Jack Brooks Monster Slayer

I'll admit to you right up front that I had pretty low expectations for Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. I saw the poster somewhere and thought, "Hm, that looks funny." And lo and behold, it was funny. It was darn funny.

Jack Brooks is just your average guy. Well, except that tricky monster attack when he was 10-ish that killed his whole family. It's haunts him into his 20's. Now he's a plumber with a harpy for a girlfriend, he's taking night school classes that he could care less about, he has a temper that gets him into a ton of trouble, and he's harboring a crush on the girl in the front row. His therapist is afraid of him, and now, it looks like his professor is becoming something nasty. Something possibly monster-like. What's an average guy to do?

Robert Englund plays the professor, and man he is a treat. He's just funny. Trevor Matthews is funny as Jack Brooks. I mean, there aren't any Oscar worthy performances here, but the acting in this is better than many of the "Movies to die for" series and Sci Fi channel Originals. The whole thing plays like a B-Movie, and it does it well. I love that they used "men in suits" and puppetry to make the monsters. CGI can be so bad, especially in a low budget situation. The Professor monster was awesome, so gross and almost Jabba the Hut like.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is worth a rental if you are looking for a funny, low budget B Movie. It won't kill you to miss it, but I think we might see good things from these guys in the future.

Rating: 4 Purrs for surpassing my expectations and the tentacle monster - yikes!