PORNO (2020) Review

Who grew up reading Fangoria and watching Troma films such as The Toxic Avenger, Surf Nazi’s Must Die, Class of Nuke ‘Em High, Tromeo and Juliet, ect? Ring any bells? If you’re reading this, I’m betting they do!

Back in the 80’s, Troma was famous for putting out extremely low budget films, directed by first time directors, based on screenplays written by first time screenwriters and starred amateur, first time in front of a camera actors. A little known director started out working on a screenplay for Troma Entertainment, Tromeo and Juliet. This relatively unknown director also served as an associate director on the film. I don’t know…maybe you’ve heard of him…

James Gunn!

Along with Gunn, Troma produced films featuring stars before they were stars such as Marisa Tomei (The Toxic Avenger), Billy Bob Thornton (Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town) and Vincent D’Onofrio (The First Turn On!)!

Fangoria Magazine, for those of you who may not be aware, was a horror fanzine that started out in 1979 and is still being published to this day. One of Fangoria’s main selling points, at least for me and others who share my passion for gore, was that they didn’t shy away from showing the fun parts of horror movies, especially on their covers! Fangoria’s (or Fango, for short) covers were a temptation my little 12yr old self just couldn’t avoid. I HAD to have it! And when I bought my first issue with my allowance money, I read it cover to cover, many times. So much that it eventually fell apart!

However, Fango didn’t JUST publish a horror magazine…they’ve also produced or distributed several horror films!

Now, I’ve told you all of THAT to get you in the mindset for my review of 2019’s Porno, directed by Keola Racela, set for release on May 8th, 2020!

Picked up and distributed by Fangoria, Racela’s horror/comedy, Porno, is an immensely fun, low budget film that immediately made me think of my days reading Fango and watching Troma films…not a bad thing!

Porno tells the story of 5 teenagers; Chaz (Jillian Mueller), Todd (Larry Saperstein), Abe (Evan Daves), Ricky (Glenn Stott) and Jeff aka Heavy Metal Jeff (Robbie Tann). These five, very unlucky individuals, are employed at a movie theater, managed by the religious fanatic, Mr. Pike (Bill Phillips).

The movie opens by quickly establishing that this story takes place in 1992 as well as introducing two of our leads as they’re peeping in a window at a couple doing ‘the deed’ in their home. They must leave the live action they’re witnessing to get to work at the local theater where A League of Their Own and Encino Man are currently showing. At the end of the night, Mr. Pike, the manager, turns the theater over to new assistant manager, Chaz, and informs everyone that since it’s a Friday, the 5 kids can pick either A League of Their Own or Encino Man to watch before locking up for the night.

Before leaving, however, Mr. Pike, leads everyone in a group prayer, praying for special guidance for each of the employees, including Jeff, the projectionist. Everyone has his or her own vice that they’re struggling with and, as their night soon turns to hell (pun intended), each one will have to face their ‘demon’ in order to defeat an accidentally resurrected succubus, Lilith (Katelyn Pearce).

Wait. What?

Yep, that’s right. The kids soon discover a boarded off part of the theater where they find an old film and promptly vote to watch it as their freebie, against the wishes of Heavy Metal Jeff. As their film begins playing on the big screen, it becomes very evident that this is a very unusual ‘art house’ type of film, showing a ritual taking place as well as copious amounts of nudity, which isn’t a problem for the teenage boys so much as the weirdness of the film itself. And yes, you guessed it, playing the film resurrects the sex demon, Lilith.

I’m refraining from telling you any more about the film because to do so would spoil the hilarity and over the top gore that’s to come! Suffice to say that Porno feels very much like a Troma film in that it satisfies what was great about Troma: surrealistic situations, gore and comedy! In fact, it’s almost as if Troma and Fango got together, had a baby and out popped Porno!

Typically, with each film I review, there’s an actor that stands out from the rest and for this film, that actor is Robbie Tann (Jeff). Throughout the film, Tann delivered his lines realistically and hilariously and I often felt as if I was watching a young Fisher Stevens. His character was by far my favorite of the bunch and Tann gave an outstanding performance. I sincerely hope to see him in future films because I feel that, with more experience, Tann could become quite a successful actor. He’s had bit parts in several well known series including Preacher, Gotham and Orange is the New Black but I feel Porno will be the one that really gets him noticed!

However, that’s not to say the rest of the young actors were bad…far from it! Evan Daves and Larry Saperstein gave great performances as our teenage ‘pervs’ and both Glenn Stott and Jillian Mueller showed a lot of talent as our ‘jock’ and ‘goth’ characters, respectively.

The effects, created by Greg Pikulski and Brett Schmidt, are some of the best I’ve seen in a while and one scene will have male viewers wincing in discomfort!

Director Keola Racela already had a few directing projects under his belt by the time he made Porno but, like Tann, I’m anxious to see what he does next. I’m very interested to see what he could do with a bigger budget!

If I had to pick one thing about Porno that I wasn’t happy with I’d have to say I wish there had been more scenes of Lilith in demonic form!

I honestly can’t think of anything else I didn’t like about the film and that’s a first! It was a hell of a ride, had me cracking up at all the right places, kept me fully engaged in the story and left me wanting more. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for everyone involved in the making of Porno!

And don’t feel guilty about wanting to watch a film called Porno. Just remember…

CBTL!