PG: Psycho Goreman

  "OK, here's the deal man. Winner is champion of the universe, loser gets buried alive," says precocious moppet Mimi (Nita Josée Hanna) while putting her hands on the ball. "Got it?"

 "That's fair." says his brother Luke (Owen Mire).

 As butt-rock guitars wail into the soundtrack the kids launch into a match of crazy ball, a made up game full of arcane rules. We get close ups of the kids running, throwing balls at each other, doing a jumping jack flash face-off...
 Then the guitars suddenly stop and the cameras pull away, and the game is shown as it is, not as the kids see it.

 It's a hilarious, extremely well made scene that captures so many things so well I'm kind of in awe of it. It doesn't just get you caught up in the kid's ridiculous game, it's also a pitch-perfect recreation of a certain type of 'Extreme!' 90's commercials aimed at kids, a great representation of children's state of mind, it's setting up plot points for later; Crazy ball will return. And it's full of funny bits of trash talk and John Woo-style ball throwing.

 Best of all is the punch line: once Mimi finally wins (with a bullshit move called a switcheroo, which will also factor in later) it cuts to Luke digging a full-sized grave under Mimi's smug supervision.

 Yes, Psycho Goreman really is something special.

 While digging his grave, Luke stumbles on an ancient tomb with some sort of artifact affixed to its lid. Fooling around with it, Mimi manages to take the artifact and then they get called to bed.
 The tomb belonged, of course, to an ancient galactic menace (Matthew Ninaber wears the suit, voice by Steven Vlahos). Upon reviving he tries to resume his reign of terror; Unfortunately for him, the gem Mimi retrieved allows its bearer absolute control over him. And she obviously uses it to basically make the ancient evil her pet. She and her brother dub him Psycho Goreman... PG for short.

 To say much more would spoil the fun in this ridiculous, twisted spoof of such early nineties' luminaries as The Guyver and Urban Commando. There's a ton of cool monsters as intergalactic forces come to hunt down PG, and a lot of entertaining confrontations between PG and avowed little maniac Mimi. Director Steve Konstanski is an effects guy, so we get lots and lots of gorgeous, extremely expressive practical effects both for creatures and gore.

A Power Rangers-like fight ensues. <3

 The acting might be a sticking point for some (Mimi can be a bit much), but I loved it. The kids obviously are having a blast, with Luke given the thankless role of the straight man, and Mimi running around chewing scenery with abandon and spouting some truly inspired lines. 

 It is an extremely low budget movie, and sometimes it has that slightly-stretched feel these things often get when trying to fill out ninety minutes. You do get the obligatory (very funny) retro music video, for example. But all of the scenes and developments are worth at least a couple of good jokes or a cool effect, and none overstay their welcome.
 Psycho Goreman is unpredictable, well made, agreeably disturbed, and it gets the period its spoofing down to a tee (stick around for not one but two tailor-made end credit songs)

 I adore this movie.