Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) is a bossy little girl who finds an evil extraterrestrial warlord buried in her backyard and names him Psycho Goreman (Matthew Ninaber). Thanks to a magic amulet, she can control his every move, which comes in handy when she needs an extra player for dodgeball. Once the P.G.’s dreaded nemesis Templar Pandora (Anna Tierney) learns of his location, she goes to Earth to stop him once and for all.
Psycho Goreman has a decent premise, but its Amblin Meets Troma schtick is spread a little thin over the film’s ninety-five-minute running time. While there are a couple of laugh-out-loud moments to be had, I can’t help but think that this would’ve made for a better faux-Grindhouse trailer than an actual full-length movie (or at the most, a half-hour short). You could pull off a tonally out-of-whack idea like this off in a three-minute trailer and not have to worry about it. When you have Psycho Goreman killing innocents while his young sidekick acts like a brat, it’s sometimes hard to take.
The special effects are spotty, but I think that was intentional. The Psycho Goreman himself is a cool amalgam of Syngenor and Wishmaster. The other aliens are cheesy looking for the most part. Many would not have cut it on an episode of Power Rangers. They aren’t bad per se, and possibly could’ve looked more effective (and dare I say realistic) if director Steven (The Void) Kostanski didn’t film them with bright lighting while holding the camera on them for so long.
It’s a tricky thing to make a readymade cult item like this. Compare this to something like Death Rider in the House of Vampires. With that film, Glenn Danzig believes everything on screen is pure cinema, which is what makes it so damn fun to watch. Kostanski on the other hand seems to be clapping himself on the back for coming up with such a zany premise. That layer of detachment kind of keeps Psycho Goreman from really clicking. I will say that as far as these kinds of things go, you can do a lot worse (as was the case with Kostanski’s insufferable Manborg). I have to admit, when it works, it’s kind of fun.
No comments:
Post a Comment