Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer

Introduction

Having witnessed his family being attacked and killed by monsters when he was a boy, Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) has an anger problem and is seeing a counsellor.

Coerced into taking a science class at night school, to further himself, whilst working as a plumber during the day, Jack turns up late and is held back by Professor Crowley (Robert Englund), who asks Jack if he could come over and take a look at the pipes in the old house he's just bought.

Jack ruptures a pipe in the back garden and, whilst the professor is sleeping at his desk, a strange gas escapes from the hole and takes control of him. He digs up a crate containing a human skeleton and a cursed heart, which jumps down his throat and transforms him into a monster with an unquenchable appetite.

Whilst the 'prof-monster' infects other students, turning them into monsters, Jack confronts his childhood fears, armed only with plumbers' tools.

Video

A clear transfer of a film that is low budget, with some pretty ropey special effects - foam rubber and latex tentacles and a (presumably intentionally) laughable 'prof-monster'!

Audio

The Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack is clear and makes good use of the surrounds and there is a decent score by Ryan Shore.

Extra Features

The commentary with Jon Knautz, Trevor Matthews, producer Patrick White and composer Ryan Shore covers all bases with information about filming, casting, effects and score. It's a fun listen with insights into how the movie was made.

Behind The Scenes - A healthy 50+ minute piece containing interviews with most of the cast and crew, b-roll footage and is a good companion to the commentary.

Creating The Monsters Featurette - This focuses on how they did the 'special' effects, making monsters and tentacles out of foam rubber and the other tricks of filmmaking on the cheap.

World Premiere Featurette - A brief piece about the premiere at a Spanish film festival.

Creating The Music Featurette - Surprisingly the score was conducted by a 91 piece orchestra in Dubrovnik which gives it a 'grand' feel but was affordable due to the location. This has footage of the orchestra at work.

Teen Massacre (Short Film) - This gory short was made by Jon Knautz before this feature and is a fun watch. It is accompanied by Making Teen Massacre which, bizarrely for a low budget short, is a making of, showing how they did the gore effects.

There are also deleted scenes, a storyboard comparison and the trailer for the main feature.

Conclusion

Jon Knautz's film debut is a loving homage to the comedy horrors of the 1980s, such Peter Jackson's Braindead and Sam Raimi's The Evil Dead. Some films ask you to take them seriously, this one practically asks to be not taken seriously at all - if you do you won't enjoy it.

The title conjures an image of the end of Evil Dead 2, with Jack Brooks slaying monsters left, right and centre for the entire running time but it's more slow burning than that, almost an 'origins' film, with him only becoming a monster slayer right at the end. Robert Englund shows himself to be a great physical actor and Trevor Matthews is impressive, throwing himself into the stunts with reckless abandon.

It's not going to be up everyone's street but, if you like non-serious B-movie style horror movies and the OTT gore and obvious puppetry of such films as Bad Taste, this is worth a watch. It's not overly funny or overly scary but is an enjoyable way to spend an evening. It's a pleasant surprise to see such a low budget movie come with a selection of extras that puts bigger releases to shame.