Directed by Steven Kostanski
Written by Steven Kostanski
Starring Nita-Josse Hanna, Owen Myre, Matthew Ninaber
Harkening back to the days of off-the-wall toy merchandise and fast food marketing tie-ins, Psycho Goreman is the kids movie your parents never allowed you to watch growing up. Any horror loving pre-teen with an allowance burning a hole in their velcro wallet would probably obsess over this movie and want every piece of movie memorabilia, from gross out gags to trading cards. Director Steven Kostanksi (The Void, Manborg) is one of those kids, he just happens to be wearing an adult skin suit and have access to an endless amount of creature effects. Psycho Goreman is the movie Kostanski was born to make and his passion for gore, fantasy and mecha-anime have crash landed onto planet Earth.
Unbeknownst to them, two kids discover a powerful gem that’s at the center of an ongoing battle beyond the stars. This stone, known as the Gem of Praxidike, allows the bearer to command a merciless alien warlord known as the Archduke of Nightmares. Rebranded as Psycho Goreman and now under the control of a ferocious little girl named Mimi (Hanna), the Archduke is forced to protect the Earth from a myriad of intergalactic threats intent on destroying him before he destroys the universe. This sounds like it could be a saturday-morning cartoon but censors would have to edit out all of the blood spurts, decapitations, flesh melted zombies and bone chewing goregasms. Even then, it probably still wouldn’t be ready to air.
As you can probably guess, there are plenty of setups designed to get more of a laugh than a shriek, but we know that most of you are here for the creature shop lineup and splatter gun array that’s surely in store from the gang up at MastersFX in Toronto. Kostanski and his team worked tirelessly to roll out some effects sequences that you won’t soon forget. Once other “Jim Henson from Hell” characters start popping up, there’s one fight in particular involving an evil Templar called Darkscream that will make your stomach turn. Let’s just say if this is Psycho Goreman’s idea of a “warrior’s death” then I’m fine being a conscientious objector.
While all of this horrifying space war carnage is happening around them, Mimi and her steadfast whipping boy Luke (Myre) seem to actually be enjoying themselves, making the whole affair a lot more fun when it should be downright disturbing. The only problem is, Mimi seems to be enjoying it just a little too much. She really winds up enjoying having her own personal killing machine from another world way more than she should. That’s when Psycho Goreman starts teaching a few life lessons in the only way it knows how…through the power of song. And a made-up kids game called Crazy Ball featuring an awesome power move called the “switch-a-roo”.
It’s not only Mimi’s heart song “I’m the Heckin’ Best” that deserves a mention, especially because Kostanski’s wacky throwback wouldn’t be complete without a Roland TR-808 inspired rap song with song lyrics that revisit the entire movie you just watched. “PG For Short” by Lil Cesar wouldn’t have knocked “Ninja Rap” by Vanilla Ice off the charts but it still bumps over a car stereo. It can’t compete with the deep, vocoder bass of Psycho Goreman’s voice either but it’s still a highlight. There’s even a hair metal end credits song called “Two Hands, One Heart” by the fictional band Pleasure Chamber so be sure not to rewind until the very end.
The Horror/Comedy PG: Psycho Goreman is in Theaters, On Demand and Digital on January 22, 2021.