Popeye’s Revenge review
The first of at least three public domain Popeye horror movies begs the question: Why?
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Popeye’s Revenge
Directed by William Stead
Written by Harry Boxler
Starring Emily Mogilner, Connor Powles, Danielle Ronald, Steven Murphy, Kelly Rian Sanson, Oliver Mason and Danielle Scott
Popeye’s Revenge Review
Where do you want to start this time? The number of public domain slasher movies released in this current generation of horror has led us down a circular path.
We can discuss the practice on a macro level. Using someone else’s established property to bring attention to your own work is a dubious decision…even if it is legal. I have never cared much about this aspect of these movies. Every Sherlock Holmes or Dracula riff you watch is a public domain character, after all. The discussion in this instance has usually centered on using famous children’s characters in bloody slasher movies. Again…I have no negative feelings on it. If someone wants to make the sixth movie where someone in a dime store Mickey Mouse costume slaughters teenagers…have at it. Popeye’s Revenge may be the first of this type of movie to give me pause on that.
We can jump to the modern low budget slasher discussion. That one generally focuses on the glossy looks achievable by affordable camera technology. Movies can look better than they are these days. But slasher movies have always had two strange phenomena attached to them. They’re graded on a curve by those who love them. And they’re too readily dismissed as trash by those who don’t. If you are in the former camp…bad slasher movies can be good. If you’re in the latter…good slasher movies are also bad. Popeye’s Revenge falls into the former definition.
When the two roads converge, we can see Popeye’s Revenge for what it is. A bad (in a good way) slasher movie that features a beloved children’s character as the killer. Most of these movies end up right around that sweet spot. Popeye’s Revenge has a bit of a Popeye problem, however. Actually…it has two.
First…Popeye? The Sailor Man? What? Why? When was the last time Popeye featured in anything that broke through the into pop culture? Winnie-the-Pooh gets a pass for being the first treasured children’s icon to be cast as a slasher villain. Peter Pan…actually did something somewhat interesting with the concept. Cinderella is a timeless character. Mickey Mouse is an eternal icon. Popeye? The Sailor Man? What?
Even if we can look past Popeye’s Revenge snatching up a public domain character that exists firmly outside of the public eye…the movie has no business using the character anyway. I’m not talking about a reversal of my public domain character policy. I genuinely do not care what people do with Pinnochio or Bambi. I do wonder how no one had a Wizard of Oz (the novels are public domain) slasher ready to go when Wicked arrived…but that’s about the extent of my care on the issue.
What I’m talking about is a story that could have dropped any character into the antagonist role and made just as much sense. Actually…several would have made more sense. The story of Popeye’s Revenge involves a character with a backstory that has nothing to do with Popeye and a group of young people who want to build a haunted attraction out of his famous Popeye house. I’m going to say that again. The famous Popeye house. You know…from Popeye.
The actual killer Popeye himself is pretty good compared to some of what we’ve seen. He walks around with his sailor shirt and hat…carrying an anchor with his giant forearms. He doesn’t talk like Popeye (or hardly ever talk at all) …and aside from one moment there’s no references to spinach or…sailing…but it’s a perfectly acceptable slasher villain. He even has a sidekick we find out is named Olive. It’s not an Olive Oyl stand-in so much as a nod to the name, however.
Which brings us to the so bad it’s kind of good aspects of Popeye’s Revenge. Yeah…it’s a bad slasher movie. Paper thin characters line up to be slaughtered in mostly uninspired ways. There’s a pretty nice extended opening that drops most of the lore and gives us three quick kills. Then we move to a new group of characters and their mission at the famous…Popeye…house. Tara (Emily Mogilner) is our lead. She eventually learns that she has a connection to Popeye’s story. A story that, again, has nothing to do with Popeye.
You can pretty much guess what happens from there. There are no cell phone signals. The lore expands into more and more ridiculous territories. Bodies begin to pile up. Popeye uses one of his classic Popeye moves…killing someone with a riding lawn mower. You know…a Popeye movie. The performances are completely acceptable for a low budget slasher. There are a few fun kills. It ends too abruptly. Or not soon enough depending on your perspective.
The whole of Popeye’s Revenge, however, tends to feel like playing Fortnite or Call of Duty with a skin on your character. It’s not suddenly a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle game because you look like Donatello. And this isn’t suddenly a Popeye story because someone is wearing a Popeye costume. We’ve seen plenty of public domain horror strain themselves trying to justify using their character of choice. Popeye’s Revenge doesn’t even bother to try. Given Popeye’s almost non-existent place in modern pop culture…it again begs the question…why Popeye?
Maybe Shiver Me Timbers or Popeye the Slayer Man will have an answer. I doubt anyone will ever have one for why we are getting (at least) three different takes on this.
Scare Value
As a low budget slasher movie…Popeye’s Revenge is bad in that kind of good way. As a Popeye project it’s about as incoherent as can be. Look…we all know the score. Branding it a Popeye slasher is just the latest in a long, long, long line of attempts to draw attention utilizing public domain properties. They aren’t going anywhere. Some of them are decent. Popeye’s Revenge is a decently bad slasher movie that has no business including Popeye at all.
2/5
Popeye’s Revenge Link
Rent/Buy on VOD from Amazon
