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Review

Jack Brooks is not your ordinary plumber. There is a seething rage inside of him that he thinks maybe can helped with therapy. But what’s causing his fury? Could it be that, as a child, he witnessed the brutal murder of his family by a mysterious creature? Maybe he’s worked up by his girlfriend, Eve, who basically writes him off for having intimacy issues? Or is it the Chinese restaurant owner who pays him in eggrolls for his plumbing services? One night Jack is called upon to work on Professor Crowley’s (Robert Englund of Nightmare on Elm Street fame) rusty old pipes but unknowingly awakens an ancient evil: a demonic, monstrous black heart that quickly forces its way into the professor’s chest. The professor begins a slow, gruesome transformation, eventually taking his students hostage (including Eve), and Jack realizes the true nature of his inner power when he discovers that he may be the descendent of several generations of monster slayers. Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is a throwback to the good old-fashioned monster horror movies of the ‘80s with fantastic gooey make-up to bring the slimy creatures to life. Perfectly balancing sharp humor and cheesy B-level horror, director/co-writer Jon Knautz’s and co-writer John Ainslie’s script shows great love for the genre. Jack Brooks is a horror hero for a new millennium and Robert Englund delivers a dedicated and gut-bustingly funny performance as the quirky professor whose monstrous persona happens to resemble Jabba the Hutt with fewer carbs and more drippy tentacles.

 -- Lewis Tice