This weekend's viewing treats:
Psycho Goreman (2020/Steven Kostanski) - 3.5 / 5 - Just a fun, fun, fun ass film. One dash Power Rangers, one dash Mary & Kate (if they were brats) and crank the gore up to 11, PG is a blast of a film ride. Basically, little girl who bullies her older brother harnesses the power of a long buried demi-god demon who can wreck planetary havoc by himself to demented delight. I can't really understate how much I loved the creature design here, it's such a fresh breath of air in a world where almost everything creative is done digitally with CGI. It's so fun to see a team that likely created things out of duct tape and trips to Home Depot putting forth such a great display of originality and passionate charm. PG is ripe for a double feature billing with Turbo Kid as charming, low budget, high creativity gory as all hell romps.
Detention (2011/Joseph Kahn) - 4 / 5 - I've known about this apparent 'high school slasher' with Dane Cook as the principal for years but was never full in on watching it until it was brought up here. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long. I don't even know where to start with this one, it's such a monstrous ball of maniacal fun that hits the ground running and never lets up until the credits start playing. I can see a huge love/hate with Detention but it legitimately goes so far into wild territory that I couldn't not love it. I thought I was going to loathe it once it started playing into high school tropes but it earned my love by the end. Definitely moreso horror adjacent but very much worth a watch, it's almost an experience. For as much as I'm sure it's gets shafted for being too insane and comedic, it's put together with exceptional craft, the cinematography is gorgeous at times.
Spontaneous (2020/Brian Duffield) - 4 / 5 - Decided to roll into a double feature of weird high school love stories by following up Detention with this. The senior class of Mara and Dylan start inexplicably spontaneously combusting, pushing them to jumpstart a romantic kindling in a time where they don't know if they'll make it to tomorrow. Similarly to Detention, I thought I might be left behind with Spontaneous' schitck of quirky high schoolers who say something interesting or funny with every line but it's exceptionally hard not to fall in love with these characters and cheer for them. In the hands of a lesser filmmaker, this would have flopped pretty hard but Duffield (a first time director to boot) handles it incredibly. Endearing characters that get drenched in blood and find love along the way, it's almost Shakespearean!