Steven Kostanski has a vision. As a guy who previously wrote Manborg and The Void, it’s pretty clear that Kostanski is a fan of 80s VHS horror. He was also one of the guys wrapped into Astron-6, with founders Adam Brooks and Jeremy Gillespie. Astron-6 you may recall, is the team behind the previously-mentioned Manborg, Father’s Day, and the very funny The Editor, among others. Each of these movies speaks to a very specific kind of horror. If not a direct reference to another film, or subgenre of films, it is a reference to the way we remember these movies. With PG: Psycho Goreman, Kostanski has delivered the most entertaining and most well-realized concoction yet.
It begins with an introduction to two of our three central characters, Mimi and Luke, a sister and brother team engaged in a made-up game called Crazyball. This is not dissimilar from Calvinball, the game invented for the Calvin and Hobbes comic strip. In both cases, the rules are a jumbled pile of nonsequiturs and delirious afterthoughts, but it’s a nice introduction to the chaos of the movie ahead. Clearly in charge, Mimi demands that brother Luke dig his own grave to be buried alive following his defeat, which naturally leads to the discovery of an ancient space gem. This gem allows Mimi to control the hideous monstrosity that describes itself as the Archdemon of the Nightmare Realm, but that Mimi names Psycho Goreman. Her possession of the gem discovered in their back yard enables Mimi to wield total power over Psycho Goreman, PG for short. This is worrying for Luke, who understands that his sister might have just a hair of sociopathy in her.
Beneath all of this is a very silly family drama of lazy and hapless dad Greg and fed-up mother Susan. But don’t think for a second that any of this adds up to some sweet tale of a young girl who learns a lesson about power and responsibility, or that Dad might finally realize that pitching in a little around the house might make a world of difference to Mom. PG: Psycho Goreman goes out of its way to tell the audience that no lessons will be learned and no saccharine smiles at the end will mark a return to life as it was, only better.
Instead, Psycho Goreman is a gleefully over-the-top fan letter to goofy movies and shows featuring rubber-covered actors doing battles against tentacled baddies. Think Power Rangers after an 8-ball. Googly-eyed skulls in jars and space templars suited up like Gundams live alongside one another in this world, and I want to go to there so much. Nothing looks real, but that’s not the point. The point, I would humbly argue, is to have a good time inside a universe of space warriors come to earth to fight (and occasionally get lost in) the woods. The gore is silly and wonderful, rivaling some of the work of Noboru Iguchi in its insanity.
Special praise for Steven Vlahos, who supplied the voice of PG. The performance of this evil space lord-turned-plaything of children is hysterical, and strikes just the right tone of deadly serious in the face of absurdity. It’s not unlike the terrific work Leslie Nielsen did in Airplane! and Police Squad. Nita-Josee Hanna is great as the narcissistic Mimi, shoveling derision and pain on Owen Myre’s Luke, and Adam Brooks is very funny as Greg, the father. More points for good screams from him, something I expect from an Astron-6 founder but find delightful nonetheless.
On a five-star scale, PG: Psycho Goreman racks up a solid four stars. There is a manic energy to the film, a sense of punk-rock chaos, and a dedication to thumbing its nose at the rules of family fare that PG both embraces and mocks all at once. It’s an insanely fun watch and one I recommend heartily.
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