Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2008)
I recently picked up the DVD, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer as a blind purchase. At a glance, this low budget indie flick had quite a bit going for it. I loved the premise (loser plumber is treated like shit by all, until he finally flips out and kills a horde of monsters), the inclusion of Robert Englund never hurts, and I loved the title…it seemed like the perfect low budget horror flick. Visions of Evil Dead 2008 danced in my head as I went home to watch it. Too bad that the most fun I had with this movie was imagining how awesome it would be.
How could anybody screw up this movie so badly? JB: MS is all about the cathartic payoff of watching Jack flip out and kill monsters. Sadly, the directors spent way too much time building up to that point. I get it, Jack is a traumatized mess, with a whiny girlfriend and worthless life. The guy is also a total snooze with zero on-screen charisma. Anytime he is on screen talking I felt compelled to shut the DVD off. Jack’s only redeeming quality is the rage pent up inside him and we only see it briefly throughout the entire film.
This movie needed less talking and a whole lot more monster slaying (some memorable one-liners couldn’t hurt either). Robert Englund tries his best to salvage this film from going down the crapper, but even his hammed up scenes eventually wore thin. Englund’s slap stick spiral towards becoming a demonic creature was easily the most amusing aspect during an otherwise stale middle act. The filmmakers must have known this because almost too much time is devoted to it. Eventually, I found myself begging for him to turn into a monster just so that the ass-kicking would finally start!
I will give credit to the folks who made this film for not succumbing to tacky CG effects. The mutants and monsters are all done with prosthetics, puppets and makeup which is the way it should be in my book. Things take the slightest turn for the better once the monster brutality starts up. Sadly, the movie ends shortly after. Just when this turd finally gets good it ends.
Had the filmmakers focused more on the gory action rather than the forgettable plot this would have been an instant classic. Jack Brooks has TONS of potential, but with the complete lack of suspense, only a few sparse laughs (thank you Mr. Englund), and zero memorable gore scenes you might want to look elsewhere for your horror comedy fix.
Final Grade: D+