Donny Broussard & Jon Peters Review: “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer” DVD

How did you hear about this flick?

Jon: I first heard about it thumbing through an issue of Fangoria magazine. I looked at the pics and quickly read what it was about. It wasn’t until some sites and friends started to talk about it that I got curious.

Donny: Like Jon I first learned about the flicks existence from Fangoria magazine. After seeing the traditional monster effects on display I decided to keep my eye on it.

What did you think of the film?

Donny: I loved every second of this film! I loved that fact that the most of the effects were done without using a computer. I loved that I could relate to the characters, and that I cared about them. I loved that the dialogue was exciting, and the actors were solid. “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer” is a new horror classic!

Director Jon Knautz put together a film that embodied everything that I loved about horror in the ’80s. He also proved that he cared enough about the genre to not settle for making a second rate horror flick. The directing was tight, the actors were spot on, the effects were amazing, and everything flowed together at a perfect pace. I’m going to be keeping my eye on Knautz, as well as actor Trevor Matthews, who rocked the Jack Brooks character so hard that I’m thinking about going as Jack for Halloween. All around, this movie was a plain and simple good time. I’m absolutely positive that this flick is going to reach cult status among horror fans, because not since Bruce Campbell’s Ash has a character embodied the same kind of reluctant hero with a mouth full of awesome as well as Jack Brooks.

Jon: Yeah, I agree Donny. Robert England, who’s pretty much as of late been doing little roles in a ton of horror films, was a delight here. He’s usually cast as a villain, someone menacing, but here in this film he played a nice, decent guy. Of course he is Robert England, so expect some fun with him as the film enters the final act. Puking, blood spraying, good old fashion horror FX, I was pretty shocked to have had fun with this film, as I have rarely been impressed during 2008. Jack Brooks is a fun and original character. He suffers from a terrible past, has relationship issues, and has an anger problem, but Trevor Matthews never makes him one-note. In fact, I was under the impression that this film was Larry the Cable Guy versus monsters and boy, am I glad that wasn’t the case.

I will say the film has a few faults that keep me from loving it as much as Donny, even though I dug it a lot. I found everything that dealt with Jack and his girlfriend to be weakly scripted and didn’t add up to much. In fact, they maybe could’ve done with out her (the actress was hot, but annoying; she had a high pitched squeaky voice). Also, a character enters the picture and offers of some exposition that slows down the film. I know it gave some info to the teacher’s old house, but it snail crawled along. Even though this might sound bad it isn’t, but the film is pretty short and could’ve used more action in the second act. I say that because I loved the ending and we all want more of the good stuff. Like Donny, however, I would love to see a new adventure with Jack Brooks. I’m hoping someone will pony up the proper cash and give this team all the tools so the can make an awesome sequel. It was well shot and acted and worth your time.

Was it worth the hype?

Jon: Hyping a movie today is too easy. People hitting the message boards raving about it; magazines doing the same thing, it isn’t hard for a studio to spread the word. The hard part is delivering on those promises. Genre fans have been victim to hype prior, and because horror fans are always quick to rave about something, mainly since the studios are making crap as of late, it’s easy for them to get excited at a moments notice. But no, I say ‘Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer’ is worth the hype. Is it the best horror film this year? No, but since horror has been weak this year (mostly theatrically) something like this is more than adequate in being a fan favorite.

The ‘old school’ special effects are damn near great and add a lot of fun. It’s like ‘Evil Dead’ meets ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ and if that doesn’t at least get you out to rent this sucker, then your genre love is stone cold dead.

Donny: Hell yes it was worth the hype, I loved this flick, and I can’t see why any self respecting horror fan wouldn’t love it either. In the ’80s movies like this used to get pumped out by the dozens, and while some of them were better than others, they were all fun. We had late night television that would play monster movie marathons, and horror icons were born. In my opinion Jack Brooks fits in with the new breed of horror icons, such as Victor Crowley, and Leslie Vernon. Like Jason, Freddy, and Michael before them I’d love to see these characters live on in sequels for years to come. Stop with the remakes already, and bring to life new icons like Jack Brooks. Long live “Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer!”

Grade?

Donny: *****
Jon: ***

The DVD

Audio: Came in loud and clear.

Video: The movie looked great, It was beautifully done, and the transfer was clean.

Special Features

Commentary: This track with director Jon Knautz, producer/actor Trevor Matthews, producer Patrick White, and composer Ryan Shore is pretty funny. They seem more interested in BSing, and clowning around than talking about the flick.

Behind The Scenes: This feature is an awesome documentary on the making of the film. The go through pretty much the entire process. My favorite feature on the disc by far.

World Premiere: Sitges, Spain: This is a pretty neat feature that shows the filmmakers doing a press conference during the films debut in Spain.

Story Board Comparisons: Self explanatory.

Creating The Music: Composer Ryan Shore talks about about the score.

Creating the Monsters: Another pretty cool feature, this one goes behind the makeup designs with FX guy David Scott. This is a pretty detailed doc that goes into the process of actually making a monster. My second favorite feature.

There are also Conceptual Art galleries, On Set Still galleries, and a Trailer included on this disc.


If you were lucky enough to purchase the exclusive disc at Best Buy, then you got the second disc that has another feature and doc on it. We are going to review that disc next week so stay tuned for more from the “Jack Brooks” filmmakers.