One of the major complaints about mainstream genre cinema is that much of it is highly derivative and annoyingly unoriginal. It often seems like there’s frighteningly little innovation or imagination involved. Independent horror is another beast entirely. There are so many creative and brilliant people working within the industry but none are quite as distinctive as the Astron-6 (Manborg, The Editor) boys. The Canadian collective’s star pupil is Steven Kostanski (The Void), who’s back with his best film yet: Psycho Goreman.
Mimi (Nita-Josee Hanna) is quite the young lady. When not bullying timid brother Luke (Owen Myre) she’s generally causing chaos; leaving a trail of disaster in her wake. Whilst digging in their garden they accidentally resurrect an evil alien overlord, who she christens Psycho Goreman (Matthew Ninaber). Controlling him with a magic amulet, she uses him to fulfil any whims which spring to mind. However, in a distant galaxy a group of outlandish intergalactic crusaders gather to stop his dastardly plan to destroy the universe.
Psycho Goreman mixes elements of family adventure films, gross-out horror and acerbic black comedy to create something entirely unique. First and foremost, Kostanski’s film is great fun. However, it’s also cleverly and made and employs some great visual effects work. It goes without saying that you have to suspend your disbelief, but Psycho Goreman is the kind of amusing, gory and inventive horror we need to see more of.
Psycho Goreman is available in US theatres, on demand and on digital on 22 January.
