Official synopsis
Follows Sophie, who is admitted to an elite tennis academy hidden in the South of Europe, where she must contend with fierce competition and the school’s increasingly sinister undercurrents.
Review
Writer/director Nikias Chryssos’s Bloody Tennis (Germany, 2026) feels far closer to pastiche of Suspiria than mere homage. This is obvious as soon as American tennis player Sophie (Sandra Guldberg Kampp) steps foot on the European tennis school campus for elite players and meets school director Mary (Elina Löwensohn). Mary gives off “evil leader” vibes right off the bat, and the Suspiria parallels have only just begun.
Suspiria isn’t the only fear-fare film that Bloody Tennis apes. The film also borrows heavily and frequently from Eurohorror of the seventies and eighties, with Hostel-like vibes from early 2000s torture shockers also thrown in for good measure.
A big problem here is that viewers are not given anyone to root for. Sophie is the protagonist — at least for a while — but she acts in unpleasant manners from the get-go and her fellow camp members all have entitled attitudes and chips on their shoulders, just like her. It will come as no surprise to seasoned fright-fare fanatics that they are all destined for gruesome ends, although more backstories would have at least helped their deaths mean something to viewers.
Some of the characters and performances border on camp, and I’m not sure that was what Chryssos was aiming for. On the villainous side, Mary is joined by grumpy coach Stavkos (Zlatko Buric) and assistant in evil Fred (Vincent Romeo), the latter sporting a unique bowl haircut. What the backstory behind the villains and their reasons for their actions might be is left to viewers’ imaginations.
Most everything feels gratuitous, from animal violence to human gore to a sexual relationship. Head scratching will come into play as viewers wonder why attendants’ relatives or local law enforcement hasn’t noticed what must be at least dozens of missing young women who signed up for the academy, and
On the positive side, although the characters are rather one-dimensional, the ensemble cast members do a nice job in their roles. Gorehounds will have plenty to be happy about, as well.
Bloody Tennis was released on Shudder on September 25, 2026.
Featured image from Nikias Chryssos’ Bloody Tennis. Courtesy of Shudder. A Shudder Release.
