Today's film is something infinitely more far-fetched and bonkers but still very entertaining. Nekrotronic is a playful 2018 Aussie effort about sewage worker Howard (Ben O’Toole) who, just in time for Christmas, discovers he’s actually part of a secret sect of mystical demon hunters and joins his new allies in battling evil spirits – led by his own sinister mother - that want to destroy humanity…via the internet. Yes, this tongue-in-cheek fantasy adventure is about monsters in the internet trying to steal our souls via a Pokemon-inspired App game. It’s knowingly ridiculous but also a lot of fun.
In hindsight this barely qualifies as a Christmas film at all, though it is set during the festive period and folk do wear Santa hats occasionally so…ho ho ho, I guess? Christmas is in the Summer in Oz of course, so it is unseasonably hot as hell in the film’s early daytime scenes, but luckily most of it takes place at night. To be honest, the yuletide has next to nothing to do with the plot, other than some vague ‘Chosen One’ tropes, but I enjoy it anyway and it’s a film that deserves special mention just for being very enjoyable.
This colourful slice of comic-book style adventure was directed by Kiah Roache-Turner and co-written with his brother Tristan of Australian zombie flick Wyrmwood fame and feels like a statement of intent to Hollywood, saying ‘look at what we can do with a fraction of the cash you piss away on bad films.’ There is a lot of talent on show here and it’s a hell of an entertaining, if transparently derivative romp. It’s a mish-mash of ideas half-inched from films like The Matrix and Ghostbusters, with a pinch of the knowing humour that makes films like Edgar Wright’s The World’s End such a blast. You could play a hell of a drinking game spotting all the obvious homages to other films, but it all gels together so well and is buoyed by such a funny script that you can forgive it.
There are some satisfyingly gory moments with lots of impressive ghost/demon effects and some wonderful, eye-catching Tron-inspired sets. The cast is game too, with Monica Bellucci evidently enjoying hamming it up as the main villain. O’Toole is hilarious too as the reluctant ‘Chosen One’, trying to wrap his head around all the gruesome CGI chaos. He starts his day emptying septic tanks and ends it battling ghouls in a Power Rangers-style supersuit, backed by two hot superhero ghost-hunting babes. Comic relief is offered by his doofus, phone-obsessed best bud Rangi (Epine Bob Savea), who quickly winds up dead but is reanimated as a ghostly ‘wraith’ to help out, a la An American Werewolf in London.
Though the laid-back Aussie humour marks this out as something distinctive, it lacks the belly laughs of Edgar Wright’s work, or the polished expert fight choreography of the Marvel films, but is still a major triumph when you consider its small budget. It’s imaginative, vibrant, zany and immensely satisfying. Admittedly, when I saw the film’s poster and read the synopsis, I shuddered, convinced this was going to suck big time. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
I watch this all the way through, desperately waiting for Christmas to be vital to the plot but then…it just ends, with an awesome credits sting teasing further ghoulish adventures. Yes, please. I would gush about this one a bit more, but it barely qualifies as a holiday film, so I’d better move swiftly on…
A little later in the day I start to feel guilty that Nektrotronic possibly doesn’t count, so I end up also watching a bonus festive horror short I find on Youtube. That’s dedication.
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