My rating 8/10 —
Chris Brumbray
PLOT:
As a boy, young Jack Brooks had to watch helplessly as his family was slaughtered by a hideous monster. Since then, Jack (Trevor Matthews) has grown up to be a fairly aimless young man- who suffers from bouts of all consuming rage which cause him to react violently at the slightest provocation. One night, while attending a night school class, his teacher- Professor Crowley (Robert Englund) transforms into a hideous creature which only Jack has the courage to face.
REVIEW:
What a novelty- a Canadian film that’s actually entertaining! I must admit that, walking into JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER on Saturday night at the Fantasia film fest- I really had no idea what to expect. Besides the early work of David Cronenberg, the Canadian film industry is not particularly well known for their genre films. Nonetheless I’m happy to report that JACK BROOKS is one the best Canadian films I’ve seen in a long time.
What makes JACK BROOKS so successful is the fact that unlike 99.9% of the English Canadian films out there- it doesn’t aspire to be high art. Rather- it only exists to be a good time at the movies- and in that regard it succeeds wildly. In many ways- it’s kind of an old fashioned creature feature. It doesn’t feature any vampires, zombies or werewolves, and rather than employ a lot of fancy CGI- it uses good, old fashioned practical effects (which is a very good thing for modestly budgeted film like this). Many will say the film is obviously heavily influenced by THE EVIL DEAD- and while I’ve no doubt that it did influence them to some degree- it never comes off like an imitation or carbon copy.
Despite his limited resume- newcomer Trevor Matthews comes off well as the titular hero. Despite the hero’s passing resemblance to Ash from EVIL DEAD, Matthews (who also shares story credit, and is a co-producer on the film) never attempts to ape Bruce Campbell- which is a trap many other would be horror movie heroes fall into. Matthews does a good job in the action scenes- and is especially effective in some of the more humorous moments (his therapy sessions are very funny- and for me, were the highlight of the film).
Also noteworthy is Robert Englund as the unfortunate Professor Crowley. While he winds up turning into a big special effect halfway into the film- Englund is terrific in the first half of the film- and he shows off some serious comic chops during his slap-sticky transformation scenes. It’s nice to see Englund play something other than Freddy Kruger at this point in his career- and I missed him once he was out of the film.
I should also mention that despite the low budget- JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER is a very well crafted and polished film. The technical specs (especially the amazing sound design) are all first rate. Director Jon Knautz, and producer Patrick White have managed to make a top notch horror comedy-and I could easily see this film obtained a strong cult following at some point. The huge audience I saw it with seemed to thoroughly enjoy the film, and I definitely look forward to seeing what the filmmakers have up their sleeves- and I look forward to the further adventures of JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER.