A girl and her brother find a gem while digging in the yard, she claims “finder’s keeper’s” and ends up in charge of a being with incredible power who may just be there to start the beginning of the end for humans.
Written and directed by Steven Kostanski, PG: Psycho Goreman is a mayhem-filled, gory film with tons of insane characters, some serious overacting at times (young lady lead is a bit extra), crazy set-ups, uneven costumes/effects, and just about everything else the filmmaker felt like throwing in there. It’s a film that is nuts and most likely plays best with a crowd ready to party than alone in the living in PJs. The story is simple, yet works for most of it. The characters are familiar in most cases with some of them being just the little bit over the line of annoying or overly extra, so it’s hard to decide which character to want to win in the end.
The lead young lady is played by Kristen MacCulloch who does well at times and goes too far many times in the film. Yes, there is a camp mood over all the film, but it still feels like too much in some scenes. Her take on the bullying little sister goes from annoyance on purpose to just annoyance before the film reaches its halfway mark. Her work here may be due to direction, odd acting decision, or a plethora of other things, but it just becomes something that is playful at first and almost grating by the end of the film. Playing the titular character is Matthew Ninaber who does good work with the heavily made-up character covered in a monster suit with effects all over. He makes the most of the character and imbues him with a personality that is not just “evil dude who does evil”, he gives his character more. There is something in the story about his background and intentions, but in the way Ninaber portrays him and carries himself there is so much more. There is a character there that could have more movies and more adventures (or misadventures). He makes the film worth watching even when the other characters don’t feel fully fleshed or feel annoying.
The main thing to notice here is the quality of the effect on Psycho Goreman himself. These are great, they look fantastic, they are amazing really with a bit of gross out stuff and a whole lot of fun. However, the effects for the other beings or creatures that come later in the film are uneven at best. One of the characters has lips that barely move when they talk, which granted could be the person under the suit not knowing how to handle it, but it makes it look stiff and not as good. While Goreman looks absolutely fantastic, but some of the other characters look like cosplay versions of what one would expect from the film giving the viewer that lead being.
PG: Psycho Goreman is an uneven film that has some fun to it, but it’s not all great. There are some real issues with some of the acting and some of the character designs/executions. It’s a mostly fun film for the first part, but eventually, the viewer can lose interest and just not care enough to keep going, which is a shame as Goreman himself is entertaining. This is a film that feels like it should work great, but comes up short on a few fronts, making it a bit of frustrating watch when hoping for better or more.