Review: Psycho Goreman

Director: Steven Kostanski

Guion: Steven Kostanski

Año: 2021

What do you expect from a movie titled “Psycho Goreman” or PG for short? Its own name suggests that it doesn’t take itself too seriously and that it bets for a campy comedy where the nonsense and gratuitous violence reign. Well, this is exactly what this movie provides.

Two siblings find a mysterious artifact while playing in their backyard, which they open and find a gem inside. Unknowingly, they also set free a powerful creature whose objective is to destroy the universe. However, as long as they are in possession of the gem, the siblings control the creature and use it to their benefit. 

After surprising the world of horror with his brilliant and gory “The Void”, any project from the director Steven Kostanski is a motive of excitement, and even more when it holds in its title the word gore. In “The Void”, Kostanski showed his preference for practical special effects, being himself a special effect artist whose talent is in display in movies such as “Clown” and “It”, as well as his talent to showcase their rawness on screen. In “Psycho Goreman”, he continues on this path that has become one of his strongest arguments. 

“Psycho Goreman” is a sort of homage to campy horror movies that are so bad they’re good. In this vein, the special effects are great in the sense that they are bad with the intention of being bad. As its name points out, the gore and excessive violence are plentiful, all in the frame of campiness. What is intentionally good is the look of Psycho Goreman, who shows an intimidating look that is reminiscent of the Djinn in “Wishmaster”.

Its effort of being intentionally absurd and over-the-top is what makes it entertaining, but at the same time, it poses some problems. One of these is the sister’s character, who ends up being so incredibly irritating that twenty minutes in, you already wish that Psycho Goreman would…. no, too dark, but you get my drift. This is a problem of how the character is constructed, as the actress Nita-Josee Hanna (“Books of Blood”) has an excellent performance.

“Psycho Goreman” is an absurd pile of bloody fun whose purpose seems to be paying homage to low-budget horror movies that are so bad they’re good. Its intentionally bad special effects are his best weapon, a department that has started to distinguish its interesting director. Its weak point is that in its intention of being so absurd and over-the-top, which delivers many funny moments, it also produces some irritating ones, without forgetting the annoying protagonist girl, that tolerating her poses its own challenge.