{"id":11811,"date":"2025-05-02T22:07:29","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=11811"},"modified":"2025-05-02T22:07:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T02:07:29","slug":"popeye-the-slayer-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2025\/05\/02\/popeye-the-slayer-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Popeye the Slayer Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vantage Media\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong graphic violence and gore, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Michael Ryan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Doolan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: The Man from Alphabet\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Korey Nowe \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: March 21, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason Robert Stephens, Sean Michael Conway, Elena Juliano, Mabel Thomas, Marie-Louise Boisnier, Jeff Thomas, Steven McCormack, Clayton Turner, Paul Konye, Richard Lounello, Angela Relucio, Scott Swope, Sarah Nicklin, Joel Frometa, Christian Elan Ortiz, Doug Decker.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Body Count: 11<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: ***<\/p>\n

\u00a0The character of Popeye officially entered the public domain at the beginning of this year. This means that the spinach-eating sailor is fair game for all. Following in the footsteps of Winnie the Pooh and Steamboat Willy, he\u2019s become a horror character with murder on his mind. And it\u2019s not just one movie, it\u2019s three: Shiver Me Timbers, Popeye\u2019s Revenge and Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> which is the one I\u2019ll be reviewing here. I intend to get to the other two very soon.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I had a blast watching Screamboat (the Mickey Mouse one) earlier this spring. It was fun watching it with a boisterous nighttime audience that included co-star Kailey Hyman (sweet lady). I watched Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> at home with my buddy Mike. It wasn\u2019t the same as watching with a theater full of people cheering the gory scenes, but it was still fun. Sure, the plot is standard slasher nonsense and the acting isn\u2019t stellar. But man, does it have some cool kill scenes. That\u2019s the point of watching movies like this, right?<\/p>\n

\u00a0As is customary, Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> opens with a scene of people being slaughtered by the killer. In this case, it\u2019s \u201cThe Sailor Man\u201d (Stephens), a local legend who supposedly haunts the abandoned Anchor Bay canning factory. He takes out two thugs (Frometa and Ortiz) terrorizing a woman (Nicklin, The Disco Exorcist). He disembowels one and smashes the other\u2019s skull to a bloody pulp before turning his attention to the screaming woman. Guts strewn and brains splattered, it\u2019s as promising an opening as you can hope for.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The plot centers on a group of dumb kids who decide to explore the factory the night before it\u2019s to be demolished. The leader of the group is Dexter (Conway, Ouija Witch), a college student making a documentary about the Sailor Man. He\u2019s joined by his crush Olivia (Juliano), a local girl recently returned to town to deal with some family business. The others are his friend Lisa (Boisnier, Max Payne: Perdition), her crush Seth (Jeff Thomas) and bar waitress Katie (Mabel Thomas, Curse of the Re-Animator) whose jealous, abusive boyfriend Joey (McCormack, Harold and the Purple Crayon) follows her there with his two sidekicks, Jesse (Turner) and Terry (Konye). Of course, it\u2019ll be a night of terror that the survivor(s) will always remember.<\/p>\n

\u00a0It isn\u2019t long after their arrival that Popeye starts stalking and killing them. One guy gets decapitated by an anchor. A security guard has his skull crushed. A couple of victims get impaled by rebar pipes. A woman gets scalped before being crushed to death by an industrial press. One deserving dope gets beaten to death by his own arm after it\u2019s ripped off by you-know-who. The kill count may be low (just 11), but the amount of gore makes up for it. The best thing is it\u2019s NOT CGI. Director Robert Michael Ryan (Ouija Witch) goes completely old school with some great practical effects.<\/p>\n

\u00a0The makeup effects are also quite good. The artists do a good job on Popeye. The E.C. Segar creation, who first appeared circa 1929, looks fearsome with his large forearms and twisted face. It\u2019s explained that he was mutated by toxic spinach. You see, the factory had to close down twenty years earlier after reports of contamination and unsafe conditions from a whistleblower who then mysteriously disappeared. Company CEO and property owner Lex (Lounello, Little Shop Erotica) would rather keep it all on the QT. That\u2019s why he\u2019s so eager to sell the place. Popeye, on the other hand, isn\u2019t willing to let it rest. He has a personal stake in the whole situation.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I have to admit I never thought of Popeye this way. I used to love the cartoon as a kid. It was always satisfying to see him beat the hell out of Bluto (or Brutus) and again win the hand of Olive Oyl. I was pleased to see all the references to the original source in Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> like a cameo by a certain hamburger-loving moocher. Look quick for a shout-out to Eugene the Jeep. In addition, this Popeye gets to utter the famous catchphrase \u201cI am what I am\u201d in a menacing growl.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Is it really necessary to discuss the acting in Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> at length? Can I just leave it at the actors deliver the performances the movie deserves? The film is a total goof albeit a bloody one. How can you take any of it seriously? You can\u2019t! Ryan keeps things moving at just the right pace. The so-called surprise plot twist involving Olivia (think about the name) isn\u2019t shocking at all. Hell, he even leaves the door wide open for a sequel. I\u2019ll grant that Popeye the Slayer Man<\/strong> is as far from great cinema as you can get, but who comes looking for that here? People watch it for the kill scenes and the privilege of saying that they\u2019ve seen it. Both are certainly true in my case (and Mike\u2019s too). It\u2019s a fun comedic horror flick. Just enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Next up, Popeye\u2019s Revenge. Wish me luck.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Popeye the Slayer Man (2025)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Vantage Media\/Horror-Comedy\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 88 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated R (strong graphic violence and gore, language)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Robert Michael Ryan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: John Doolan\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: The Man from Alphabet\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Korey Nowe \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Release date: March 21, 2025 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Jason Robert Stephens, Sean Michael Conway, Elena Juliano, Mabel Thomas, Marie-Louise Boisnier, Jeff Thomas, Steven […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":11818,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11811","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scary-gory-wild-i-love-it"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Popeye-the-Slayer-Man-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11811"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11820,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11811\/revisions\/11820"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11811"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}