Psycho Goreman (2020)
Little girl. Big psycho.
I no more than week ago learned of the existence of sequel to a shark movie that had already gotten another sequel that it didn’t need - and I was intrigued enough to think about watching it. “Before I watch that,” I had thought to myself, “I should watch that one I saw trailers and reviews for that looked like it was way up my alley.” For once, I listened to that little thought, and before you get thrown into the deep end, let’s go to a different idea altogether. Did you ever wish Power Rangers was more violent and about the bad guys? Well do I have a treat for you, set your dinner aside and put on your effects-appreciation ponchos, tonight we have a look at Psycho Goreman.
The comparison to Power Rangers is kind of a bit loose if I’m being honest, but it really is what I felt like when I initially saw anything for this movie. A bunch of people all suited up, sometimes in way outlandish costumes, there some kids floating around, and it sounds like there’s going to be fights? I mean, that’s pretty Rangers to me! Well, the story here is a bit different then that. You see, a combination of heroes from a plethora of planets long ago teamed up to lock away an evil creature of unbridled power - so evil that it has no name. Locked away this force of darkness was, until one day a girl and her brother stumble across it, random-chance their way into unlocking it, and end up with their very own pet monster. The rest is a bit of a comedic romp of super-evil being controlled by a crazy little girl despite all it wanting to do is murder absolutely everything - until the council who banished it in the first place gets wind of this and sets about ending the evil forever.
The funniest part about this thing is that the commentary very pointedly calls out that humans are the real monsters, even though the evil is a monster in fact capable of doing so much more damage. I mean, there’s a ton of different degrees of jokes in there - and I can’t speak to if they are all intentional or not. They won’t all hit their marks either - I could see it being a bit divisive when it comes to the comedy side of things (perhaps more so than usual, even with my normal disclaimer of laugh-causers being subjective). You have some physical stuff, you’ve got some word play, and of course the conceptual humor of a near unstoppable evil force being under the thumb of a little girl. The laughs also extend to some of the costumes of the various creatures - brain jar thing, the organ grinder, or even the kid whose now a giant brain with eyeballs. Again, it’s going to be a real heavy dependent on the person as to what all is funny here, but at the same time it kind of takes a certain person to watch a movie with a title like this anyways.
And although it isn’t obscenely grotesque in details like some zombie movies can get, the effects live up to the tile quite well. The psychotic amount of variety - to alien planet tentacle worms, the council (each member of which is unique looking), the gaggle of evil minions, and even PG himself - and the various exploded, mutated, or decapitated bodies or creatures along the way. The squeamish won’t enjoy it, and yet the violence that’s in here also doesn’t feel all that graphic somehow - which I know sounds absolutely ridiculous considering someone makes a sword out of organs and various people are kept alive in a brutal state and want nothing more than to die to escape it. I don’t know if it’s a mood thing or what - but make no confused glances at the thing’s not rated rating - this thing would easily end up with an R or higher for the violence contained in it, regardless of if it somehow manages to not make your stomach turn. Of course, the violent parts hit with a splash, but by far I love the costumes way better - yes, human modern blah blah. The aliens all have such a variety of stuff to them, robots, noticeable re-use of sports padding, some are more comical and some are more cool - a still of the aliens alone tells you they took some time to make some fun stuff in here, and it in turn does feel a little bad that some people probably won’t get to experience it because they can’t stomach the violence.
Oh, he’s going to do the thing!
What about the actors though? Well, let’s talk a bit about the characters first. We have a few real main ones - namely PG and the two kids. These kids are about as opposite as you could want - the one is a crazy little aggressor who is borderline annoying (perhaps a bit more than borderline) the entire movie, the other’s a bit of a wet bag that feels a bit more laid-back real world. PG feels like you would think of a being in his position, with plenty of complaints and expected threats, Most other characters are rather much a bit expendable as far as the story is concerned (even if they don’t really get expended), and any pitfalls feel like it’s more hard-wired into the characters then it does the acting itself.
The actors in turn all do a great job with what they have. You won’t really feel that there’s any significant character built across the movie. There might be a bit of a change here and there with a few of them, but it doesn’t feel necessarily like this family is going to suddenly break free of their state from the beginning and be totally new people in the relationship matrix. Even PG, who makes a bold statement about learning something by the end, is largely unchanged in his goals and performance. Don’t really go into this one for an expert character drama with flourishing arcs - there’s little growth here, but this feels way more like “kid with a pet monster,” and I think most people will be more easily drawn towards the backstory flashbacks then necessarily the characters, despite the actors nailing the parts - be it bland or crazy, lame or cool.
The sound department had some fun, and things sound about as squishy and gross as you would expect at times. There’s plenty of background noise in there to make things feel a bit more lively, and although I couldn’t name any of the songs in there (in part because I think they just are just paradied other songs most the time). That said, I enjoyed the soundtrack to this over the course of the movie. It has that old school Rangers feel - in part probably why the comparison still stands in my head to some degree, despite so many aspects being quite different. Line delivery is done well, including from the kids, and everything is balanced pretty well. You may be surprised to hear it, but there isn’t really any strong language in this thing either, with the vast majority of it being subbed in words like “frig.” I mean, there’s still some cusses in there that you probably won’t want your kid to hear, but with that being said I feel safe saying that most people wouldn’t want their kids watching this movie anyways. Horror fans whose kids know that movies aren’t real and go to conventions dressed up as the Predator and the likes maybe, but not normal mainstream Jimmy down the street, who would probably be scarred for life by the sight of an alien chowing down on the opposition.
The council is in session!
I enjoyed this pretty much just as much as I thought I would - no more no less. I know it’s not for everyone, the title and trailer do well enough to prove that, but I find the concept quite novel and the effects work made me love every minute there was something to see on screen. At times it can be a bit dark, making it hard to see some of the details - but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing considering suits have a way of looking a bit more goofy the better more detailed look you get at them. I had a good time here, the movie left me in a good spirit, and I kind of wish they could get a prequel with a bigger budget done up, as I feel like the war between PG and the Templar could be awesome as all heck from what they did with the flashback scenes in this. If you can stomach violence and some potentially annoying characters, this one is worth checking out for the visuals - but if it’s not for you I fully understand.