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Many moons ago on the distant planet of Gigax, a nameless evil reigned supreme. This ruthless being had amassed power beyond measure and was preparing to strike down all that was good and just in the universe. Before he could fulfill his dark destiny, the forces of light banded together, and in their most desperate hour toppled the dark one from his throne. He was imprisoned in a place far beyond reach, for if he were ever to be released,it would spell certain doom for all existence…  Psycho Goreman (Or PG for short!) is a 2020 Horror-Sci Fi Comedy film written and directed by Steve Kostanski. Kostanski is one of the members (formerish??) of Astron 6, who have directed such films as The Void (which kicks rear end), Fathers Day and Manborg.  PG tells the story of two siblings (Nita-Josee Hanna, and Owen Myre) who unknowingly unleash the most evil being in the universe. (Matthew Ninaber) But due to his imprisonment, the being is controlled by a powerful gem, and allows anyone who has it to force him to bend to their will.  The person who snagged the gem, unfortunately for this being, is a 10 year old psychopath who makes the poor Arch Duke of Nightmares do a bunch of stupid poo poo like play dress up, jump around, and bully her brother.  Once the word gets out amongst the Galaxy that the most evil force in the universe has been released, the council of Gigax races to our planet to end the reign of the Nameless one once and for all.  For me, PG is one of those films that when it ended it gave me that film high you only get when you watch something truly special. It’s a film that captures the joy of being a kid like nothing I’ve ever seen. It’s got monsters, gore, more monsters, and a scope that at times exceeds way way past its budget.  This was due to the films reliance on practical effects, which uses them in such a way that makes it a complete joy to watch.  In this film you have dozens of creature suits. Some are puppets, some are suits, and some are even stop motion animation.  But what makes it work for me is that it both takes itself seriously, in that it never winks at the suits or it’s deeply silly lore or makes fun of them, but also doesn’t take itself seriously at all so that it becomes a sincerely hilarious comedy. It’s like a cross between Rick and Morty, Invader Zim, meets 80’s splatter flicks, and Power Rangers. But it’s not for everyone. The humor for some is deeply grating, and Mimi’s complete power hungry bossy, insanity makes people shut it off. But for my money, without it? It wouldn’t work. The jokes are so loving weird and everything is so hyper specific in such a strange singular vision, and one that I personally vibe with, that I was floored by how hilarious it was. But ultimately, and I won’t say too much now, but this film ended up being a lot more important to me than just being a movie I really loved. It not only helped inspire me to create, but in a weird way helped me to make a project that meant a lot to me. Which I hope to share soon here. But for now, if you’re into it, grab some popcorn, bunker down on the couch, and curl up next too your own Allister, and watch…. PG Can you dig it, man???? 
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Sep 1, 2021 21:23
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 18:00 |
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Same. I love it. My favorite joke in this movie might be the worst one of all time but it cracks me up. “How’s this for lazy, Susan?” The fact that Steve didn’t put that together until they shot cracks me up lmao
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Sep 3, 2021 20:54
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Yes! New convert to the PG army. I’ve been swinging and missing when it came to recs recently.
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Sep 4, 2021 00:17
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It’s on shudder and rentable anywhere
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Sep 4, 2021 23:40
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Hell yeah! It kinda sucks you missed the hunky boy edition with the fun trading cards. They own lmao
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Sep 13, 2021 20:25
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It was a huge surprise and cracked me up. It’s my default cover
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Sep 13, 2021 22:14
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Yep! It hit me so deeply on both a stylistic level and not gonna like I didn’t expect the heart. But I love that the heart is still super warped and absolutely weird.
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Sep 14, 2021 02:54
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I was busy editing my short film lol
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Sep 14, 2021 06:17
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flashy_mcflash posted:Oh no, I absolutely did get the Hunky Boy edition and can't wait to integrate the trading cards into a Magic The Gathering deck and be banned from playing ever again. When you pull the Luke card, the players all make Luke’s face
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Sep 14, 2021 20:01
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What could have been a fun, exciting movie with fantastic creature design goes off the rails pretty quickly when about 20 minutes in you realize the movie actually has no moral center. Mimi, the little girl and protagonist of the movie is the most obnoxious, mean-spirited, over exaggerated twerp ever captured on film; and she gets WORSE as the movie goes along. The fact that the character is so grossly written might not have been a big deal if the movie had given her character just a little bit of CHARACTER (as in a moral center). Instead we are faced with a child who essentially cannot even fathom the horror of turning her friend (another child she supposedly likes) into a gelatinous brain blob or is completely unfazed by the transformation of an innocent police officer (an easy target for today's movies) into a grotesque, melting zombie-like monstrosity. This child, who is the PROTAGONIST the audience is supposed to relate to is entirely dismissive of the agony of this poor guy. There is a literal non-reaction as her and her brother go right back into their game of "crazy ball." In the next scene she uses threats of actual murder against her own brother. This, to make it clear, makes Mimi actually EVIL, despite whatever lame-brain and scattershot humor the movie tries to erect around the retro-kitsch of the movie. If anything, the traits of Mimi are actually similar to a sociopath, which is ironic, considering the movie expects you to root for her in some way. Why? Why do the screenwriters/director think this? It was a complete turn-off. This moral bankruptcy extends to her parents, especially her father, who at the end of the movie seem completely oblivious to the fact that they have consigned everyone else on Earth to probable death at the hands of Pyscho Goreman. At the beginning of the film the comedy seems to be set up to make the father a kind of shaggy, quirky fellow who slightly undermines traditional parenting. NO. That's not the case. Out of nowhere the plot shifts into making the Dad a lazy loser and the parents actually hate each other. The tonal shifts without reason are amazing! The only remotely human character is the brother, who suffers and is bullied through the entire movie. If you're a horror fan and think I'm being too judgmental over essentially a minor gore movie, all I can say is that IT MATTERS. The only example I can give to illustrate how poorly this movie is conceived is to compare it to the beloved Toxic Avenger; a movie that is over the top and mean-spirited with its violence, using it against children, old women, innocent bystanders and even a seeing eye dog! Why is that movie successful and this one not? Because the Toxic Avenger remains TRUE to a classic formula: The Toxic Avenger is ALWAYS GOOD, and all the villains get what they deserve in the end. The Toxic Avenger, despite being filled with casual violence that also includes a notorious scene where the head-crushing hit-and-run of a child by a car is played for laughs, ultimately is a feel-good story about good triumphing over evil, a fable about government corruption and pollution, and a nerd transformed into a kickass superhero who gets the girl. What kind of arc does Psycho Goreman have? He's a murderous, terrible (yet sometimes funny) demonic monster who is STILL an unrepentant demonic monster at the end. Yet the movie never frames anything about these characters as satire. But that is not where the real sin lies. The crime of the movie is this grotesque, loud, camera mugging, narcissistic child who is flippantly dismissive of all the carnage around her. A morally ugly child who doesn't care if her friend is ever transformed back to a human. A girl who doesn't listen to her own parents and repeatedly threatens to murder her own brother! What's worse is that it's apparent that the movie is not purposely written to make this girl some kind of morbid, dark anti-hero (think Wednesday Addams). In other words the character is not satirical at all. Her obnoxiousness is entirely sincere. They really didn't realize they had written a repugnant character that actually no decent person should relate to. They actually thought they wrote an endearing, "hip" tween. Here's another movie example that puts Psycho Goreman to shame: Adam Chaplin. Despite all the over-the-top gory violence, the story never deviates from the core principal that Adam Chaplin's quest for revenge is JUST. Adam Chaplin too makes a deal with a monstrous demon in that movie. The difference is the conclusion of the film implicitly tells us that Adam Chaplin's deal with the demon for his revenge comes at a spiritual PRICE. His soul is forfeited at the end to the demon. In Psycho Goreman what should we make of the extended scene in which the girl loudly declares in front of an actual crucifix (which is much more personal than a cross because it's an actual representation of Jesus) that not only does she no longer take advice from God, but is through with him completely, and then proceeds to destroy the crucifix! Ask yourself, what was the purpose of this scene? Why was it included? What was a scene about a child rejecting god supposed to elicit from the audience? Big Laughs? Make us think she was a bad-rear end? The movie is filled with suspect choices like this. What epiphanies does the family at the center of Psycho Goreman learn? Zilch. In Psycho Goreman almost everyone is evil or at least amoral other than the put-upon, sensitive son. Why isn't he the main character? So in case people missed it: The character of Psycho Goreman starts evil and is evil at the end. The Templar Knight is evil. The table of alien representatives are corrupt. The family is obliviously stupid and dooms the entire world. The poor little boy turned into a monster stays a monster (oh, and his parents ignore him at the end). The movie takes no stance on the disposability of any of the peripheral murdered people. How can we relate to these characters? What exactly makes them funny? Such a flippant, obnoxious movie with no true viewpoint. If you thought while watching this you liked the creatures, the gore and some of the little action bits and humor, but were wondering why you might feel empty at the end of it or couldn't place why the tone was so off-putting, this is why: The movie has no moral center. The little girl isn't some cool, smart, girl-power/girls-rock hero to emulate. She's actually a monster herself. An immoral, obnoxious cretin worthy of Psycho Goreman himself. If the movie had had the balls to have Psycho Goreman rip out her narcissistic little throat at the end of the movie (along with snuffing out her garbage parents), that would have made sense. At least that ending would have freed the brother from this disgusting albatross of a family. After all, the whole movie is built around the fact that this delinquent is controlling Psycho Goreman, yet is completely emotionally oblivious/unfazed by his violence. That cries out for it to have been turned on her. Not only would that have been justified and fitting, I'm sure the audience would have been immensely satisfied seeing this controlling, defiant, arrogant little sicko of a girl get what she had coming to her. Sadly, this movie with its amoral tone is actually symptomatic of the times we are living in. The only cool, fun aspect of the movie is the Psycho Goreman character, who is funny and satirical - his bombastic declarations of evil always somehow getting interrupted or thwarted by the children. But that's where it ends. The rest of the movie isn't a purposeful critique of anything and barely fun. Many attempts at punchlines and humor land like lead balloons. Anything else successful (like the fantastic creature design) is undermined by the pure mean-spiritedness of the material. The filmmakers prove over and over they are actually CLUELESS. I've never been offended by a horror movie before. Not by a Serbian Film; not by Salo; not by Cannibal Holocaust. The fact that this movie has no perspective; no philosophical viewpoint and then shovels this bloodshed at the audience using CHILDREN made me incredibly sad. The fact that it comes disguised in the form of a power-rangers styled horror "comedy" made it all the more sour; and I wish audiences were smart enough to question what they are ACTUALLY LOOKING AT on the screen. All I can say again is that it matters. Of course, most horror fans leaving 4 and 5 star reviews are either mentally 12 year olds or are just the type of horror fans who have massive horror dvd collections and go "COOL!" every time an ounce of blood is spilled (even though they've seen such things thousands of times before). These are the viewers who miss the entirety of why the movie is so bankrupt and atrocious in a REAL WAY, but are confused by Hereditary and think The Witch is slow. Someone should sic Psycho Goreman on them to melt their faces! Maybe they should go back to watching actual Power Rangers series. At least those had a moral universe to them.
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Sep 17, 2021 00:24
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I like how her and her dad have a special bond.
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Sep 17, 2021 01:15
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https://www.amazon.com/Brooks-Alexis-Hancey-Nita-Josee-Hanna/dp/B08Q9VZRDV
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Sep 17, 2021 15:42
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I have it under good authority that the kid who plays Luke is super awesome and an amazing actor.
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Sep 19, 2021 00:43
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https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/lethalcomics/psycho-goreman
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Sep 29, 2021 00:44
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That person cannot be helped!
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Oct 11, 2021 03:05
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It’s always PG month. Alright we’ll I’ll bring this up too. So this movie inspired the hell out of me and I needed to make a short film I’ve been trying to get going for 6 years. It started off as a comic but I stopped bc I’m not that good of an artist to keep it going .  Gave up, really wanted it to be a movie. I wrote a feature length script and have been working on it on and off since. Saw PG and it for some reason told my brain poo poo, I could maybe do it. And another thing that hit me watching it was how perfect Owen Myre, the kid who played Luke, could maybe be for my lead. Well I got him in my short and he fuckin killed it. He was a blast to work with too. The whole cast was honestly. And now that it’s getting back on track, and almost fully edited with effects being worked on now, I’ll bring it up. https://youtu.be/k21g9fN6vI8 We’re trying to figure out a way to crowd fund the last bit of the production. But it’s almost done. Like I said PG became way more important to my life than I ever thought.
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Oct 12, 2021 05:49
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| # ¿ May 9, 2024 18:00 |
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Yeah the make up was done on the fly. With all the stuff we had we didn’t have a make up artist lol. Ah well. Next time! But thank you! It’s complete now, and we’re trying to get it to festivals.
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Dec 28, 2021 01:03
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