Five newer films this week, including three takes on popular children’s cartoons that definitely aren’t for children! We’ll start off with the mysterious “Presence” and then the silly “The Parenting.” For our not-a-cartoon segment, we’ll take a dip with “The Little Mermaid” and then go sailing with “Popeye the Slayer Man” and “Popeye’s Revenge.”
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Mainstream Films:
2025 Presence
Directed by Steven Soderbergh
Written by David Koepp
Stars Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang
Run Time: 1 Hour, 24 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is filmed in an interesting way with lots of swooping around like we’re the POV from a ghost, and there are a low number of hard cuts - instead going with long continuous shots. The horror simmers in the background while family drama and bad people things are at the front. We both kind of liked it but didn’t love it.
Spoilery Synopsis
We walk through a big, empty, dark house. Credits roll.
In the daytime, a woman rushes in and gets ready for a meeting. She’s a Realtor, and she’s showing the house to Rebekah, Chris, Tyler, and Chloe. The house has just gone on the market.
The painters arrive to work, but one of them refuses to go into one of the rooms. Soon, the family is all moved in. Not long after, we see that Rebekah may have done some shady business dealings, and she may face some repercussions. Chris worries about his own involvement in whatever she’s done; he’s thinking of separating from Rebekah.
Chloe, on the other hand, is still grieving the death of her friend Nadia, who died suddenly. She soon senses someone in the room with her. The next day, the ghost picks up all her schoolbooks and puts them away for her. Chloe notices that right away.
Chris and Rebekah talk about getting help for Chloe, who isn’t over Nadia’s death yet. Chris wants to get her a therapist, but Rebekah says it’ll just take time.
Tyler brings Ryan home to meet Chloe, and the two are soon a couple. They talk about Nadia; he knew her too. It was bad drugs, Chloe thinks. She also thinks Nadia’s spirit is in the house with them. As soon they start to make out, the shelf in the closet breaks down, interrupting things.
At dinner, Chloe asks the others about feeling a “presence” in the house. Tyler gets nasty with her, calling her an attention-seeker. Everyone argues. Chris mentions that Chloe knew both girls who died– there were two who died from the bad drugs.
Even Chris thinks Tyler is being a jerk. When Tyler brags about posting a bad photo of a girl from school on the Internet, the ghost wrecks his bedroom, and they all see it. Chloe swears it’s Nadia.
Chris calls in Carl and Lisa, a couple of psychics, who stop by on their lunch break. Lisa says “It’s suffering, just like you are, Chloe.” The presence is there for a reason, but Lisa can’t tell what that is. Tyler and Rebekah soon decide that Lisa’s a fake, but Chloe is all in on what she said.
Ryan comes over and spikes Chloe’s drink as the ghost watches. The table starts to vibrate, and her drink falls on the floor. She invites him to stay over on the weekend while her parents will be away.
Lisa comes back, and says she had a dream about a “window that doesn’t open” and that the ghost is there to prevent something bad from happening.
Chris and Rebekah talk vaguely about their legal issues, but we still don’t know what the trouble is. They may talk to a lawyer while they’re on their trip. They leave.
Ryan comes over and Tyler lets him in. He drugs Tyler and knocks him right out before preparing a similar drink for Chloe.
Chloe decides she doesn’t want to go through with it with Ryan. “I’m not like… stable.” She tells him no, but then drinks her spiked OJ.
As she passes out, he goes on and on about how she only gets what she wants, and she wants all this. Ryan basically admits killing Nadia and the other girl. He smothers her off-and-on with some plastic wrap. The ghost sees all this and tries to help– it goes downstairs and wakes up Tyler. He runs upstairs, tackles Ryan, and they both go out the upstairs bedroom window which seems to instantly kill them both.
The house is empty again, the family is moving out. Rebekah looks in the old mirror and sees Tyler in there. “He came back to see me!” She cries and everyone is sad.
Brian’s Commentary
We get lots of long, lingering shots, apparently from the ghost’s point of view as it moves from room to room inside the house. It’s a pretty good house, and we spend the entirety of the film wandering around inside watching the humans inside. It’s like a depressing version of “The Sims.”
It’s a believable yet dysfunctional family. It’s a very slow moving, talky film, with very little action. I had assumed that the parents were covering up the fact that Tyler had killed those girls but that wasn’t the case at all. We never actually find out what the family’s legal issue is about.
It’s… OK. Not great.
Kevin’s Commentary
I did like the POV from a ghostly viewpoint. And it did have some entertaining moments. The cast puts in some realistic and believable performances, notable for relatively inexperienced Callina Liang and newcomer Eddy Maday keeping up as the teenage kids with their much more experienced parent actors. But I thought the horror was a bit too low-key with the family drama front and center. I liked it more than I disliked it, six out of ten.
2025 The Parenting
Directed by Craig Johnson
Written by Kent Sublette
Stars Nik Dodani, Brandon Flynn, Brian Cox, Edie Falco, Lisa Kudrow, Dean Norris
Run Time: 1 Hour, 34 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This is a very funny take on an awkward family get-together with an excellent cast. After it gets going, we get to see some horror elements as a bonus. It’s very well made and a lot of fun.
Spoilery Synopsis
It’s 1983, and Jamie and Allie argue with their mother. “Hate you kids.” Then something in the basement grabs and eats the mother. Jamie goes downstairs, and it gets him as well. As Allie walks through the house, all the wallpaper peels off the walls. The monster gets her too.
We cut to Rohan and Josh driving down the road, talking about cats. They’re on the way to a huge rental house where all their parents are going to meet. Josh says his parents are normal, and Rohan is jealous of that.
They arrive at the house and meet Brenda, who tells them about a big fire in the 80s. The house has been empty since, and she’s the caretaker. She’s very weird. Sara calls on the phone and warns Rohan not to propose to Josh this weekend.
Rohan’s wealthy adoptive parents arrive. Frank and Sharon awkwardly meet Josh. Liddy and Cliff, Josh’s parents, arrive next, and they’re more working class. They brought three little yap-yap dogs.
Someone we don’t see shakes a snowglobe with a miniature of the house inside, and it starts to snow for real at the house. The parents are all annoying, and it’s very awkward for the young gay couple. Josh eats some funny gummies, and he no longer cares about the parents.
Dinner is comically awkward as well, Josh doesn’t help. It soon becomes a weird singalong. Everyone complains about the flaky wifi. The wifi password, when read aloud, apparently summons some kind of creature.
Everyone turns in for the night, but they all hear bumping and grinding from the next bedroom. Everyone hears it, all three couples. None of them are doing the bumping or the grinding. We cut to a person with no mouth banging their head against the wall downstairs.
Sara shows up out of the blue, which annoys Rohan. Frank reads the wifi password and wanders down to the basement to reset the router. A clawed hand reaches out for him, and he takes it.
In the morning, everyone convenes for breakfast. They all hint about the noises during the night and wonder about Frank being absent. Sara comes in, and everyone hates her immediately. Frank walks into the room, and he’s… different. Frank cuts Josh with the big knife by accident– twice. The resulting chaos winds up killing one of the little dogs.
Everyone argues later until Frank walks into the room, completely naked and proud of it. This is followed by lots of vomiting, and Frank doesn’t know what happened. One of the little dogs eats some of the puke and his eyes start to glow.
The romantic, fun weekend is not going well for anyone. Frank has a talk with the demon who already possesses him. Josh and Rohan argue about each other’s behavior until they see a crazy weird monstrous woman standing in the corner before vanishing.
Sara goes into the basement, looking for a snow shovel, and finds some photos as well as Jaime from the 80s down there, who’s now a ghost zombie. He chases her outside and then vanishes.
Everyone knows something is going on, but none of it makes sense. Sara has photos of the pre-zombie family who used to live there. She also finds Allie’s book on demonology and Andras in particular. They all decide that Allie must have summoned a demon, and now it’s in Frank.
Sharon takes some food to Frank, who asks her to kill him. Things get crazy from there, and now no one doubts that there’s a demon in Frank. They lock the monster in a bedroom, and everyone talks about their feelings in this situation. It’s all very heartwarming until the little demon dog attacks Liddy.
Josh and Rohan walk to the nearby neighbor’s house– it’s Brenda. She knows all about the demon, but didn’t think the wifi thing was going to work. She explains the story with Allie, Jamie, and their mother. Brenda was into the occult and got Allie into the scene. “What if we conjure a demon?” Things went badly after that.
The warm moon is out, the snow is suddenly gone, and Brenda is doing a ritual to bring Andras out. Rohan goes inside and talks to the zombie ghosts, who have been trying to help. Rohan goes outside to confront Frank and Brenda, and he volunteers to be a host for the monster. It starts to leave Frank to go into him, and Josh is supposed to shoot Rohan once it’s in him, but he can’t do it. Josh invites it into him instead. Soon, they’re all doing it in a circle. The demon doesn’t know what to do and splits up into multiple directions before manifesting in person. Frank himself stomps the weakened demon-bird to death.
The next morning, everyone, including Brenda watches as Josh asks Rohan to marry him. Frank apologizes for being a rotten father to Rohan. They see the three ghosts and the one dead dog ghost outside, and dead-Allie flips off Brenda before they all vanish.
Brian’s Commentary
It’s all very real and very awkward until the demon shows up. It’s still hilarious after that, but it takes a more horror-centric approach.
What happened to Kate the dog? The dog just sorta vanished after Sara arrived and didn’t appear until the end.
The creature at the end, as well as the zombies, really aren’t much to look at. This one is all about the excellent cast, a bunch of familiar faces you’ve seen before. Brian Cox must have had a ball doing this after Succession ended– it’s very different.
And good. It’s very funny!
2024 The Little Mermaid
Directed by Leigh Scott
Written by Leigh Scott
Stars Mike Markoff, Lydia Helen, Jeff Denton
Run Time: 1 Hour, 29 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
The cast does a decent job with this telling of the tale, though there aren’t enough musical numbers. It’s a serious take on the tale, with plenty of horror elements and some nice references to H.P. Lovecraft worked in. We were pleasantly surprised at how entertaining it was.
Spoilery Synopsis
Dr. Eric Prince leads an archaeological team digging on the shore. Mr. Collins, from the board, complains that he’s supposed to be doing offshore digging, and he’s creeping too far inland. Eric explains that what he’s working on might be a lot better. Eric offers a bigger bribe, so that’s all good for now.
Meanwhile, a couple of fishermen out in a boat catch something in a net. They pull it on board and see that it’s a… mermaid. “This is better than a marlin,” says one. The mermaid wakes up and chomps one of them with a mouthful of fangs. Then her tail divides into legs, and she hypnotizes the other man.
Eric has a nightmare about vicious mermaids. He gets a call from a man who has some relics for him to see. The man has very old coins and jewelry, and a strange woman sold them to him. Eric says he’d like to meet this mystery woman.
At the dig site, they find a mummified body and a fishy-looking pagan idol of Dagon. There’s most likely an ancient temple buried right here. Eric says that it’s a huge discovery, the biggest since King Tut.
We cut to a red-haired woman who looks very familiar. She talks to the man with the coins and jewelry. She’s very interested in the ancient temple that Eric has found. She arranges a meeting with Eric; she’s Aurora. She says her trinkets were just old things the family had.
They flirt and appear to be attracted to one another. He says she looks really familiar.
Eric and his helpers take a boat out to do some diving. While down there, Eric sees a red-headed mermaid, very clearly. His helper sees it as well, so he knows he’s not crazy. The next day, Eric tells Aurora what he saw. She’s not as skeptical as she should be, and even hints that she might be a mermaid herself.
Mr. Collins, on the other hand, wants to cancel Eric’s digging permit. He has until the end of the day to clear out everything.
Eric has another date with Aurora, and she has her cook make sushi. We see that her cook is the hypnotized fisherman from the boat, who is looking a little fishy himself now. Eric mentions that the dig has been halted due to the locals. She makes her intentions clear, and Eric’s not about to put up a fight.
Later, she gets her minion Sebastian to drive her to town, where she meets with Mr. Collins. She uses her mind control to make him do her bidding. Surprisingly, Collins calls Eric and tells him that he can continue to dig in that area after all. Aurora says she bought the whole place.
Dr. Ferdinand Ashley, from the university arrives to help on the dig. They’ve been financing all this until now. He finds a stone tablet that has an inscription and warning about evil spirits. Then they find a sacred seal, and of course, Eric quickly breaks the seal. Ferdy mentions a dig in Innsmouth, where he had to deal with a Dagon cult once before, and he wants to avoid that this time around. Also, he warns Eric not to get in trouble with Aurora, as so happens when Eric is around women.
Ferdy does some research on mermaids and Dagon. That temple really shouldn’t be here, but that’s the least weird thing about all this. They start pumping water out of the flooded underground temple.
Ferdy goes into town and finds a photo of Aurora from 1921, but then, he’s confronted by Sebastian and Aurora. She’s very threatening, but Ferdy is smart and says the right thing and they let him go… with Sebastian following.
Ferdy has a nightmare and tells Eric that they need to stop digging and get out of town. Eric thinks Ferdy has lost his mind, going on and on about opening magical cursed tombs and how evil Aurora is. Ferdy enlists Archie, the local guy, to work against Aurora. Just then, cultists in fish masks arrive. “Her majesty would like a word with you.”
Diving into the subterranean temple, Eric looks around and finds lots of neat stuff. He comes up and finds that he’s been down there for hours. It’s dark, so he’ll have to wait until tomorrow to go down again.
Aurora tells Eric that Ferdy and Archie tried to kill her and that she stopped them. Ferdy and Archie are being held prisoner by Sebastian on the beach. Aurora tells Eric that she couldn’t break the seal on the temple; she’s been trying for centuries.
Aurora admits what she is to Eric. She wants him to go back to the temple, open the gates, and let the Old Ones out to conquer the world. Ferdy and Archie break loose, kill Collins and Sebastian, but Eric won’t let them kill Aurora. “She’s my destiny.” He leans in for a kiss, and Archie shoots them both.
Aurora roars and jumps back in the ocean as Eric apologizes and dies. Ferdy and Archie rush back to the dig site to seal it up before Aurora can release Hell on Earth. The guys reseal the tomb, say some magic words, and save the Earth.
Aurora comes to Ferdy; she can’t break her promise not to harm him. She admits that she’s just one of many and her time will come, one way or another.
Brian’s Commentary
The movie needed more songs and dancing. These live-action remakes sure are different from the original Disney, aren’t they? ;)
There are a lot of references here to H.P. Lovecraft, who wrote about “The Deep Ones,” which aren’t exactly mermaids, but close enough for now. Innsmouth, Dagon, the Elder Gods, and more all get name-dropped here.
So what’s keeping Aurora from hypnotising some construction guys to open that tomb again? She knows right where it is and even owns the land it’s on.
The acting is fine, and everything looks good here. Some of the dialogue is pretty atrocious, and the story is about as predictable as can be, but it’s not bad overall.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’d say the dialogue was sometimes a weak point, but overall I was pleased. I really liked the Lovecraftian elements that were woven into the story, that was a good fit. I was bracing myself for something lame, but ended up enjoying it quite a bit.Kevin’s Commentary
This was even funnier than I expected, with a cast that all looked like they were having a good time, even when the horror elements kicked in. There was a surprisingly low body count for the situation they were in. It would have been a perfect setting to have the characters getting gradually killed off until there was a survivor or two at the end. It wasn’t that kind of movie, and it was fun seeing that for a change.
2025 Popeye the Slayer Man
Directed by Robert Michael Ryan
Written by Cuyle Carvin, John Dooan, Jeff Miller
Stars Jason Robert Stephens, Sarah Nickin, Angela Relucio
Run Time: 1 Hour, 28 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This take on the character was surprisingly good. The practical effects are well done, and Popeye looks cartoon realistic if a little unexpressive. There’s a little dark humor around the edges, but it’s mostly very serious. The story itself is pretty standard slasher fare, but all in all we liked it quite a bit.
Spoilery Synopsis
A woman runs through the foggy oceanside town toward a locked warehouse. She breaks the lock and rushes inside the cannery. Two men are chasing her, but one of them has heard stories about this place and is hesitant to follow her inside. The woman, Adrienne, stops when she sees a bulky man with big arms standing in the shadows. The bad men corner her until an empty can of spinach rolls into view. The hugely strong monster of a man tears one of the baddies in half and crushes the skull of the other. She calls him a monster, and he says “I am what I am.” Credits roll.
Dexter is making a documentary about “The Sailor Man,” a local legend. Dexter clearly likes Olivia, and Lisa seems to like Seth. “They say the Sailor Man is still out there, roaming the docks.” Dexter has arranged for all his friends to show up to the docks and help with his film.
Mr. Allister meets with Margo, a woman whose clients want to buy and demolish the old cannery. The place has been empty for twenty years, and that might be due to the hazardous contamination under the factory. And what about that crazy ghost story about the Sailor Man? They smell pipe smoke, and Allister goes off to investigate. Turns out, Margo was scared by Angus, the maintenance man for the property.
Angus, left in the building alone, does a security sweep before locking up. He finds what’s left of the two baddies from the pre-credit sequence. As he leaves them, he sees the Sailor Man, who squishes his head.
Dexter, Olivia, and Katie talk about the Sailor Man, and one of the drinkers there, Bernie, growls out the tale for them. Jesse and Terry come in, and they’re all over Olivia. Joey is Katie’s abusive boyfriend.
The young people all arrive at the cannery, and Olivia picks the lock. Dexter, Lisa, Katie, Olivia, and Seth go inside. Back at the bar, Joey, Terry, and Jesse talk about the Sailor Man and they plan to go to the cannery to get Katie.
Lisa and Seth split off and explore on their own, and they run into trouble with a spinach can. Dexter and Olivia explore as well while Katie watches the security monitors. Outside, Margot shows up and wonders what all the cars are outside for. She finds Angus’s remains and then sees the Sailor, who comes after her. After ripping a chunk of her scalp off, he shuts her in a compactor and turns it on.
Going through the papers, Dexter figures out that that plant closed due safety issues and a spinach infection. Dangerous labels of bacteria in the food could have had good outcomes. Alistair owns the cannery and the newspaper, so there must be a coverup. Lisa and Seth return, and they all smell pipe smoke. They read the old rhyme about “Popeye the Sailor Man,” something they’ve all heard.
Back in the office, Lisa spots Popeye and runs. “He’s real!” She runs straight into the arms of Joey, who bullies her. The Sailor Man arrives on the scene, and Jesse stabs him to no effect. When the Sailor man crushes his head, we see where the name “Pop-Eye” came from.
Terry tries to drive away, but Popeye lifts the car up so he can’t escape. He steps on a gnarly nail but keeps on going. The Sailor Man drags a huge anchor and uses it to behead Jesse. “Anchors away,” he grunts.
Lisa and Seth find Jesse’s body and decide it’s time to go. Joey has a gun and shoots Katie by mistake. Everyone runs in panic, and Seth falls off a ladder. He doesn’t suffer long, as Popeye impales him with some rebar. Lisa soon follows in exactly the same way.
Dexter and Olivia find the Sailor Man’s lair and even an old photo of him when he was a normal human with his family. His wife, Olive Oyl, was the whistleblower for the cannery’s contamination, and she disappeared shortly after breaking the story. They watch as Popeye comes in and downs a can of radioactive spinach. It’s toxic and has mutated that poor sailor man.
Dexter and Olivia come across Katie and Seth’s bodies and know it’s time to go. We see Joey is still wandering around with his gun. Dexter walks right into Popeye, who grabs him until Olivia shouts, “Let him go!” which he does, but not before breaking Dexter’s arm badly. Olivia thinks the monster isn’t trying to hurt them, he’s just protecting his home. Dexter wonders why the Sailor listened to Olivia, and it also looked like Olivia recognized that picture of the Sailor’s wife.
Olivia talks to Popeye. “You recognize me, don’t you? Daddy?” He nods. “My Swee-Pea?!” Just then, Joey shoots Popeye. Olivia tells Popey that the spinach is destroying his mind. When Joey threatens Olivia, he rips Joey’s arm off and beats him to death with the bloody stump.
Dexter and Olivia make it outside and find Katie, who’s not dead. Police and ambulances soon arrive. Dexter and Olivie promise to come back for Popeye and get him some help.
Later, Mr. Allister talks to the buyers who cancelled the sale. He still plans to demolish the cannery. He kicks a can of spinach and then runs into the big man himself. “I yam what I yam,” he says as he crushes the corrupt businessman’s head.
Brian’s Commentary
The prosthetics and practical gore effects are good. Maybe not exactly lifelike or expressive, but they do the job. Popeye gets a few zingers, but he's really hard to understand; fortunately he doesn’t talk much.
I liked the Wympee cameo. We did get spinach, a corn cob pipe, and some catchphrases. Other than some over-the-top deaths, there wasn’t as much humor here as I would have liked, it’s a pretty typical stalker/slasher film, just with a more well-known antagonist.
For a public-domain cash grab, it’s not too bad. It’s got a full coherent story that all makes sense. The closing credits have a banging theme song, and I’d totally be up for a sequel to this one.
Kevin’s Commentary
I’m glad they went with practical effects here, I think that helped a lot. Popeye looks decent enough, but maybe a little on the rubbery side. It’s got a decent story and moves well, with just enough references to the classic cartoon here and there. I give it a thumbs up.
2025 Popeye’s Revenge
Directed by William Stead
Written by Harry Boxley, E G. Segar
Stars Emily Mogilner, Connor Powles, Danielle Ronald
Run Time: 1 Hour, 19 Minutes
Trailer:
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
A very angry Popeye picks off a group of people in an isolated location by a lake in this one. With a swap, the killer could have been any big angry guy picking people off in creative and gory ways. It’s decent enough, but doesn’t make enough of the fact that it’s Popeye. Though there are multiple popping eyes as well as an assortment of other juicy practical effects. It was better than we expected, but not anything really special. A moderate thumbs up.
Spoilery Synopsis
We get an animation that tells about a baby who was born with some deformities. He had huge arms and a weird face. The child was constantly bullied until he killed one of the bullies, choking him so hard his eyes popped out. His parents locked him in the basement alone. An angry mob came to the house and burned it to the ground, killing his parents. The child was burned in the fire but escaped. The crowd chased him to the lake, where he fell in and disappeared. Popeye’s body was never found.
We cut to Mia and her two friends, who are out by the lake to make a video. Mia has a bad feeling about the legend of Popeye. Popeye’s old house is currently under renovation after fifteen years. Cherry is only there to make out with Alan, and the documentary soon turns into an accidental porn film.
Mia wanders around outside doing sound recording stuff, and she hears someone out there with her. A bald man in a sailor cap beats her to death with an anchor. Out of nowhere, he also drives his fist through Cherry’s chest, killing her instantly. Alan puts up more of a fight, but he can’t escape the lumbering killer. His eyes get popped.
Popeye’s imaginary friend slips a note under the door. “Welcome Back.” Credits roll.
Lora and her husband, George, argue about the property that they’ve just inherited. It’s the land where the legendary Popeye was supposed to have died. Their daughter Tara likes Dylan, and they’re off, along with Kathy to the lake. Beanie, Nick, Sky, and Donna are going along. They want to turn Popeye’s house into a haunted attraction.
The group literally runs into a fisherman on the road who warns them not to go to Popeye’s house, as the fog is lethal there. The seven young people arrive at the house; it’s creepy but they’ve been cleaning and restoring it. At the dock, Popeye takes notice of new occupants and kills that fisherman we saw earlier.
Back in town, George and Lora talk to Jane, their neighbor, who says, “He’s back. Three dead in the Popeye house!”
Tara tries to get all her friends to work rather than play. Donna and Dylan try to convince the others as well. There’s a knock at the door, and a crazy-eyed woman comes in. “You’re not supposed to be here. He’s not gonna like this. If you leave now, he won’t hurt you.” This warning is not well received by the gang. “I want you all to suffer the way he suffered,” she says before running off.
Later, Nick and Sky make out in the hot tub. She wants him to break up with Donna. They argue, and he leaves. Popeye shows up and kills her as Olive Oyl shows up to egg him on.
In the morning Nick tells everyone that Sky took a taxi home. Beanie asks Kathy on a date, but she’d rather die. Beanie then storms off into the foggy woods to sulk. He finds the boat the Popeye lives on and checks it out. Popeye rips his spine out before pulling his head off.
Tara’s parents finally figure out that she and her friends have gone to the murder house.
Nick and Donna argue, and he finds a mostly-eaten can of spinach as the fog rolls into the cabin. Nick finds out he’s not as tough as he thinks he is, and he, too, loses an eye. Outside, Donna finds that the cars all have flat tires she finds Nick’s body and runs off into the woods to hide from Popeye. He finds her and runs over her with a tractor.
Tara, Dylan, and Kathy look for the others but can’t find anyone. Tara finds a photo of her mother, and Dylan says his mother has the same photo. They hear Donna screaming and run to find Popeye finishing her off.
The parents arrive on the scene, and Popeye immediately kills Jane. George and Lora run away and catch up with Dylan and Tara.
Popeye catches up with Kathy and tips her car over before setting it on fire.
Back in the cabin, Lora tells the story. That thing out there is Johnny, her student, and that’s Popeye’s real name. The week after his death, he appeared in her nightmare, along with everyone in town. The dream wanted them to rebuild the house. She was involved in helping to kill little Johnny. Only little Tara stood up for Johnny, but she was too little to help.
Suddenly, Olive Oyl barges in and stabs George and Lora. Olive explains that she was Johnny’s sister, also locked in that basement. Johnny didn’t deserve what happened to him, and now he lives inside the fog that rolls in from the lake. Tara douses Olive in fuel, and Dylan burns her.
Popeye shows up, and he recognizes Tara. He starts beating Dylan to death until Tara gets on the tractor. They do something vague to lock him into place with the anchor, and then Tara runs him over with the lawn mower.
Of course, that can’t be the end for Popeye, who grabs Tara from behind after they think they are done.
Brian’s Commentary
Who knew Popeye was British? We almost needed subtitles at times. Also, Popeye was never a real sailor; his parents just dressed him like that.
This was made by the same people who made “Pooh: Blood and Honey” and its sequel– but without the loving care and attention to detail those films enjoyed. This is a basic kill-the-horny-teenagers-one-at-a-time at a campground movie. If Popeye had been a guy in a hockey mask, no one would have even noticed the film.
Some shots of the lake are covered in small boats, and others are just a dark gray deserted place. The continuity was clearly not a priority.
Actually, the whole thing seems rushed and subpar. It’s nowhere as good as “The Slayer Man.”
Kevin’s Commentary
The story follows a slasher formula that could have swapped anyone for Popeye. Though we don’t usually get to see the killer’s face so clearly without a mask. The practical effects are good. The kills are gruesome. It was okay as far as slasher flicks go, but the Popeye angle was kind of disappointing.
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