Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

Tightly wound plumber Trevor Mathews has serious anger issues due to the fact that his parents were killed by monsters when he was just a wee lad. When his college professor played by Robert Englund unleashes an ancient horde of evil creatures, it is up to the plucky plumber to realize his destiny as a monster slayer and save humanity. The ranting of Trevor Mathews in the title role is very amusing but it is really Robert Englund who steals the show. He is clearly having a ball with the material and his enthusiasm is contagious.I laughed quite a bit.The SPFX are pretty good and refreshingly old-school.Lots of gore and prosthetics as opposed to lame CGI. I wouldn't mind watching Jack Brooks slay monsters thru a whole series of films like this!

What is the best anger management program for someone who has witnessed his family slain in one's childhood by a hideous monster and has blamed himself for not having been able to do something to save them? Meditation? Yoga? Pilates? Yolates? Gay exercise videos? Wrong: it's professional monster slaying. The bottled up emotions that might complicate everyday life can be used effectively to annihilate various monsters and thusly to achieve great therapeutic effect combined with social beneficence.

That's The Monster Slayer in a nutshell. It's a campy, smooth old-school gore-fest, but it's well executed and acted in spite of the fact that the cup of the budget runneth not over. Good old Robert Englund delivers a tour de force over the top charleslaughtonian performance which is a delight. Rachel Skarsten is a perfectly nasty Barbie bitch from hell. Her high-pitched whining scene in the car is a total blast. Now the hero, Trevor Matthews, is someone to watch with attention. Methinks stardom might come knocking on the door any day soon.

A very nice 1980s style (i.e. trendy) flick makes a great 1,5 hour entertainment if it's not Hamlet you're really craving for.

I know this is a bit late in the review category, but I thought it was worth saying that this was a fun and sometimes monster-movie scary.

It's not jump out of your seat scary, but I felt monster-movie dread anticipating what's to come as monster(s) begin wreaking havoc. I thought Jack Brooks was hilarious, understandable, and real. He is someone I would like to know and the hilarity comes from his Happy Gilmore reactions to every day annoyances from unresolved issues. His character is believable in crazy, surreal circumstances and it was entertaining throughout. My favorite movies are those with characters for whom I am rooting whatever the story or how it's told, no matter their flaws or good-guy, bad-guy personas as developed(much like Ash's), and the character's humor when well written/played. I felt Jack Brooks fit this bill to a T. Loved him!

Don't look for an Evil Dead comparable; let go of pretense and limited expectations and just enjoy. This was, in my opinion, how we all first came to know and love Evil Dead movies to begin with, and how Ash and his exploits continue to entertain to this day...

This movie was fun and entertaining but I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves in some of these reviews. It's not the greatest modern horror film or even the greatest horror film of the year. It's just mindless fun. Try not to take it as anything more than that and you should like it.

The acting is pretty bad but we can't really expect much, I suppose. However, Robert Englund was pretty good. The story is an interesting idea but I think it takes too long to get going, about a full hour and then we're left with about 15 minutes of actual action. Normally I like slow moving films but not when I'm promised a "fun" movie.

Found out about this movie from a top 10 movies of 2008 list I found on the web. Having been sorely disappointed with other movies on the list (like the french torture porn Inside) this was a welcome choice to an otherwise weak list (maybe it just wasn't a good year for horror movies...).

With a title like that you don't expect to be really truly scared out of your shoes. Essentially what you expect is some comedy and entertainment packed with some decent gore. To boot this time around you actually get a decent story, if somewhat predictable, and some very decent acting from the cast.

As to the plot: Well the title essentially says it all. Jack Brooks is a monster slayer. And this is his Origins.

This flick pays homage to the best traditions of movies like Braindead and Evil Dead. There may not be a single real scare in this movie, as the whole premise ridicules any such possibility. But who really cares? Especially since Robert Englund plays a significant role in this no-fun barred movie.

Worthwhile watch for anyone looking for good clean entertainment with no intellectual strings attached (that said this movie is far from being dumb).