PSYCHO GOREMAN: 3 ½ STARS. “an over-the-top Midnight Movie.”
It’s hard to imagine the young stars of “Psycho Goreman,” the “meat children” as the titular alien character calls them, being allowed to watch the movie. The new horror comedy b-movie, now on VOD, isn’t shy about the blood and guts, so it’s definitely not something to throw on to babysit the kids. Unless you want them to have night terrors.
The story begins when two kids, Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) and Luke (Owen Myre), playing a game of their own invention called Crazy Ball—the loser gets buried alive—unearth an ancient alien and a red gem. The being is the Arch-Duke of Nightmares, a power mad creature from the planet Gigax, who was entombed on Earth eons ago after a failed coup. After all this time, he’s ready to rock but, unfortunately for him, the gem gives the kids control over his actions. They name him Psycho Goreman (Matthew Ninaber, voiced by Steven Vlahos), and at first it’s all fun and games with the gravelly voiced ET. But the news of P.G.’s return attracts foes from all over the galaxy, including Pandora (Kristen MacCulloch, voiced by Anna Tierney), a templar from Gigax is dispatched to… well, dispatch him and maybe even taking Mimi and Luke out as well.
“Psycho Goreman” is a good old-fashioned b-movie with a silly premise, fun and mostly practical special effects and buckets of fake gore. The best part of it all, is that it knows what it is, an over-the-top Midnight Movie, with no interest in character development or the like. Leave that for Scorsese. Writer/director Steven Kostanski has crafted a movie about what could possibly happen if kids and super-beings hung out, and it’s a lot of fun. Gory, and not for kids, but lots of fun.