Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Backyard

Play trailer Poster for The Backyard Released Aug 29, 2003 1h 20m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
74% Tomatometer 19 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

View All (19) Critics Reviews
Noel Murray AV Club 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. Mar 14, 2007 Full Review Dennis Harvey Variety Those who've wondered whether TV's WWF show wrestling might have a detrimental effect on impressionable youth will gloat over The Backyard. Mar 14, 2007 Full Review Janice Page Boston Globe Warped entertainment? Yes. Sophisticated? No. And that goes for the movie as well as for the participants. Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 9, 2004 Full Review Paul Sherman Boston Herald Rated: 2.5/4 Jan 10, 2004 Full Review Luke Y. Thompson New Times It's unflinchingly honest (and unlike hysterical media reports on the phenomenon, balanced) Oct 9, 2003 Full Review Chuck Wilson L.A. Weekly Though engaging from beginning to end, be warned that this is also harrowing, utterly depressing stuff. Sep 4, 2003 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (23) audience reviews
Audience Member 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. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member /C/ Interesting subjects, but the production value is YouTube level. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/07/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member 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. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a cool documentary Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Backyard

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Show Less Cast & Crew Show More Cast & Crew

More Like This

View All Best Movies to Stream at Home
The Aristocrats 79% 61% The Aristocrats Watchlist Breakfast With Hunter 67% 84% Breakfast With Hunter Watchlist Step Into Liquid 80% 92% Step Into Liquid Watchlist Eddie Griffin: Dysfunktional Family 43% 77% Eddie Griffin: Dysfunktional Family Watchlist Cinemania 86% 65% Cinemania Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All The Backyard photos

The Backyard

View more photos

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