A terrifying childhood encounter forever changed Jason Eisener's filmmaking career

Richard Woodbury · CBC News

· Posted: May 04, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

When filmmaker Jason Eisener was astir 10 years old, helium went to a World Wrestling Federation amusement successful Halifax. An brushwood that nighttime terrified and changed his life.

As the wrestler Skinner made his mode to the ring, Eisener and the relative leaned implicit the guardrail and chanted "You suck" repeatedly to the wrestler. Skinner was billed arsenic an alligator huntsman from the Florida Everglades.

As the 2 screamed, Skinner locked eyes with the boys, came implicit and grabbed them by their garment collars.

"I could spot the chewing tobacco, like, oozing retired of his mouth," Eisener, 42, said by telephone from Hollywood. "And helium pulls america close up to his look and he's conscionable like, 'I'm going to tegument you.'

"And we sat down. We were truthful scared. We didn't marque a peep the remainder of that amusement that night. But that decidedly had a immense interaction connected me."

Meanwhile, Eisener's godfather who took the 2 boys to the show didn't person the aforesaid reaction.

"Oh, he's laughing his ass disconnected the full time," said Eisener. "He thought it was truthful funny."

The Dartmouth, N.S., filmmaker is known for movies specified as Hobo with a Shotgun and Kids vs. Aliens, but turned a puerility fascination and emotion of wrestling into the long-running tv series Dark Side of the Ring, present successful its sixth play connected Crave.

"Had my godfather not taken maine and my relative to that lucifer that night, who knows if I would person gone down the trajectory that I did?" said Eisener.

Dark Side of the Ring takes viewers wrong the satellite of nonrecreational wrestling, retelling well-known and not-so-well-known stories that sometimes involve elements specified arsenic a wrestler's rise and fall, crime, substance abuse, narration problems and catastrophic injuries.

To bash that, Dark Side of the Ring usually interviews the radical astatine the centre of the stories, loved ones and radical from the wrestling world.

"They're similar the champion storytellers I've ever heard," said Eisener. "And that I find truly inspiring, however they're capable to archer a bully yarn."

Eisener said the thought for the amusement was rooted successful helium and bid co-creator Evan Husney's shared passionateness for wrestling.

They wanted to bash a scripted drama, but recovered nary interest, truthful they turned it into a documentary-style amusement instead.

"The much we looked into [wrestlers], we realized however tragic their stories were," said Eisener.

The show's sanction is fitting, some for the taxable substance it covers, but besides due to the fact that erstwhile not utilizing interviews oregon archival footage, the amusement is changeable utilizing silhouetted figures who are backlit.

Given the taxable substance sometimes delves into true-crime topics, it's not astonishing that Eisener said he's received decease threats. He's adjacent had his individuality stolen.

Despite the show's often acheronian taxable matter, Eisener said the families of the wrestlers are often precise consenting to speech astir the tragedies.

"They're ever beauteous unfastened and their perspectives are, I find, the astir fascinating and seeing however they benignant of navigated the satellite of wrestling and saw what their loved ones went through," helium said.

Wrestler Maddison Miles has been wrestling for adjacent to a decennary and has done matches successful 11 countries, including Mexico, Germany and Australia.

The 25-year-old lives successful Dartmouth and recently watched the amusement for the archetypal time. She was impressed.

"It's not enactment retired determination to marque the manufacture look God atrocious ... each these performers are radical conscionable similar you and me," she said.

"You know, everyone has lives, everyone goes done hard times, and it's conscionable benignant of showing the fans what truly happens connected the different broadside of the curtain."

Where the themes of the amusement are universal, Dark Side of the Ring can beryllium enjoyed by non-wrestling fans.

Eisener said that erstwhile helium started moving connected the show, helium ne'er thought it would past six seasons. But helium said helium and Husney are not moving retired of ideas.

Another brushwood with Skinner

Skinner was interviewed for 1 episode. Eisener wasn't there, but the unit asked Skinner if helium remembered the brushwood successful Halifax. Skinner said helium did — and he had a connection for Eisener.

"They filmed him cutting a promo connected maine present being like, 'I retrieve you from backmost past and I'm inactive going to tegument you,'" said Eisener.