In the same way that I would come charging out of the gates on an especially bad horror movie, I need to do so with the same gusto on this one for it being such an AMAZING horror movie! I know I’ve still got 12 more days of horror movies on the horizon and I have what hopes to be a pretty solid competitor left in my repertoire of films to enjoy, but this movie was easily my favorite up to this point. I liked the qualifiers IMDb used for this one, “Dark Comedy”, “Splatter Horror”, and “Supernatural Horror”. This movie, to me, should be up there with the likes of Shaun of the Dead and Tucker and Dale vs. Evil when it comes to horror comedy. There’s so much about this movie that is nothing but fun.
Not-So-Spoiler Alert, I bought this movie a while back. It was another one of those blind buys that I had a lot of faith in but up until now I have not taken the time to check it out. I’m SO glad I finally remedied that and I’m angry at the wasted times I could have rewatched this movie since then. Even as I’m writing this now, I may actually share this one with my kids. I’m probably pushing it on the “violence and gore” for my 10 year old but the rest of this movie lines up easily with most standard fare for a PG-13. Cut out one of the two uses of the “f” word and you’re clearly in solid PG-13 country, no problem. I will also admit that I’m actively planning on upgrading the edition of this movie I currently own to the Limited “Hunky Boy” Ultimate Edition via some lucky soul on eBay, presumably. I don’t know if the special features differ at all but the cover art is amazing and there are trading cards and a copy of the soundtrack to this movie on compact disc, which I’m highly compelled to own at this point. Yes, I know I could download it on my Amazon music app no problem. I still want the Hunky Boy version.
What I liked about this movie first and foremost is the humor. I’d gladly admit that this movie errs heavily on the side of comedy. The writing is both witty and juvenile which are two of my favorite kinds of comedy. So it was right up my alley to begin with. Some of it is just downright absurd and that is like the cherry on top. Most of the movie kind of seems like a weird extrapolation of a Power Rangers episode dipped in a little bit of the plot from “The Gate”. Our two main characters are sister and brother duo, Mimi and Luke. Mimi is the aggressor and younger sister to Luke, who is a bit more passive and fearful of her. After playing a rousing game of Crazy Ball, a game of Mimi’s invention, Luke is penalized for losing by having to dig a hole in their back yard. He stumbles upon the resting place of the “Archduke of Nightmares” and Mimi, haphazardly pushing buttons on this intergalactic coffin, unleashes this terrible evil into the world along with a pretty, glowing rock that just so happens to control him. Realizing this later the next day, the children rename him Psycho Goreman, PG for short. There’s so many fun elements in this. The fact that this celestial destroyer is bound to a small, but feral, little girl is fantastic right off the bat. Coupled with the way PG talks frequently about how he’s going to murder them and bathe in their blood while the children take no offense only adds to the enjoyment. I’m not going to go through the whole plot as I’ve decided that this is definitely going to be my first pick in this year’s Spooktacular so we’ll be doing a deep dive on this one later in the week.
Being as that is the case, I’ll be somewhat succinct on my review of the movie here. Clearly I really liked it. I feel like in my rating scale, this would be an A+. I’ve put down that the B range is really where I feel compelled to buy a movie if I don’t already own it. I know some of this is moot if I’ve blind bought a movie so that tampers with the scale a bit but by and large, I really feel like this fits. So If I’m buying it in general, it’s getting the B rating. This one I loved so it gets bumped up to an A pretty easily. And the fact that I already own it and I want to upgrade the edition is where I’m tacking on that +. It’s currently streaming on Shudder, which is offering a 7 day trial for free on Amazon video. So if you’re looking for something that fits the spooky season but you’d rather laugh than scream, then this is easily one I’d pick, especially if you want something off the beaten path. The gold standard for horror comedy is Shaun of the Dead and you can’t go wrong with that one as is. Tucker and Dale is a little more of a sleeper hit in my book but it’s gotten more name recognition over the last few years as both Alan Tudyk and Tyler Labine have become closer to household names. So to find a hidden gem (pun maybe partially intended) like this is a real treat for me to hopefully be able to share with others. Hopefully you enjoy it even a fraction as much as I have. So tune in sometime in the next week or so for a full deep dive on the podcast about this one and you’ll get all our thoughts on it. Until then, I’ll catch you on the flip side.
