Writer-director Sean Durkin broke through in 2011 with Martha Marcy May Marlene, the story of a young woman who has escaped from a cult and must now find a way to reconnect with her family. But here, the cult is the family, and the only hope lies in escape, which proves all but impossible. (There are frequent mentions of a curse in this based-on-real-life story, and the seemingly endless parade of disasters, some random, others less so, serve to give the claim some weight. They certainly don’t square with Mom’s blunt reassurance of God’s love.) The four Von Erich brothers are caught in the crushing grip of their father Fritz, a pro wrestler turned venue-owner who never got his shot at the championship. (His signature finishing move was called the Iron Claw — how terribly fitting.) Fritz doesn’t have to punish his sons to get them to follow in his footsteps and succeed where he failed. He doesn’t have to threaten them, or fight with them, or do anything but ask and instruct. They are his, and content to be so. And they have each other for support and consolation. (A big part of the film’s appeal is the brotherly love on display between Zac Efron’s big brother Kevin, Jeremy Allen White’s brooding Kerry, Harris Dickinson’s good guy David, and Stanley Simon’s tender Mike.) The women may have thoughts on the matter, but they keep them to themselves. Only Kevin manages a hesitant bleat here and there, and even then, he’s not about to defy Dad. So they march on, their ranks thinning, their bodies breaking alongside their hearts, under Durkin’s watchful (and frequently very close-up) eye. The only thing we get by way of relief is regular doses of the brightly colored phantasmagoria that was ‘80s pro wrestling. And that’s not nothing — even if it does get indulgent in places. (Gosh, but we get a lot of talk from Ric Flair.) Until. But that’s where things get weird: at the end, where the real-life drama ought to take over from the scripted contests in the ring and pin us to the emotional mat, Durkin wriggles free of his own story and brings on not one but three happy endings — one in real-time, one in eternity, and one in posterity. If it feels like a bit of a slippery move, well, this is wrestling we’re talking about. (2023) — Matthew Lickona