MY CALL: This movie has its “gore-slathered in chunky clumps of gross” moments. But I often felt the “kid stuff” and humor outweighed the violence and gore, perhaps mildly to its detriment. But it’s also pretty funny, rather hokey, very gory when it is gory, and kinda delightful. Few movies out there can deliver both levity and heavy gore together as smoothly as this. Recommended to fans of over-the-top gore or horror comedies. MORE MOVIES LIKE Psycho Goreman: For the super versus super aspect, The Guyver (1991), Swamp Thing (1982) and Zeiram (1991) spring to mind as solid double-feature pairings. For cutesy-funny wacktastic weird factor, go for Willy’s Wonderland (2021), Turbo Kid (2015), Manborg (2011) or Kung Fury (2015).
“After unearthing a gem that controls an evil monster looking to destroy the Universe, a young girl and her brother use it to make him do their bidding.” Yeah, if you’ve seen writer and director Steven Kostanski’s (Manborg, The Void, The ABCs of Death 2) other work, this premise should come as no surprise at all. LOL
The opening scenes introduce us to Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna; Books of Blood) and Luke (Owen Myre; Terrifier 2), two young competitive siblings who stumble across a buried intergalactic gemstone and sense a newfound fear of the existence of monsters. This may almost feel like a kids’ movie or a very family-friendly movie until we first encounter Psycho Goreman [PG] (voiced by Steven Vlahos) ripping off hobo heads from their blood-geysering necks with joy.
PG has a strangely familiar appearance to him, perhaps mixing The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) with a Lord of the Rings (2001-2003) orc wearing fishy Aquaman (2018) armor. This alien overlord is very evil, loves to kill, and possesses powers of telekinesis. A well-rounded tyrant, for sure.
Mimi’s gem confers complete control over PG like a lamp holder to a genie. And as much as PG disapproves and threatens, he must do everything she commands, however silly her commands may be. But things get complicated when some supped-up “good” guys come to face this evil alien, and they came in Power Rangers-ish villain attire like some sort of Anime Battle Angels.
This movie has its “gore-slathered in chunky clumps of gross” moments. Many heads are separated from their bodies, faces are melted, and my personal highlight was when PG cartoonishly unhinged his jaws to tremendous size to swallow someone whole. That said, I wish there was more. Perhaps an issue of budget, but I often felt the “kid stuff” and humor outweighed the violence and gore.
Yeah, this movie is incredibly hokey. Yeah, the bad guys all look like R-rated villains from the 90s Power Rangers show. And yeah, it’s not quite as violent or consistently gory as I’d like most of the time. But it’s also pretty funny, very gory when it is gory, and kinda delightful. Few movies out there can deliver both levity and tendon-tearing on-screen decapitation. So whether you love over-the-top gore or horror comedies, you should enjoy this.
