Review by Marc Butterfield
From Guerrila Films and Hopscotch Features, directed by Kiah Roache-Turner, debuted in 2018 Canada during the Toronto International Film Festival.
This is a B movie by even the most generous standards, but like it’s predecessor, WYRMWOOD, it’s a great one, depending upon how much you like these kinds of movies. While WYRMWOOD took on the zombie apocalypse (or A zombie apocalypse, anyway), NEKROTRONIC takes on demons, demonic possession, and the dangers of cell phone life. Movies out of Australia always seem to have a better sense of humor about these things than the stock American films (with Zombieland being a notable exception). The cast handles their roles with appropriate amounts of gravity and incredulity. The plot, in a nutshell, is about Howard North, a sewage maintenance worker who by chance finds out his true identity in the middle of an attempt by demons to gain dominion over the world by means of the Internet and cell phone games. The CEO of the company, played by Monica Bellucci, is ruthless in this overseeing.
Howard and his mate, Rang, rather by accident, come across a father/daughters team of necromancers who rescue them, setting of a chain of events that will forever alter Howard and Rangs future.
From here on out, the movies has a nice amalgamation of story elements from Ghostbusters, Blade, and maybe even a little of the old classic, Tron. Howard starts out pretty laid back, then maybe a little freaked out, while Rang is as clueless from one end of this story to the other. The sisters here, played by Tess Haubrich and Caroline Ford, offer great interactions, being menacing and encouraging, as well as a little flirty and tough, and are not just pretty distractions, at times being more important to the story than Howard himself. Together, the four of them prove to be formidable, if somewhat bumbling. The demons, who enter the bodies of people by various means, mostly cell phone, which means their host bodies are always nearby and nearly an inexhaustible resource, and once inhabited, are pretty gross and awful.
The movie is hilarious, fun, action packed, and full of gross, splashy, gooey moments; in other words, fantastic. I know that it’s been out a while, but it’s a great watch that viewers of schlocky horror movies can’t resist, with enough sci-fi elements that it can pull in from both genres. With a bag of chips and some beer, it’s an awesome weekend watch!
NEKROTRONIC is coming to select theaters and digital HD on August 9, 2019.
3 out of 4 stars
Order here: https://itunes.apple.com/ca/movie/nekrotronic/id1474305380
