Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2008) Director Jon Knautz Writer John Ainslie and Jon Knautz Actors Trevor Matthews – Jack Brooks Robert Englund – Professor Crowley Rachel Skarsten – Eve James A. Woods – John Daniel Kash – Dr. Silverstein

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2008)

So I had the fortune last week  to check out the ‘premiere’ of Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer(a Canadian horror production) at my favorite cinema (Bloor Street) as a part of Rue Morgue’s Cinemacabre screenings. Not only was the movie itself a pleasant surprise, but I had the pleasure of seeing Robert Englund (Willy!!!) in the flesh.

Funny enough passersby of the lineup to get into this movie were under the impression it was for the Dark Knight.

Jack Brooks(Trevor Matthews) has had a tough life. As a kid he had his whole family murdered right in front of him on an innocent camping trip… by a troll. Fast-forward and Jack hasn’t fared much better. He has to deal with an indifferent psychologist because of his ‘anger issues’ and is wasting his life away as a plumber while taking night classes at his local community college. When his science professor(played by the  scenery chewing master Robert Englund) finds a still beating black heart buried in his backyard, Jack’s classes start getting a little weird.

Robert Englund as Professor Crowley

Where to start with Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer? Frankly it is much better shot than your usual Canadian fare without the gratuitous sex and pretentious silent moments. This is a horror flick made by guys who love humorous gorefests like the Evil Dead Trilogy and Shaun of the Dead and it’s not likely they would deny it. It’s obvious these guys love their material and had a blast doing it.

Of course when you look at indie horror flicks of this type the big question is “how good are the special effects?” In the case of Jack Brooks they are obscenely fantastic for a film of this magnitude ranging from your dead animal carcass to your flying tentacles. Did I mention Robert England appears as an oversized man-eating monster?

Of course the movie isn’t perfect. It slows down big time in the middle and for you horror buffs the violence doesn’t really go full blast until the last half hour. I also think they missed out on a great opportunity for some choice one-liners where Jack comes off as the strong violent type. In terms of tone if you’re a fan of the Buffy television series you might get a kick out of this film as well.

The film also has very weak bookends that are clearly derivative of Army of Darkness but again without the quippy one-liners it just falls flat. They are more of a crutch. Of course these are minor gripes when looking at the sum of its parts, which is a ton of fun. It’s not likely this film will be coming to your local theater any time soon but I recommend checking it out when it comes out on DVD this Halloween season. Finally an entertaining film from Canada that isn’t pretentious as heck.

REVIEW SCORE
[Rating:3/4]

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1. TOT: Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer
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3. Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)
4. Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay (2008)
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Tags: Canadian, DVD, evil dead, freddy krueger, Jack Brooks, Monster Slayer, Review, Robert Englund, rue morgue, willy