'Jack Brooks' review by MartialHorror
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JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER(2007)
(Directed by Jon Knautz)
""JACK BROOKS: ANGST SLAYER"- Signed by MartialHorror
Plot: Jack Brooks has an anger problem due to witnessing his parents(and sister) being killed by a monster when he was only a kid. As an adult, his life crumbles but he may be able to prove himself when his teacher becomes a monster and attacks the students. Will Jack fight back this time?
Review:
"Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" had the coolest gimmick ever for a modern day horror film. It would use old school monster suits, animatronics, and all that good stuff that is NOT CGI! Do you know how much that means to me?! Movies have become so dependant on CGI, that they will even do CGI planes(I'm looking at you "Whiteout"!). So a non-CGI monster flick is a delight in itself. But that's not all. We get Jack Brooks, who is clearly meant to be the new Ash("Army of Darkness"). So nothing can go wrong! Right? Right!?
Jack Brooks, our 'protagonist', is somewhat of an *beep* He has the desire to want to improve himself, but lacks the will to do so. You see, he has a bit of an anger issue. He beats people up(does anyone press charges in this movie?) when they anger him, beats up his car and other inaminate objects, and yells a lot. This all began when he witnessed his parents gruesome deaths at the hands of a monster. At the advice of his bitchy girlfriend, Eve(Skarsten), he takes a night class at college that is taught by Professor Crowley(Englund). Crowley has just bought an old home and asks Jack to do some plumbing. While doing this, Jack accidently awakens an evil spirit that takes the form of.....smoke. When Jack leaves, the smoke possesses Crowley. Crowley wakes up the next morning to see that he's dug a hole. Surprisingly unfased by this moment of dissociative identity disorder, Crowley grabs a shovel and starts digging. He finds an old crate that contains a black heart. Crowley suddenly has an urge to......eat it. Did they just rip-off "Jason Goes to Hell"? Crowley then develops an unsatianable appetite, eating all of his food and eventually devouring his dog. Okay, now they ripped off "Slither". WHO THE HELL WOULD RIP OFF THESE MOVIES?! I'm not complaining, but I am confused. Eventually the urge becomes too strong and when he is teaching class one night, he suddenly turns into a frightening monster.
I need to pause for a moment and take a deep breath........BECAUSE THIS MONSTER LOOKS FREAKING...awesome. It does! The non-cgi, the grotesque design, the effective facial expressions......It makes me want to cry because it's so cool. That badass creature quickly subdues all the students, with the exception of Jack and Eve(who escape). It then uses its.....tongue, to turn them into "Evil Dead"-esque demon/zombie/monster things. They also need to feed. Actually, this ripped off "Slither" too. Eventually Jack must decide if he must run or fight. He chooses to fight, and armed with his plumbing tools, it's time to kick some monster ass.
So it sounds great. Indeed, that outline is completely unoriginal, but it's awesome all the same. So wheres the problem? Well, the monster slaying doesn't happen until like the final twenty minutes. Yeah, I'm not really exaggerating. Most of the movie is Jack arguing with his girlfriend or Jack bonding with Crowley, which is weird because they never go anywhere with that diversion. Jack goes to visit his psychiatrist(riveting), and Jack listens to an old guy talk about demons(dementia). It's as if they figured they'd get all development out of the way so the action would be in the sequels. But I can even live with this. I enjoyed "My Name is Bruce", which also took a long time to get to the action. My main problem is that the tone suddenly shifts from a serious drama to campy splatter. Jack's transition to Bruce Campbell feels like it belongs in another(and better) movie. It's a shame, because this had everything going for it.
I have to admit that I liked Trevor Mathews(Jack Brooks). He always felt natural, yet showed a badass side and I could completely believe him in his monster slaying role. It's too bad that the script couldn't keep up. Rachel Skarsten(Eve) does good, although the character is pretty annoying. Robert Englund(Professor Crowley) is hilarious as the awkward teacher. He is a great horror icon for a reason. The rest of the cast do fine, but the roles are pretty thin.
The problem with "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" is that it takes itself too seriously. We don't want to see lots of angst from our hero, we want to see him kicking demon ass! I admire the attempt at development, but get that over with in the first 30 minutes. Don't make it consume the 1st and 2nd acts. But hell, I liked it. Trevor Mathews is cool. Robert Englund is cool. The effects are FREAKING AWESOME and the 3rd act is very intense. I will say that I'll be sure to check out the sequel.
Violence: Rated R. It's not as gory as you'd think, but it does offer some nice splatter.
Nudity: None, oddly.
Overall: Check it out if your into non-CGI effects. I liked the movie enough, but it was brought down by its own pretentious, self indulgence. It certainly is no "Evil Dead 2".
2.5/4 Stars
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