Everyday Activist - Nail In The Coffin: The Fall & Rise of Vampiro

Posted on Monday, October 26, 2020 at 06:00 PM

Nail In The Coffin: The Fall & Rise of Vampiro

Movie Review by Everyday Activist X CalgaryMovies.com

When owner of GAT PR, Ingrid Hamilton, offered me the opportunity to review Nail in the Coffin: The Fall & Rise of Vampiro, we had to share our WWE experiences. She interviewed Miss Elizabeth and photographed a slew of wrestlers for the Toronto Sun. I live in Hart country. Being the good sister of a devoted wrestling fan, my brother has several autographs from Bret the Hitman Hart. When I mentioned Vampiro, my brother immediately knew who he was from WCW, but my friend knew him from Lucha Libre.

I enjoyed director Michael Paszt’s approach to storytelling. It’s hard to believe that all the events in the film happened to one person, Ian Hodgkinson. To ground his surreal life in reality, is Hodgkinson’s relationship with his daughter, Dasha. The home videos and interviews, especially when he’s at the park with Dasha as a little girl are precious. Unlike many celebrities, Hodgkinson was intune enough to know Dasha needed to move out of Mexico. The safest place he knew was Thunder Bay, Ontario.

So much of Hodgkinson’s story reminds me of Theoren Fluery’s narrative in Victor Walk. The obvious hockey and sexual abuse connections are there, but also the struggle of how to deal with the pain. Both men went into entertainment with all the vices that come with fame, money, drugs and violence, but they wanted to do good in their communities. Later on in life, Hodgkinson started a Krav Maga school in Thunder Bay and sought to bring in the Guardian Angels to help address issues of bullying, though most of the activity seems to be from 2016.

In a recent CBC interview, Vampiro will go back to the squared circle to wrestle despite his physical and mental injuries. His rehabilitation treatment in Nevada sounds interesting. I wish I knew the name of the clinic or group that helped him recover enough to fight again. Other reviewers have said that Hodgkinson stays in wrestling to support his daughter. A martial arts studio probably would have paid the bills without the travel. While he cares about his community, entertainment has an alluring magic around it. He replenishes his energy from interacting with the fans. Now that Dasha is older and more independent, I can only imagine that being in the spotlight helps him cope with letting go of his little girl.

To watch the legend in action in all his roles, Canadian Video on Demand release is available through: Rogers, Telus, Shaw, Bell, Cineplex and iTunes Apple TV from October 06, 2020. 

Calgary Showtimes: Nail In The Coffin: The Fall & Rise of Vampiro >