
Tawdriness aside, The Backyard is remarkable for the intensity of the interviewees, who show a new kind of all-American gumption in the way they filter the mannerisms of low-rung celebrities through their own geeked-out, violent imaginations. Go to Full Review Dennis Harvey Variety 03/14/2007
Those who've wondered whether TV's WWF show wrestling might have a detrimental effect on impressionable youth will gloat over The Backyard. Go to Full Review Janice Page Boston Globe 01/09/2004
2.5/4
Warped entertainment? Yes. Sophisticated? No. And that goes for the movie as well as for the participants. Go to Full Review Paul Sherman Boston Herald 01/10/2004
2.5/4
Luke Y. Thompson New Times 10/09/2003
It's unflinchingly honest (and unlike hysterical media reports on the phenomenon, balanced) Go to Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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02/11/2013 Maybe the best low budget doc I've ever seen. Great window into a world I barely knew about. These kids are performance artists. Fuck a damn Abramovic. See more 01/15/2012 /C/ Interesting subjects, but the production value is YouTube level. See more 12/18/2011 If this was supposed to be a mockumentary, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Sadly, I don't think that was the intention. See more 11/13/2010 If this was supposed to be a mockumentary, it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Sadly, I don't think that was the intention. See more 11/08/2010 An entertaining documentary that manages the difficult feat of remaining watchable despite it's director. A self-proclaimed Horror and Gore fanatic, Paul Hough is clearly addicted to the horrific, trailer-trash violence, enjoyed by the "Backyard Wrestling" phenomenon - people frequently set themselves alight, are impaled on various sharp objects and rupture their craniums on beds of light bulbs - all captured hungrily and indulgently in his documentary. Fortunately, and perhaps unintentionally, he often stumbles across the tragic reason's for this glorified self-flagellatory behavior. Apart from a horribly amateurish narration job and a heavy handed attempt at an emotional pay-off ending, this is actually pretty compelling stuff. See more 09/24/2010 This is a cool documentary See more Read all reviews
The Backyard

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Cast & Crew

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Paul Hough

Director

Paul Hough

Producer

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The Backyard

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Movie Info

Synopsis With the soaring popularity of the WWE in the late 1990s came a wave of amateurs who wanted to join their ranks, and this film chronicles the dangerous and often bloody wrestling matches that people would set up in their backyards for small audiences. Some of the participants are in it only for the adrenaline rush, while others look at the matches as a potential springboard to fame. This documentary features interviews with the wrestlers as well as their conflicted friends and family members.
Director
Paul Hough
Producer
Paul Hough
Distributor
HIQI Media, Image Entertainment Inc.
Production Co
Paul Hough Entertainment
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Aug 29, 2003, Limited
Release Date (DVD)
Nov 25, 2003
Runtime
1h 20m