Monster Mash

When 2007's Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer started to make its rounds on the horror circuit, I initially showed some slight interest, but ultimately lost that interest in the film as time went on. I kinda figured it would just be a lame homage to monster movies of the past, that outside of James Gunn's Slither, don't usually work all that well due to it just being a different era in film. Nevertheless, Jack Brooks was available on instant watch, so I figured I would give it a whirl late one night, and if it sucked, I could just fall asleep and never think about it again.

Yar! There be spoilers up ahead there matey…so ye be warned!

Trevor Matthews plays Jack Brooks, a plumber dealing with major anger control issues that result in him trying to curb his temper tantrums by seeing a psychiatrist and attending night school. It is soon learned that many of Jack's anger problems stem from an incident that occurred while camping out in the woods with his family when he was just a young chap. Jack came to witness his family's death when a creature similar to something along the lines of a werewolf mauled them before the young boy's eyes. Jack of course got away from the creature, running into the darkness of the woods to safety. Now, an all grownz up, Jack seems to have repressed this awful event in his life, resulting in him being an angry adult with no clue as to what causes his temperamental attitude towards life. Even at the night school, Jack has some bull-shit to deal with, such as poor grades, his nagging girlfriend, Eve (Rachel Skarsten), and some D-bag, yuppie/stoner, John (James A. Woods), who seems to want to dig his dirty little pecker into Jacks girl.

Jacks night school Professor, Gordon Crowley (Robert Englund) asks Jack if he could possibly come up to his new fixer upper home and check his pipes (not like THAT you dirty person you!) to see if he could possibly fix a problem he has been having with them. When Jack helps with the plumbing and everything goes completely wrong, it results in an opening in Professor Crowley's back yard. This opening discharges a smoke which possesses Prof. Crowley causing him to dig deeper into the hole only to find a wooden crate with a deceased body inside. In a scene reminiscent of the "seminal horror classic" Jason Goes to Hell, Prof. Crowley eats a blackened heart found within the corpse causing him to start a slow transformation into something that is not of human qualities.

When Crowley shows up to class the next evening, it is apparent to the students that he is all messed up and doing some strange, unexplainable things. Eventually, things escalate in Crowley transforming into a grotesque creature that takes each student one by one and turns them into monster foot soldiers. As Jack is moments away from escape, he has a flashback to what had happened to his family when he was little, and now finds himself in a situation where he can use and harness his anger to fight off the creatures trying to save his classmates and stop this mad monster version of a queen bee.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer actually took me by surprise and I found that I very much enjoyed the movie overall. First time director, Jon Knautz does an admirable job as the film is well made with a hint of style here and there. Jack Brooks is a Canadian production and budgeted at 2.5 million in Canadian money, which is around 2,200,000.00 in U.S. dollars…pretty cheap for a film, that overall looks very good.

Based off the poster art and trailers I saw, I expected Jack Brooks to try to be an Evil Dead/Ash rip off and while it is a movie that is most definitely made to be a fun horror film along the lines of that type of movie, Jack Brooks does feel like its own film. Trying to find a place in horror hero history, Jack is an interesting character that is more of an antihero as he is sort of a dick that can't control himself when he gets irritated by someone or something. You see a lot of what Jack goes through on a daily basis from his out of control shrink visits, to his nightmare that is night school, so you really get to have some solid investment time with this character.

Trevor Matthews (who co-wrote and co-produced) is great as Brooks, and I found him to have solid acting chops as a hero and an angry zero. I also enjoyed most of the cast namely, Rachel Skarsten, who puts together a great performance as Eve, the snotty but pretty girlfriend of Jack. Another performance that I found to be very funny is from the D-bag himself James A. Woods, who often made me chuckle in Jack Brooks as he has a great comedic face and delivers his stoner dialogue cooked to perfection. Most notable in Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer would have to be Robert Englund, who most of you may know best as, Willie, the good alien form the 80's TV series V. While some may enjoy his performance, and it's nice to see Englund on screen, he is a little too over the top and really hams it up as Professor Crowley. It's not terrible, but just a little much for my taste and it is something I will hit on again in just a moment.

Now, I liked watching the character of Jack, but if you don't find him appealing, then this movie will not work for you whatsoever. There is very little to no Monster Slaying action for just about the first hour of Jack Brooks…this is a big no-no in my book and I have hated movies for doing such a thing on previous occasions. Nevertheless, I did like the character of Jack and that is what kept me from being completely bored. Though, I most certainly noted, and wasn't happy that there was no monster mashing to be found in the movies first two acts. It's very clear that you are meant to spend time with this character so you can get to know him and like him, this is a franchise character and you will no doubt see more than one Jack Brooks film in the future. Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is not devoid of any horror elements through the first hour though, as you get the slow Robert Englund transformation from professor of science, to monster making creature. Some may find this pre-transformation stuff amusing, but I'm not one of them. I hardly ever enjoy these types of weird gross out scenes and have found them to be boring and too dragged out. Watching Englund slop around with squishy noises and narsty burp sounds is not all that funny to me.

If you are not one to find either Jack or Prof. Crowley entertaining, than you may find it hard to get through Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. However, if you can stick it out for that first hour, than you are in for quite the treat in the final act of the movie.

When Professor Crowley finally finds himself taken over by his inner demon, Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer really lives up to the promises it makes with such a title. The whole Crowley attack/school takeover is a blast, as you witness a now fully mutated Crowley as he possesses each of the night class students by jamming his yucky mutant tongue into their mouths and filling them with some sort of monster makin' juice. Each of the class members turn into hybrid looking demon/werewolves with super strength and a slimy tar looking complexion that attack Brooks and the few students that weren't initially taken by monster Crowley.

What makes all of this even better is the use of on set special/practical effects. No CGI anywhere near Jack Brooks in any way shape or form. It's a joy for me to see a film go the "old school" route and do so with major success. All of the FX works is top notch and perfectly executed with all the tricks of the trade in use from reverse photography, puppetry, camera tricks, latex, and lots of real on set blood! And when I say real blood, I just mean none of that fake ass computer generated ca ca. Anyways, the practical effects are pulled off almost perfectly and look great, the only thing that doesn't look all that real is the Crowley monster. Fake looking or not, it is still a cool as ice puppet, and I loved seeing it in use in a movie as it brought me back to the old days of Skid Row T-shirts and Europe tapes.

Any fan of 80's 90's horror films should really enjoy Jack Brooks for all of these reasons and it's nice to see movies like this being made, and to a certain extent, pretty damn well too. If you can buy into and enjoy the character of Jack, and don't mind sitting through a long dong lead up time, you will certainly be rewarded with a great ending that has me eagerly anticipating a sequel. I am happy I sat down and gave Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer a view. As I said, it isn't devoid of issues by any means, but there was enough here for me to like with some of the great throwback elements, the awesome FX work, and a character in Jack that worked for me.