What a fun, funny, silly, dark romp! It’s always nice to have one of these during the marathon.
If you are roughly my age with roughly my tastes, then you are probably at least somewhat familiar with the oeuvre of Troma Entertainment. The promise of a Troma film was always so alluring – silly and over-the-top gore, crazy unpredictability, a complete lack of reverence for anyone or anything. Yet, nine times out of ten, I was ultimately left dissatisfied after watching them. I don’t know if it’s due to the films’ complete and utter contempt for their own characters or the studio’s sensibility and sense of humor being slightly askew to my own, but I typically felt kind of let down after investing my time into Troma projects. I think maybe what I thought I wanted was a bad movie made by sick people, but what I actually wanted was a good movie cosplaying as a bad movie made by sick people. There are basic elements of plot and character and internal consistency that are vital to my enjoyment no matter how gonzo you want your film to be. The movie I watched for this review, PG: Psycho Goreman, is not a Troma picture, but it fulfills the imagined promise that every Troma picture made to me during my teenage years.
PG is very much a movie in the horror-comedy vein, leaning heavily on humor and weirdness and grossness, and very lightly (if at all) on being scary. The plot involves a pair of siblings discovering and inadvertently releasing an ancient evil into the world (the titular Psycho Goreman, a name that the kids helpfully workshop and assign to him, much to his chagrin), but they also possess a special gem that controls PG’s actions. More specifically, sister Mimi possesses the gem and controls him while her brother Luke tags along meekly, a dynamic that has clearly been established throughout their childhood. Mimi is brash and confident, bordering on sociopathic, which makes her discovery somewhat fraught for the rest of humanity. Further complicating things, the awakening of such a powerful force can’t help but draw the attention of other powerful beings in the universe who are converging on Earth for a confrontation. That confrontation is mirrored by the fractured family at the center of the story, eventually pitting brother versus sister and put-upon, resentful mom against overly sensitive, entitled dad. Mostly though, the movie serves as a delivery mechanism for fun monster battles, inspired sight gags, and really cool and creative low budget creature designs. I am usually a little wary of movies that are this self-aware and tongue-in-cheek – I like the good ones but it is a tricky needle to thread (hence my opening Troma rant) – but there was a scene early on with an intergalactic council made up of goofy, rubber-faced aliens that won me over to its side immediately. From that point on, I could enjoy the wacky ride with confidence in the filmmaker’s sensibilities.
Psycho Goreman won’t be for everyone, but if you haven’t opted out based on the title alone, then I think you are in for a great time when you watch this movie. Writer-director Steven Kostanksi tells a coherent story, gets really good, comedic performances from his cast (which includes two pre-teens and a bunch of people buried under layers and layers of latex, so extra difficulty points), and makes the absolute most out of his miniscule budget to produce a genuinely fun and surprising sci-fi horror comedy. It will not be the best art I consume this Halloween season, but if it were easy to do then there would be a lot more films of this type to recommend from Troma, Roger Corman, and the slew of other independent filmmakers with a little bit of scratch and a pronounced lack of shame.
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