Psycho Goreman [Blu-Ray]

Director: Steven Kostanski

Cast: Nita-Josee Hanna, Owen Myre, Matthew Ninaber

Release Date: March 16, 2021

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

Synopsis:

In PG: PSYCHO GOREMAN, siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord who was entombed on Earth millions of years ago after a failed attempt to destroy the universe. They nickname the evil creature Psycho Goreman (or PG for short) and use the magical amulet they discovered to force him to obey their childish whims. It isn’t long before PG’s reappearance draws the attention of intergalactic friends and foes from across the cosmos and a rogues’ gallery of alien combatants converges in small-town suburbia to battle for the fate of the galaxy.

Please Note: RLJE Films provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Post. The opinions I share are my own.

The out of this world adventure ‘PG: Psycho Goreman’ follows siblings Mimi and Luke who when playing in their yard accidently uncover and resurrect a deadly alien being who was trapped there after a failed attempt to take over the galaxy. Using a magical amulet with the power to make the creature do their bidding, they name him Psycho Goreman (PG for short) and use the dangerous entity to do whatever they desire. But when the other alien beings who have fought him realize he’s been brought back and head to Earth to finish the job, these kids will have to decide who to stand with once things really get bloody and the fate of the entire galaxy is threatened.

Written and directed by Steven Kostanski (Leprechaun Returns, The Void) who does a fantastic job at the helm of ‘Psycho Goreman’ guiding along this spectacularly silly and over the top, bloody ride with an obvious passion for the classic films it borrows from. It features a somewhat lesser known cast for the most part which includes Nita-Josee Hanna (Books of Blood), Owen Myre (TV’s NOS4A2), Adam Brooks (Father’s Day), Alexis Hancey and Matthew Ninaber (Transference) along with more, the majority delivering pretty decent performances for the most part that fit perfectly within the film’s goofy tone.

‘Psycho Goreman’ is a wonderfully ridiculous, bloody and nostalgic ride that’s definitely worth taking. Serving up all of the delightful cheesiness you’d expect from the popular 80’s and 90’s films revolving around kids befriending misunderstood creatures, then throwing a few buckets of blood and body parts into the mix and turning that misunderstood creature into a blood-thirsty evil entity that lives for murder and bloodshed and what you end up with is ‘Psycho Goreman’. It does a fantastic job of capturing various styles and trends from the eras it pays loving homage to, from over the top music to showdowns that are a splendidly silly blend of horror classics and kids shows more akin to Power Rangers, and all with a fittingly mushy story of family at its core. Perhaps most impressive is that it manages to merge all of this together and make it work far better than you would imagine.

The film is a unique treat that you would almost imagine being released decades prior and the dedicated manner in which it makes that work in every way is a notable accomplishment all its own. I would strongly encourage anyone who enjoys silly family-monster-adventure fare from the 80’s and 90’s as well as horror films to try and make a point of giving ‘Psycho Goreman’ a chance at your earliest convenience. It’s a bloody and insanely enjoyable good time that anyone already even the slightest bit interested probably won’t want to overlook.

Overall, ‘Psycho Goreman’ is a delightfully silly mashup of family fare from decades earlier, some horror level gore and an over the top approach and soundtrack that would almost have you thoroughly convinced that this was released in the early 1990’s. Ridiculous in all of the best possible ways, filmmaker Steven Kostanski delivers a rare gem of a film that pulls off its cheesy nature and style so beautifully that it actually ends up becoming a great film along the way. Done by someone with a clear passion for the decades it borrows immensely from in both style and soul. ‘Psycho Goreman’ is highly recommended, particularly for those that grew up during the 80’s and 90’s and are also horror fans; you’re just about guaranteed to appreciate this over the top love letter to some of the great film classics of decades prior.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Psycho Goreman’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.35:1 Cinemascope Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks quite great altogether and provides a clean, smooth and nicely detailed presentation from start to finish, with no notable issues or problems to be uncovered throughout. It holds up admirably even during the various darkly lit, fast moving and heavily populated moments throughout, never causing anything occurring onscreen to become negatively affected or rendered indiscernible at any point. Overall, this is a solid high definition video presentation that should satisfy the film’s fans as well as first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a 5.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack. This multichannel soundtrack serves up a crisp, sharp and fairly aggressive audio presentation throughout. It continually takes advantage of all five available channels in order to send the film’s perfect music, along with action and nature effects and plenty more whipping throughout the various speakers at every sensible opportunity, while never allowing any dialogue or other audio elements that might be occurring simultaneously to become distorted or rendered inaudible in the process. Overall, this is a pretty wonderful 5.1 DTS-HD MA soundtrack that makes a great compliment to the onscreen fun and excitement and shouldn’t disappoint in the slightest.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Psycho Goreman’ includes a nice collection of bonus content that takes you deeper into bringing the film to life, as well as reversible cover art on the interior Blu-ray sleeve instert. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Steven Kostanski’, in addition to a collection of various interviews, Featurettes and other fun videos that explore different aspects of bringing the movie to life. They include: ‘One-On-One: An Interview with the Director of PG’ (running approximately 15 minutes in length), ‘Interviews with the Cast’ (running approximately 6 minutes), an ‘Interview with Adam Brooks’ (approximately 4 minutes), along with ‘Kortex: A Konversation’ (approximately 6 minutes), ‘The Music of PG’ (5 minutes), ‘Fight Choreography’ (4 minutes), ‘Fight Pre-Viz’ (6 minutes), ‘Filming the Paladin Fight’ (7 minutes), ‘PG vs Pandora’ (3 minutes), plus ‘Miniature Magic’ (3 minutes) and ‘Inside the Creature Shop’ (4 minutes). ‘3 Still Galleries’ are also included: ‘Concept Art Gallery’, ‘Trading Cards’ and ‘Behind the Scenes Gallery’.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8.5/10
Disc Rating: 8.5/10

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‘PG: Psycho Goreman’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital from SHUDDER – RLJE Films

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