You might think with my description title of "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" I thought the movie was a boring, stupid flick. Well actually you'd be wrong. While it is a little slow in developing, the end game is quite enjoyable. It's a tongue-in-cheek horror/comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's not politically correct either so that's good. I get sick of viewers who complain that certain scenes "offend" them! Ha! Then don't watch these kind of movies! I liked Robert Englund as the nice professor at first and then the hideous but comical mutated Jabba from Hell. The Trevor guy playing "Jack" did a pretty good job acting like a run-of-the-mill good ol' boy plumber with serious anger issues from his childhood. However I kind of wish the directors had given him more of a southern redneck dialect sort of like Larry the Cable Guy (even though he's from Nebraska). Jack's two blonde female interests were fun even though I'm not sure why he and Eve ever began a relationship since they never got along. This was no "Army of Darkness" or "Evil Dead" but it's still a lot of fun. Don't know if they will make a sequel but if they do I'll definitely watch it. Hopefully next time it'll have werewolves in it!

The ambitions of director Jon Knautz and his entire cast & crew were obviously limited, but nevertheless admirable. All they ever intended to do was bring homage to the glorious horror decade of the 80's and make a nonsensical movie with clichéd themes, stereotypical characters and over-the-top gooey make-up effects reminiscent to the movies the young filmmakers grew up with, like "The Evil Dead" and "Demons". I saw this film at the Belgian Fantasy Film Festival, were it fulfilled the role of ideal midnight movie crowd-pleaser. "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" offers plenty of splatter, absurdly crude humor, identifiable anti-hero characters, silly story lines and – last not least – Robert Englund himself in another terrific supportive B-role. Jack Brooks is an ordinary twenty-something man, working as a plumber during the day and attending chemistry classes in the evening in order to reach a more valuable certificate. He suffers from one major problem, though. Ever since he helplessly witnessed his family getting butchered by a forest monster as a child, Jack can't control his anger and regularly suffers from aggressive outbursts. When his teacher, Professor Crowley, gradually transforms into a monstrous entity after a plumbing job gone awry, Jack comes to realize the monster slaying business is exactly the type of anger management he needed. "Monster Slayer" is pretty weak in the plotting department, as you can see, but this widely gets compensated by the enthusiast spirit and determination of everybody involved in the production. The film starts off a little slow and hesitant, but once Prof Crowley starts undergoing his transformation, there's no more stopping the camp and cheese! You can clearly notice how genre veteran Robert Englund enjoyed helping out the young crew and the make-up department seemingly just received a carte-blanche. The monster designs and demonic grimaces are delightfully cheesy and gross, just like they were in the 1980's, and the film constantly remains comical and light-headed in spite of the gory bloodshed. Trevor Matthews is terrific as the reluctant Bruce "Ash" Campbell typed horror Savior and he receives good support from various other young and (still) unknown players. "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" is a totally unpretentious and entertaining throwback to B-cinema, and even though it'll never be regarded as a classic, it's warmly recommended viewing for all fans of the genre.