Bloody Tennis (2026)

Spoiler Note: My review doesn't reveal major plot developments or the ending, but it does discuss a few specific horror moments from the film.

Bloody Tennis is one of those movies where I can recognize there is a lot of talent behind it while also admitting that it probably just isn’t completely my type of movie. I never disliked it, though. The idea of dropping these tennis players into this secluded, almost desert-like academy immediately gave the movie its own identity, and as things get increasingly weird, I genuinely had no idea where it was going.

Sandra Guldberg Kampp is a big reason it works as well as it does. Sophie’s change from someone who seems unsure she even belongs there into someone willing to do almost anything to win happens gradually enough that I bought it, even when the movie eventually goes pretty far. Zlatko Burić also has this effortless creepy charisma as Stavkos. He’s clearly not a good guy, but he never becomes some ridiculous evil coach. Interestingly, I came away thinking Elina Löwensohn’s Maria might actually be the more calculating of the two and the one really pulling the strings.

The horror is also more restrained than the title Bloody Tennis might make you expect, at least until it isn’t. A tennis ball to the face and the resulting cut under the eye made me wince, but the stupid toe bothered me even more. Watching a tack go into it was bad enough, but having to keep looking at that injury as Sophie walks around and it slowly heals was worse. Then the final match finally lets loose and gets legitimately brutal. And yes, there is an ankle injury. I hate those. Every single time.

The sound design deserves a lot of credit for making all of this worse. Growling stomachs, eating, injuries and some very wet noises constantly made things just a little more uncomfortable than they already were.

And then there's the cat.I hated that scene, not because it isn't effective, but because it is. The cat sitting there meowing sweetly made what follows so much worse for me and it was probably the hardest thing in the entire movie for me to watch. There is also a makeout scene involving menstrual blood that I could have happily lived the rest of my life without seeing. So congratulations, Bloody Tennis. You got me.

That's kind of where I land on the whole movie – It’s creative, well acted and technically really well made. The heat, dirt and exhaustion of the location almost come through the screen, and there are images and sounds from it that I’m definitely going to remember. It just never connected with me enough to push it into something I would strongly recommend.

Amy watched the trailer and immediately told me, “No, that’s not for me.” Having now watched the movie, I'm very glad I didn't try to change her mind. She would have hated this thing, and somehow I would have gotten in trouble for it.

For me, Bloody Tennis is good enough and weird enough that I think the right horror fan is going to have a much stronger reaction to it than I did. I respected what Nikias Chryssos made here more than I actually enjoyed watching it and sometimes that's where a movie lands.