Cereal Killerz

Cereal Killerz is a 2004 American documentary film about professional paintball, directed by Patrick Spohrer and produced by Monkey With a Gun Productions. The film profiles ten professional players competing in major tournaments during the early 2000s, combining interviews, personal stories and competition footage.[1][2]

Unlike Spohrer's earlier documentaries, Push and Sunday Drivers, which concentrated on professional teams and tournaments, Cereal Killerz is structured around individual player biographies.[2]

The film premiered during the 2004 National Professional Paintball League (NPPL) Commander's Cup in San Diego, California, with its debut screening held at the La Paloma Theatre in Encinitas.[1]

Production

Cereal Killerz was the first major release from Monkey With a Gun Productions, established by Patrick Spohrer and his wife Bonnie following Spohrer's earlier collaboration with Bryon Benini through Division One Productions.

Spohrer had previously directed Push and Sunday Drivers, which documented professional tournament paintball through competition footage, interviews and scenes away from the field.

For Cereal Killerz, the filmmakers adopted a different structure, concentrating on the careers and personalities of individual professional players rather than following a particular team or tournament season.[1][3]

Filming took place across the Millennium Series, NPPL and Paintball Sports Promotions (PSP) professional circuits.

The production combined interviews with tournament footage shot using both video and motion picture film, continuing the visual approach established in Spohrer's earlier documentaries.[1][2]

Featured players

Cereal Killerz features ten professional paintball players from American and European teams.

The players profiled are:

The complete ten-player list is preserved in the original DVD's commercial description.[4]

Each profile combines interviews and footage documenting the player's professional competition, providing an account of their playing style, experiences and participation in tournament paintball.

The documentary also includes footage from major international tournaments during the development of professional seven-player and X-Ball competition.[2]

Premiere and release

Cereal Killerz premiered during the 2004 NPPL Commander's Cup, the final event of the professional Super 7 season.

The tournament was held at Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, California.

The premiere took place at the La Paloma Theatre in nearby Encinitas, a cinema originally opened in 1927.

Contemporary WARPIG reporting identified the film as the first major release from Monkey With a Gun Productions.

The screening sold out, attracting an audience of more than 400 spectators.[1]

The film was subsequently distributed on DVD through paintball equipment retailers, including specialist businesses in the United States.

Soundtrack

Music was an important component of Cereal Killerz, with recordings used to accompany player introductions, interviews and tournament action.

The soundtrack included punk rock, post-hardcore, alternative rock and instrumental music from independent artists.

On 25 February 2005, a member of PbNation published a soundtrack list transcribed from the film's end credits.

The discussion identified twenty recordings and their corresponding player segments. Patrick Spohrer subsequently participated in the discussion through the MonkeyWithaGun account, confirming an additional song that had been omitted from the original credits.[5]

Track listing

The following table reproduces the twenty recordings identified in the contemporary soundtrack transcription, in their reported order.

No.	Song	Artist	Featured sequence
1	Intro	Bay Root Productions	Opening credits
2	Reaction	From Ashes Rise	Opening montage
3	Intermission	Viva Death	Chris LaSoya introduction
4	I Am the Best at Ruining My Life	From Autumn to Ashes	Chris LaSoya
5	Sing a Song	Statistics	Matty Marshall
6	Leave Your Name	Statistics	Matty Marshall
7	Circular Memories	Statistics	Fred Halmone introduction
8	Reminisce	Statistics	Fred Halmone
9	Alive Out of Habit	From Autumn to Ashes	Rocky Knuth
10	The Killing Spree	Elseworth	Bob Long
11	(A Flashback)	Statistics	Davey Williamson introduction
12	Lights Go Out	Strike Anywhere	Davey Williamson
13	Amidst the Dust and Debris	Bay Root Productions	Alex Fraige introduction
14	Shoot the Moon	Face to Face	Alex Fraige
15	On and Out	Elseworth	Ron Kilbourne
16	Superhero	Onelinedrawing	Oliver Lang introduction
17	Wicked Games	Chronic Future	Oliver Lang
18	Chairman of the Board	Statistics	Max Lundqvist introduction
19	Audition	No Motiv	Max Lundqvist
20	Livin' Small	Onelinedrawing	Closing credits

The song titles, artists and sequence descriptions are based on a February 2005 transcription of the DVD credits and subsequent community discussion. The track numbers follow that transcription rather than independently verified chapter timestamps.[5]

Additional identified recording

An additional recording by Statistics was identified during the February 2005 discussion.

A viewer asked about the song playing near the conclusion of Matty Marshall's profile, which was absent from the published list.

Patrick Spohrer responded under the MonkeyWithaGun username, identifying the recording as:

Song	Artist	Album
The Grass Is Always Greener	Statistics	Leave Your Name

Spohrer explained that the song had been omitted from the soundtrack listing in the film's credits.[5]

The published records therefore identify twenty credited soundtrack recordings and one additional recording confirmed by the filmmaker.

Music releases

Several recordings in Cereal Killerz originated from albums released by independent record labels during the early 2000s.

Albums represented in the soundtrack include:

Nightmares by From Ashes Rise
The Fiction We Live by From Autumn to Ashes
Leave Your Name by Statistics
Exit English by Strike Anywhere
How to Ruin Everything by Face to Face
The Volunteers by Onelinedrawing
Lines in My Face by Chronic Future
Daylight Breaking by No Motiv

In February 2006, a PbNation discussion identified a soundtrack playlist made available through the Monkey With a Gun website.

The playlist provided information about commercially available recordings rather than a separately released official soundtrack album.[6]

Reception and legacy

Cereal Killerz continued the documentary approach established by Push and Sunday Drivers, but shifted the emphasis from team competition towards individual player biographies.

Its profiles captured a period of professional tournament paintball when players increasingly competed across separate American and European professional circuits.

The film's contemporary reception included a sold-out premiere attended by more than 400 spectators.[1]

The documentary subsequently became part of the catalogue of Monkey With a Gun Productions.

In 2009, Spohrer released Cereal Killerz 2, which retained the player-profile format while featuring ten different professional competitors.[3]

The sequel premiered at the 2009 PSP World Cup and introduced extensive slow-motion footage recorded using high-speed cameras.[3]

Availability

Cereal Killerz was originally distributed on DVD through paintball equipment retailers.

The film has subsequently been made available through Major League Paintball PLUS as part of its Monkey With a Gun documentary collection.

The streaming version has a running time of 1 hour, 5 minutes and 50 seconds.[2]

References

External links