Review by
Eric Hillis
Directed by: Steven Kostanski
Starring: Nita-Josee Hanna, Owen Myre, Adam Brooks, Alexis Hancey, Matthew
Ninaber
Writer/director Steven Kostanski's
PG: Psycho Goreman boasts the sort of high concept premise
that would have made it a word of mouth sleeper hit in the video store
era. It's essentially a reworking of ET and its many
knockoffs, with a child discovering, befriending and ultimately protecting
an alien they find in their backyard. The twist here is that both the
child and the alien in question are unremitting sociopaths.
Spoilt brat Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) does her best to make life
miserable for her long-suffering family, particularly her slightly older
brother Luke (Owen Myre). When we meet the siblings first they're
engaged in a bout of "Crazy Ball", a dodgeball riff custom made by Mimi
with fluid rules that allow her to constantly beat her brother. The
punishment for losing this game is that Luke has to be buried alive. While
digging his own grave, Luke comes across a glowing crystal doohickey,
which Mimi immediately snatches. Unbeknownst to the mites, they've
disturbed the resting place of a genocidal, inter-dimensional monster who
awakens and immediately begins killing the townsfolk as he searches for
the doohickey.
Turns out that whoever is in possession of said doohickey has the power to
command the monster to indulge their every whim. Mimi is delighted with
this information, and after naming him "Psycho Goreman", or "PG" for
short, Mimi adopts the alien as her right hand man while he plots to
retrieve the doohickey and inflict violent revenge on Mimi and Luke before
destroying the rest of the planet for shits and giggles.
With its foul-mouthed tween anti-heroine,
PG: Psycho Goreman heavily evokes '80s movies like
The Monster Squad
and The Goonies, products of an era before helicopter parenting when filmmakers knew
kids really wanted to watch movies filled with as much violence and
swearing as possible. I'm not sure if Canada uses the same ratings system
as the UK and Ireland, but the "PG" of the film's title certainly seems
like a nod to the sort of kids movies that pushed the boundaries of what
you could get away with while courting a young audience.
On paper, PG: Psycho Goreman threatens to be another
horror-comedy that's overly reliant on appealing to the nostalgic
instincts of the VHS generation. With its synth score and practical FX, it
will certainly appeal to such a market, but there's more to
PG: Psycho Goreman than simply plucking 'member berries from
the pop culture vine. With its sophomoric but sharp humour and over the
top gore, it recalls the early works of Troma, back before that studio
became a parody of itself. It's particularly reminiscent of
The Toxic Avenger in how it embraces a degree of silliness
that will likely divide audiences.
What's most interesting and original about
PG: Psycho Goreman is how it acknowledges how obnoxious and
unlikeable many of the kid heroes of '80s movies really were. Mimi is as
much of a monster as her eight foot tall alien buddy, though Hanna is so
charismatic in the role that we can't help rooting for her. Kostanski's
film is also a refreshing critique of the trope of the deadbeat dad who
lets their beloved brat away with everything. Mimi's old man (Adam Brooks) is the sort of Dad who was often viewed in a sympathetic light in '80s
movies, but here he's honestly played as a wastrel who leaves the heavy
lifting of parenting to his wife (Alexis Hancey) so he can be seen
as the good guy to his kids.
Voiced by Steven Vlahos as a nightmarish hybrid of Pinhead and
Darth Vader, Psycho Goreman has a winning repartee with Mimi, his flowery
threats constantly greeted with a snarky "Whatever" response from his
diminutive mistress. It's this goofy chemistry that keeps the movie
ticking in its back half when it threatens to run out of narrative steam.
PG: Psycho Goreman never quite fully exploits its premise,
but it resolutely refuses to take itself seriously and avoids getting
unnecessarily bogged down in its plot. It's a shame it emerged amid
COVID-19 restrictions, as I can't think of too many recent movies more
befitting a rowdy horror festival audience.
PG: Psycho Goreman is on Shudder
UK/ROI from May 20th.
