Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer (2007) User Reviews

Just Better than Average

[Scars_Remain · 6/10 · 13 October 2008]

This movie was fun and entertaining but I think people are getting a little ahead of themselves in some of these reviews. It's not the greatest modern horror film or even the greatest horror film of the year. It's just mindless fun. Try not to take it as anything more than that and you should like it.

The acting is pretty bad but we can't really expect much, I suppose. However, Robert Englund was pretty good. The story is an interesting idea but I think it takes too long to get going, about a full hour and then we're left with about 15 minutes of actual action. Normally I like slow moving films but not when I'm promised a "fun" movie.

Mad, Mad Monster Party!

[Coventry · 7/10 · 6 April 2008]

The ambitions of director Jon Knautz and his entire cast & crew were obviously limited, but nevertheless admirable. All they ever intended to do was bring homage to the glorious horror decade of the 80's and make a nonsensical movie with clichéd themes, stereotypical characters and over-the-top gooey make-up effects reminiscent to the movies the young filmmakers grew up with, like "The Evil Dead" and "Demons". I saw this film at the Belgian Fantasy Film Festival, were it fulfilled the role of ideal midnight movie crowd-pleaser. "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" offers plenty of splatter, absurdly crude humor, identifiable anti-hero characters, silly story lines and – last not least – Robert Englund himself in another terrific supportive B-role. Jack Brooks is an ordinary twenty-something man, working as a plumber during the day and attending chemistry classes in the evening in order to reach a more valuable certificate. He suffers from one major problem, though. Ever since he helplessly witnessed his family getting butchered by a forest monster as a child, Jack can't control his anger and regularly suffers from aggressive outbursts. When his teacher, Professor Crowley, gradually transforms into a monstrous entity after a plumbing job gone awry, Jack comes to realize the monster slaying business is exactly the type of anger management he needed. "Monster Slayer" is pretty weak in the plotting department, as you can see, but this widely gets compensated by the enthusiast spirit and determination of everybody involved in the production. The film starts off a little slow and hesitant, but once Prof Crowley starts undergoing his transformation, there's no more stopping the camp and cheese! You can clearly notice how genre veteran Robert Englund enjoyed helping out the young crew and the make-up department seemingly just received a carte-blanche. The monster designs and demonic grimaces are delightfully cheesy and gross, just like they were in the 1980's, and the film constantly remains comical and light-headed in spite of the gory bloodshed. Trevor Matthews is terrific as the reluctant Bruce "Ash" Campbell typed horror Savior and he receives good support from various other young and (still) unknown players. "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" is a totally unpretentious and entertaining throwback to B-cinema, and even though it'll never be regarded as a classic, it's warmly recommended viewing for all fans of the genre.

SOMEWHERE BEYOND THE SEA

[nogodnomasters · 7/10 · 26 April 2018]

Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) witnessed the murder of his family by a morlock looking monster as a child and ran away. Since then he has had anger management issues which provides us with much of the comedy aspect of the film. Part of his counseling is to take a chemistry night class with Professor Gordon Crowley (Robert Englund) along with his girlfriend Eve (Rachel Skarsten) who he mostly ignores.

Crowley lives in the house on top of Watson Road which has a history. The plot, isn't too hard to figure out, but basically there is just one real monster battle, although there are a number of them he has to fight, I was expecting something different. From the title I expect some kind of Dylan Dog type of film. It was not. The film leaves off for a sequel that never came.

Guide: F-word. No sex or nudity. Monster horror/killing. Blood

Redneck Plumber w/ PTSD Battles Demonic Jabba

[knightox · 7/10 · 20 October 2019]

You might think with my description title of "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" I thought the movie was a boring, stupid flick. Well actually you'd be wrong. While it is a little slow in developing, the end game is quite enjoyable. It's a tongue-in-cheek horror/comedy that doesn't take itself too seriously. It's not politically correct either so that's good. I get sick of viewers who complain that certain scenes "offend" them! Ha! Then don't watch these kind of movies! I liked Robert Englund as the nice professor at first and then the hideous but comical mutated Jabba from Hell. The Trevor guy playing "Jack" did a pretty good job acting like a run-of-the-mill good ol' boy plumber with serious anger issues from his childhood. However I kind of wish the directors had given him more of a southern redneck dialect sort of like Larry the Cable Guy (even though he's from Nebraska). Jack's two blonde female interests were fun even though I'm not sure why he and Eve ever began a relationship since they never got along. This was no "Army of Darkness" or "Evil Dead" but it's still a lot of fun. Don't know if they will make a sequel but if they do I'll definitely watch it. Hopefully next time it'll have werewolves in it!

An over-rated mostly dragged out film

[Mikel3 · 6 August 2011]

I finally saw 'Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer' last night on the Chiller channel off Direct TV. Frankly, I was disappointed in the film It had good reviews at the IMDb and I've read positive comments on it in the past. I was expecting more. The first three quarters (maybe more) of the film dragged out with pointless scenes to waste time, Yes, there were occasional funny scenes like the ones with the old guy working in the hardware store. But for every funny scene there were numerous boring scenes. I could have done without the science teacher vomiting on the blackboard then smearing it around. Not funny, just disgusting and dumb. The monster that the science professor morphed into was pretty weird, I will say that much. It reminded me of a creature from the much superior film 'Slither'. I did like when Jack FINALLY started kicking some monster butt. But that didn't happen till the last ten or fifteen minutes of the dragged out film. To late to save the rest of the movie. And I hated the scenes where the poor pet dogs were eaten. That was totally unnecessary. Why is it that in most films where a pet dog or cat appears, something bad ends up happening to them.

Anyway, I did not care for the film over all. It might have made a good 20 minute episode on the old 'Monsters' TV series or something like that, as a full length feature it was a waste of my time.

Just my opinion, but I wish I had skipped this one.

Jack Brooks: Call me Mel

[p-stepien · 7/10 · 21 October 2009]

Found out about this movie from a top 10 movies of 2008 list I found on the web. Having been sorely disappointed with other movies on the list (like the french torture porn Inside) this was a welcome choice to an otherwise weak list (maybe it just wasn't a good year for horror movies...).

With a title like that you don't expect to be really truly scared out of your shoes. Essentially what you expect is some comedy and entertainment packed with some decent gore. To boot this time around you actually get a decent story, if somewhat predictable, and some very decent acting from the cast.

As to the plot: Well the title essentially says it all. Jack Brooks is a monster slayer. And this is his Origins.

This flick pays homage to the best traditions of movies like Braindead and Evil Dead. There may not be a single real scare in this movie, as the whole premise ridicules any such possibility. But who really cares? Especially since Robert Englund plays a significant role in this no-fun barred movie.

Worthwhile watch for anyone looking for good clean entertainment with no intellectual strings attached (that said this movie is far from being dumb).

Jack Brooks: Insomnia Slayer

[dyl_gon · 3/10 · 4 August 2008]

After viewing "Still Life", a short film directed by Jon Knautz, I was genuinely excited for his feature film debut, "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer". "Still Life" had perfectly captured the essence and feel of an episode of "The Twilight Zone" and I was eager to see what Knautz could do when taking on the horror-comedy genre. The campy nature of the name and promotional materials suggested something along the lines of "Evil Dead" or "Army of Darkness"; a fun, gory, 80's style horror flick with lots of monsters. While that was what Knautz was going for, he utterly fails at capturing any of the fun or entertainment value these movies had.

The problem with "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" is that it completely lacks an understanding of what made these horror-comedies, that it tries to evoke, so great in the first place. Two-thirds of the running time is primarily devoted to the film's hero, Jack Brooks, a plumber and college student, as he goes to class and attempts to deal with his uncontrollable bursts of anger. There's nary a monster in sight for the greater part of the film, barely even a drop of blood or the slightest attempt at anything horror-related. Even if "Evil Dead" or "Dead Alive" had subsequent amounts of the gore cut out, they'd still be entertaining. "Jack Brooks" isn't. It's plain boring, which is the worst thing a film of this nature can be. Jack Brooks himself is not all that interesting, at least not enough to warrant the amount of screen time he's given. All one needs to know about him is revealed in the films first ten minutes and from that point on, whenever he's not beating the pulp out of a monster (and he rarely does), he's not worth watching. The movie goes nowhere, following him around on psychiatric sessions and scuffles with classmates.

Eventually things do pick up. Jack Brooks battles a few monsters, some heads are crushed, a few humans are slaughtered, and then it's over. Just like that. All within the span of about fifteen minutes. It is a good fifteen minutes. The monsters are all fairly inventive (and done entirely in camera) and there's some great gore gags (the best being a zombies head crushed in), but after sitting through seventy-five minutes of pure tedium, fifteen minutes just isn't going to cut it.

That's really all there is to it. I could ramble on about the acting which is fairly well done (especially horror icon Robert Englund in a non-traditional role) and how the creature prosthetics are a nice throwback to the days when films didn't use CGI, but it really doesn't matter. "Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" is utterly boring and while Jon Knautz obviously does have the talent to create a good film (once again, the last fifteen minutes are killer and "Still Life" was amazing – check it out), "Jack Brooks" completely misses the mark. It has its successes (acting, make-up), but those don't change the fact that it's not very entertaining at all. The screening I caught this at had the director and cast in attendance. One piece of information I picked up was that a sequel was in development and that this time, it would focus more on fighting monsters as opposed to "the creation of a hero". My advice: skip this one and wait for the sequel.

A great deal of fun. Could we have another one?

[dbborroughs · 7/10 · 27 November 2008]

Man with an anger control problem has to contend with the fact his college professor has turned into a monster after opening a box that was buried in his back yard. Campy, in the right sort of way, with great looking monsters, good performances and a well written script this is a neat little horror film that is way way better than you think it should be. Honestly I put this on as goof figuring I'd either scan through it or shut it off, instead I stayed to the end. This is a really good little film. If there is any problem with the film its that the film has the feel of a slightly longer than an hour long TV show pilot stretched by twenty minutes to get it up to feature length. Frankly I'd like to see another one of these if they could keep it on the same level or make it better. absolutely worth a look.

Worst movie in my 30 years whatcing

[johanssondaniel-58846 · 3/10 · 10 August 2022]

Garbage movie Wtf. Robert Englund i only watch it for that sake. Killer Clown's from outer space is Oscar material compare to this. Bad acting bad affectes nothing going for it at All.

Monstrously Good Adventure!

[tesswysko · 7/10 · 14 January 2019]

Lately I find myself bored with mainstream cookie cutter flicks, and that's why I love my free Tubi app, because it serves me up many interesting movies I've never heard of. Sometimes I get stinkers, and sometimes I am pleasantly surprised with a REALLY enjoyable movie, like this one! So as you see, I went in South no expectations, other than I picked it because it had Robert Englund in it, he's been in some stinkers though, but here we go! Jack was born into a beautiful, loving family, with a mom and dad who were very much in love, and a little sister he loved dearly... the kind of family EVERY child dreams of having, then one day on their yearly camping trip, tragedy struck, out of the bushes a monster came and wiped out his family. This changed him into a very angry young man, then a very angry man. This is the story of that man, and how he learned to harness that anger to do good and hunt monsters! This movie has some campiness yes, but there's so many lessons on life and love and its just so enjoyable that the campy edge is blurred. I guess I'd say its along the lines of Dale and Tucker VS Evil without the stupid, bumbling idiocy... just enjoy the movie like I did! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

A horrible disappointment

[dargaard · 3/10 · 20 June 2010]

I picked up this title from DVD sales, mostly because of the fun and inviting cover, and like I usually do, I check from my mobile what scores movies have gotten before I buy a totally unknown title.

I thought that a 6.2/10 (then) could be an OK for a horror/comedy and the age limit was 18 (maximum in my country) so how could this go wrong? Let me count the ways...

First of all, halfway through the film I actually had to check had somebody switched a cheesy teenage flick to my player, or was this the wrong DVD in the first place. It takes forever for the plot to get any speed. You mostly get to watch a troubled manic depressive guy arguing with his girlfriend and visiting a shrink, and that's about it. And when we finally get to the action part, I was ready to cry. The advertising titles suggested that this is extremely funny and fun to watch. The only even remotely funny thing about it was David Fox as the old timer veteran in the plumbing store. If you watch the last 10 minutes of the movie, you won't miss anything.

Secondly, the acting by Trevor Matthews as the protagonist is just so awkward. It's like he's wearing a ear piece and he's listening two directors shouting instructions to him at the same time. Robert Englund takes whatever there is left to save, but even he seems to be confused of what they wanted him to do or act.

If this were a pilot episode to some half-baked TV-series that involved slaying monsters and occasional drama I could understand, but even then any episode of Charmed or Buffy would sweep the floor with this piece.

The movie is everything but funny, and mostly awkward. The action is basically one scene at the end, otherwise it's just unbelievably boring. Do not waste your time or money on this unless you have to own every movie of this genre ever made. And even then I'm not if the genre is correctly defined.

The Black Heart Beats Again

[mart-45 · 8/10 · 29 March 2008]

What is the best anger management program for someone who has witnessed his family slain in one's childhood by a hideous monster and has blamed himself for not having been able to do something to save them? Meditation? Yoga? Pilates? Yolates? Gay exercise videos? Wrong: it's professional monster slaying. The bottled up emotions that might complicate everyday life can be used effectively to annihilate various monsters and thusly to achieve great therapeutic effect combined with social beneficence.

That's The Monster Slayer in a nutshell. It's a campy, smooth old-school gore-fest, but it's well executed and acted in spite of the fact that the cup of the budget runneth not over. Good old Robert Englund delivers a tour de force over the top charleslaughtonian performance which is a delight. Rachel Skarsten is a perfectly nasty Barbie bitch from hell. Her high-pitched whining scene in the car is a total blast. Now the hero, Trevor Matthews, is someone to watch with attention. Methinks stardom might come knocking on the door any day soon.

A very nice 1980s style (i.e. trendy) flick makes a great 1,5 hour entertainment if it's not Hamlet you're really craving for.

Not good, not bad!

[akamatsu-1 · 6/10 · 30 September 2008]

Well, what can I say? If this film was actually made in the 80's I bet they could make a kick ass re-make of it now, unfortunately its only just been made! (Which means the re-make will be out in about 10 years)

Cons: - Takes at least 10 mins too long to get into the action. - When the action does start, it doesn't last long enough! - Some of the acting is, well, um... - The entire thing with the therapist is pointless and adds nothing. - I don't think some character (Character?) threads were properly concluded. - End of film was way too sudden! - Needed to have a bigger variety of monster. - Some of the effects were...questionable, cant decide if this was good or bad!?!?

Pros: - Robert Englund actually gives a pretty good performance. He obviously had fun with this, and didn't mind getting his hands dirty! (I have met the guy! Just thought id say! He he!) - Hello!! I believe this film was meant to be ridiculous!! - This film should be watched for the old guy in the hardware store, funniest thing in the entire film!! - It is most refreshing to see a modern film that IS NOT infested with CGI!! - Jack Brooks has a nicely thought out background and motivation for his actions. (Nice moment in the van with the Sinatra song)

In conclusion, this is not the best film ever made, and I have seen much better 'Hats Off' films of 80's type B-movies. But, mostly due to the Hardware store guy and Robert Englund, this movie is staying in my collection, and if you have 85 mins to mindlessly kill, or are drunk with mates I recommend (Just make sure you fast-forward to the action!)

Icarus.

A let down actually

[smccar77 · 5/10 · 1 March 2011]

"Jack Brooks Monster Slayer," is not a good movie. In fact, it is a big letdown. While the production quality and tongue in cheek use of rubber costumes reflects the moderately large budget, the story itself is both flawed and boring. The culprit of the failings is found in the assumptions made by the film makers. By focusing on monster creation process, the film neglects important character development and playful action. Overall, this is a film to be missed. Admittedly, "JBMS," will strike a chord with some nostalgia buffs; yet, as a film, this is little more than a mediocre rehash of genre clichés.

The downfall of this film is two assumptions. First, the makers assume that showing the history and creation of the monster is both necessary and amusing. Second, supplying detail to the above mentioned monster ontology is assumed to also be necessary and interesting. Neither assumption is wrong, per se. The execution in this film, however, is outright boring. An extended example may help to clarify. Cooking shows run a tenuous line. Watching the act of creation is interesting and informative. Detailing every action that goes into dish preparation is dull. A cooking program needs to find a balance between informative exposition and potentially dull but important detail. The answer seems to be that every part of a cooking show is a mix of technique and technique explanation. As such, breaking down an onion is shown because it informs on knife technique in practice and also illustrates the benefits of uniform piece size in cooking. Peeling a potato or boiling water is not shown because they are important techniques that benefit little from being demonstrated. The point is that all elements of the process are evaluated on the levels of understanding that are conveyable. The same is true for the horror film. A background to the protagonist and antagonist is appreciated as long as it sets the current context as well as developing the actual characters. "JBMS," provides a great amount of detail concerning how the main monster is formed. The slow transition from human to demon is the body of the film. Choosing this transition as the focal point of the story leads to a ninety minute film; a ninety minute film that could very easily have been forty minutes. Furthermore, the added detail affords no real development. To the contrary, the monster development is the cinematic equivalent to watching a trained chef peel a potato. Essentially, this film would have benefited from a focus on devious monster action and not hum drum monster ontology.

The above stated, the film is not a total loss. The characters are likable enough, and Robert Englund clearly enjoyed this production. The use of rubber suits as opposed to CGI is a welcome throwback to the creature films of the eighties and before. The unfortunate fact of the matter is that these benefits do not come near enough to balancing out the dry, elongated, boring story telling. This film is worth a miss. I am loathe to recommend this movie even to the horror/comedy buff. There are a great many more interesting and better told stories that are actually worthy of one's time.

On a personal note, I will mention this film to friends as a real Turkey. Unfortunately, this will almost guarantee that it is seen by at least one more person. Should you feel the need to hunt this film down, the movie is best paired with low expectations and somewhat sloppy drunkenness.

A Genuine Review of Jack Brooks Monster Slayer

[ernesto-garcia · 7/10 · 7 February 2013]

Jack Brooks is a 2007 indie horror comedy. So Jack Brooks starts out with something that will make sense later in the film, but then it explains that Jack is just a troubled soul who saw his family massacred by a forest troll. Jack has a serious anger problem, he works as a plumber by day and attends night school at night. One day Jack's teacher asks him to fix one of his pipes, and by accident Jack unleashes a terrible force that posses the teacher and turns him in to a ravenous monster. Jack Brooks is what you get if you stick Evil dead,Hell Boy, and Slither in a blender and hit the "On" button. Jack Brooks isn't anything really really good, but it is really really fun. If you go into this film with the right expectations, you will come out more than happy. See this flick if you like cheesy over the top fun in the vein of the Evil Dead trilogy. Skip this if you are not in the mood for a stupid fun blood-fest. 7/10

Gets better as it progresses.

[Hey_Sweden · 6/10 · 16 March 2015]

Co-producer / co-story author Trevor Matthews is also our title character here. Jack Brooks is an aimless 20 something plumber with severe anger management issues. This stems from a traumatic childhood incident in which he had to watch his family get massacred by a forest monster. Years later, while attending a night school science class, he agrees to take on a job for his teacher, Gordon Crowley (genre icon Robert Englund). Naturally, Crowley lives in a house with a sordid & violent history and the evil forces still residing on this property are soon free to possess Crowley.

"Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer" does earn points for being in the spirit of insane, low budget 1980s horror. The main problem for this viewer is that, for too much of the running time, some of the humour just fell flat, and it was hard to really care about the main character. What *is* irresistible is the chance to see Englund be broadly funny; he doesn't get that many opportunities to do comedy. He's the main reason to watch. A large amount of the humour is of the lowbrow variety, with no shortage of gas and vomit jokes. But the ultimate monster design is endearingly silly, and the makeup effects and gore are fun.

Matthews is good as Jack, especially late in the game when the big shift occurs in his character and he decides to become the ass kicking hero. Rachel Skarsten delivers an effectively bitchy performance as Jacks' fed-up girlfriend. Daniel Kash (Spunkmeyer in "Aliens") is fine as the weary psychiatrist. And David Fox does a reasonably amusing job as our elderly tale spinner / exposition provider.

Enjoyable enough combo of laughs and shocks does work towards a decent finale.

Six out of 10.

JACK BROOKS - isn't scary or funny = WEAK!!!!

[horrorcritic72 · 1/10 · 25 July 2008]

I don't know why this has gotten any decent reviews as it could be the weakest horror comedy I've ever seen. Englund is just in it for a cameo and his performance is as unnecessary as most of the lame attempts at jokes (and scares). The direction is terrible and the acting is worse. It seems like every year producers are trying to make another Evil Dead but these weak unoriginal attempts are just stepping on the memory of a true horror classic.

Whether its filmmakers saying,"this isn't a remake but its an 80s throwback (which is just as unoriginal in my opinion - Hatchet) or people trying to plug this with other horror classics, Its still misleading and wont make up for the lack of scares, horror, comedy, or even a decent movie for that matter.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS!!!

The beginning

[kosmasp · 7/10 · 30 November 2008]

No one has heard about Jack Brooks .. yet, that is. Or until you watch this first installment of a new franchise. Well actually there is nothing officially announced yet, but Mr. Monster Slayer himself (couldn't be more Anti-Buffy I guess) said himself, that they will try to make another one! (Frightfest 2008 in London)

And judging by this first effort, I'm sure it will be great. Because with the second part you will know his character and he will be Jack Brooks ... which he only becomes during this one. So in other words this is the rise of Jack Brooks or his beginnings.

A pretty good cast (having Robert Englund in your movie never hurts) and some pretty hilarious scenes (especially those Jack Brooks has with his Anger Management psychologist or whatever the guy is called) make up for a pretty good start ... Some pacing problems and a few minor script flaws can be easily overlooked (imo) ... enjoy the show/movie! :o)

Not as funny as they think it is

[anthony-727 · 4/10 · 25 November 2009]

From the point of budget 2.5m CAD isn't very much when you look at the animatronics, puppetry in this film, that alone being the reason for the 9 week shoot. I was really keen to see this film and had hoped to catch it when it came out, instead got it on DVD recently. My main problem is it's just not funny at all, it's better than Tenacious D which hasn't got a funny bone in it's body. But this was a truly disappointing film.

Trevor Matthews is a very strong physically performer, but his acting sucks! Rachel Skarsten gives what is possibly one of the most irritating and none funny performances I have ever seen. The only really BIG star in this is David Scott who's artwork for the monsters is fab! His special effects work is the main reason this film is worth watching, loved the Cyclops and Troll and and the Prof Monster was straight out of the Henson library.

If you watch this it won't be the biggest waste of time, but if you are looking to see this for a great Horror Comedy Romp... Don't bother.

Surprisingly the strongest part of this movie is character development (contains minor spoilers)

[nrbarton · 7/10 · 13 July 2009]

Upon first hearing of this movie I though it sounded like a lot of fun. Plumber Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) has anger and violence problems. He saw his family killed by a monster when he was a kid and "ran away like a pussy." He's visiting a therapist but it's not helping much.

In his spare time he attends a science class with his shallow earache of a girlfriend. Professor Gordon Crowley (Robert Englund) runs the class and asks Jack to check his water pipes at his home. Through a few weak plot devices this leads to silly looking monsters on the rampage.

Where the film works is extremely strong characters for this genre. The exception is a new love interest who is severely underdeveloped. However, due to the extensive time allocated to developing the other characters, the short running time makes the climatic action seem a little rushed. The movie could have benefited from being slightly longer with more varied monsters but does contain a reasonable helping of gross monster slaying.

A big mistake made was to show the best looking monster at the beginning. It's shown again right at the end as Jack goes to fight it, and then disappointingly the credits roll! In these credits it's revealed that the same actor played both. However, I strongly suspect that's not why they didn't fight; the reason being budget restraints.

To bookend a movie with the best looking monster is most likely attempting to create the illusion of a bigger budget. However, not having the monster involved in the plot or fighting the hero seems like an invitation for disappointment. That being said any fans of comedy horror B-movies would be foolish not to check this out.

My Review

[joemamaohio · 2/10 · 5 November 2008]

Jack Brooks (Trevor Matthews) is a college student with some severe anger issues. His family was brutally murdered when he was a child by a monster, and now he takes out his anger on everything and everyone.

So when his professor (Robert Englund) begins to show signs of monsterism, he learns he has to control his rage and use it for good instead of evil, and fight the creatures that have been haunting his nightmares ever since that fateful night.

Truly earns its B-rated rating, but what was cool about it was that it didn't focus on crappy B-rated CGI graphics. In fact, 0% of the film was CGI. The monsters were actually decently put together, and although the storyline was lacking, it was somewhat watchable...if for only one time.

A fantastic throwback to 50's horror and Army of Darkness.

[dudeamis · 8/10 · 24 September 2008]

Sometimes you see a movie at the video store and you decided to take a chance on it, usually you're stuck with a bad movie and out a couple bucks, not the case with Monster Slayer.

Jack seems to be a fairly regular guy, working a thankless job and dating a whiny college girl. But Jack is not a regular guy, when he was a kid he witnessed a terrible tragedy, a tragedy he blames himself for and that fuels his episodes of rage. While doing a job for his science teacher, Professor Crowley (Robert Englund), Jack unintentionally awakens an ancient evil. Soon his entire science class is in mortal danger.

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer is a slow building monster movie, that really allows the character of Jack to be explored before the crap hits the fan. After the opening scene we don't see a monster for about 2/3 of the movie. But that's fine because the last third makes up for it.

Jack Brooks also does something rarely seen today, effective use of prosthetics. Instead of relying on cheesy cgi like this weeks Sci-Fi original, this movie uses well made monster make up to create realistic hell spawn.

The acting is fantastic for a movie of this level, Trevor Matthews does a fantastic job as the hero. Rachel Skarsten is terrifically annoying and James A. Woods plays the stereotypical wanna be philosopher college kid who smokes too much weed, perfectly.

While this movie is made in the spirit of Army of Darkness, you will not confuse the two movies. Jack Brooks is much more serious, but not too serious. Jack Brooks doesn't throw out classic one liners, or is too cocky for his own good. Jack is just a guy with a lot of anger issues who steps up when he's needed the most.

Think Evil Dead

[bowmanblue · 6/10 · 6 November 2014]

Jack Brooks: Monster Slayer. Need I say more? Oh, okay then.

Really, if the title doesn't give you a clue to what sort of movie you're about to watch then I really can't add that much.

It's a cheesy, low budget B-movie (or maybe even C-movie) about a loser who had his family killed by a monster. Now, he's a plumber by day and a student at night. Plus he has anger issues. Guess what - he's destined to fight monsters. And that's about it.

But is it any good? Well, Robert 'original Freddy Kruger' Englund is in it, so that does mean it's not going to be completely awful and the former spiky-fingered one does overact nicely.

As for the rest of it, well, it's okay.

The first three quarters of the film don't contain many monsters. Which is a shame, based on its title.

However, if you enjoy where it's going, you'll be rewarded with a suitably decent pay-off. This comes in the form a nice slice 'n dice battle in the college with monsters splattering all over the place.

Overall, it's fun - especially for the ending. I just wish they could have put the ending in the middle and then added more of the same.

70 Minutes too much story

[phryx · 3/10 · 22 March 2010]

I've seen many horror, splatter, monster movies in my life. And of course also a lot of monster movies from the 50's and 60's. When I first stumbled over this one I thought this is from the 60's until I recognized it's from 2007.

In fact the character of Jack Brook is interesting and the acting all in all is for a splatter movie quite good, but.... I expected a splatter movie and not a drama story about a aggressive plummer. The movie runs 80 Mminutes and I think the first kill is after 65 minutes. Although it takes hours to explain the story the reason where are the monsters come from takes at least 3 minutes... the we have another 20 minutes boring dialogue and finally a, in my opinion, not that well managed splatter sequence. Although we have Robert Englund starring here I only recommend this one to real hardcore horror fans.

Crazy Fun From Start To Finish...

[azathothpwiggins · 1 September 2020]

In JACK BROOKS: MONSTER SLAYER, the titular plumber (Trevor Matthews) is fueled by the death of his parents to do his second, more important job. Namely, his understandable anger problem is pitted against creatures from the abyss. When Professor Gordon Crowley (Robert Englund) inadvertently releases forces from beyond the grave, it's up to Brooks to put the kibosh to it all.

This is a movie for the connoisseur of such films as EVIL DEAD 1 and 2, DEMONS, etc. The practical effects are well done, bringing a welcome, nostalgic feel to it. Matthews makes a great Ash-type hero, and Englund is perfectly suited for his role as the unassuming teacher turned eeevil entity. With ample humor and bathtubs full of gushy nastiness, this is a gorehound's sweet dream!...