A hugely popular director has caught some serious flack from a former WWE champion after his latest brutal stunt.
Brothers Danny and Michael Philippou have caused waves with their dark and disturbing movies Bring Her Back and Talk To Me, and their next project will explore the world of deathmatch wrestling.
The documentary will shine the light on the ultra violent sports entertainment offshoot, where light tubes, barbed wire and fire are all par for the course.
In a new video shared on social media, Michael has revealed how hands-on he got for the film, as he took part in his own deathmatch at a show in Mexico.
In the clip, he can be seen being slammed off a structure through panes of glass onto a load barbed wire.
‘Yes that net is made of barbed wire,’ he simply captioned the video, while in a previous post he showed off the bloody aftermath of the match.
‘I’m cleaned up and ok everybody,’ he confirmed. ‘I love you Mexico.’
While deathmatch wrestling has its own avid fanbase – Scream’s David Arquette is no stranger to the style – some people have criticised the footage.
Ex-WWE and TNA Wrestling star Gail Kim wrote on X: ‘This is pure trash. Say you don’t know how to storytell without saying it.’
Some fans argued about the artform itself, but the former Women’s Champion wasn’t swayed.
She ranted: ‘You call this art? lol. Ok. So if one of them died, people would be saying this is art? To each their own but I can guarantee you that majority if not all real professionals wouldn’t describe it as you just did.’
Reaction from fans has been mixed, with plenty of people criticising the level of violence in the clip, while others pointed out Michael’s experience as a stunt performer.
‘Nahhhh at one point it gets too much. This is way too much,’ wrote @austiinxbt on X, while @davanoSOL asked: ‘Why is this necessary!? 😭😭’
Giving a different perspective, @Abdulroqib05 said: ‘From horror films to hardcore wrestling really?, Michael Philippou is living a wild double life.’
Others insisted he was living the dream, while someone else seemed to gain a newfound respect for pro wrestling.
X user @PROSPERDEGREAT wrote: ‘That match looks intense. How do wrestlers even recover from stunts like that?’
The Philippou brothers left horror lovers reeling with 2022’s Talk To Me and this year’s haunting Bring Her Back, which has already been described by some as a ‘timeless classic’.
Others hailed it a ‘masterpiece’ and it’s not hard to believe the siblings will bring the same energy and talents to their deathmatch wrestling documentary.
‘Imagine professional wrestling like WWE, but with real blood, real weapons. It’s extreme performance art,’ Michael told The Guardian earlier this year.
‘It’s a world we’ve been fascinated with since we were kids. We used to do two things when we were little – make movies and do back yard wrestling – which quickly turned into deathmatch wrestling.’
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