Popeye the Slayer Man (2025)
The main group of people we follow planned to do an documentary on the facility as well as Popeye. A mysterious figure spotted around an abandoned facility that's nearby a dock. Another notable group of characters has this girl's crazy boyfriend with some of his friends broken into the facility. There's also a small group of characters that wants the facility gone.
Somehow the ratio of each groups works well here. I also got to say how the characters are written as well as the overall acting miles better than Popeye's Revenge. This would be very close how I would go about an horror Popeye movie. Popeye himself steals the show with some brutal kills. Popeye's Revenge was guilty of being a knock off Friday the 13th movie.
This quickly came off being a more original concept. Sure it's a notable trend within horror movies about legends that turns out to be true. Most horror fans can agree those movies differ heavily from each other. I personally love how Popeye was handled here. This is the closest look Popeye in an horror movie yet. Parts of his personality with a surprise usage of spinach plays into a faithful portrayal.
Despite a handful of deaths being accidental. Most of the kills was by Popeye. Just going by those kills it's way better than Popeye's Revenge. In all honestly it's not even close at all. You can tell they had a lot of fun with the kills. They didn't use CGI which I greatly respect. There's a good music video on YouTube with that song playing in the ending credits.
This is a real facility that's used in the movie. Within Popeye the Slayer Man, it's being used as an canned spinach facility. In real life, it's actually an animal feed facility. Some of the actors in a few interviews confirmed the smell being somewhat difficult to work with. The facility was used amazingly well in this movie.
The story is actually well written with a few surprises. I do like this version of Popeye has some of his humanity left. Unlike Popeye's Revenge version that's a full blown monster. It turns out the spinach he's been eating affecting his mind. Like the actual character, he also gets some strength. I thought it was an interesting idea there's some humanity left in a monster.
Which also means he isn't the main antagonist of the movie. Thankfully it isn't done like Leprechaun: Origins and The Mean One respectively. He mostly goes after people because in his mind. They are attacking his home forcing himself to defend it. I won't try justifying how unnecessary things gotten. There's two bigger antagonists within the story.
There's a business man that wants to destroy the facility. It's not a spoiler what I'm about to say since this kill already confirmed online. Popeye doesn't take kindly to that at all. The other main antagonist was that girl's boyfriend. He was upset at his girlfriend to confront her at the facility. Suddenly Popeye made things personal by killing one of his friends.
Of course, the guy was too arrogant to run away. He was willing to cross lines Popeye wouldn't. Let's say he gets what's coming to him. The special effects works better than expected. I should point out this lady working with the business man. She also sings the theme song for this movie. I'll also give credit Popeye put an anchor to great usage unlike Popeye's Revenge.
Surprisingly there isn't any sex scenes at all. Honestly I'm kinda glad there isn't either. Popeye shows how he could work amazingly well as a slasher villain. Now I realize parts of this reminds me of Texas Chainsaw. You know the movie where the final girl related to Leatherface being his cousin thing? They played on that with someone secretly being Popeye's child.
Which I felt was a surprisingly great idea. The story doesn't get boring much with no notable plot holes. Yes I'm looking at you Popeye's Revenge!!! Popeye basically allows some of them to leave out of kindness. I still say my favorite kill in the entire movie was the famous stomp kill. I am amazed for the low budget it worked this well.
I especially liked when some characters flashed their flash lights at Popeye. This rather interesting view of the character within those shots. Suddenly he's popping out at ya I loved it!!! You could argue how parts of this plays on Friday the 13th to a degree. I actually felt this Popeye movie deserves to stand on it's own.
The five minutes that already was shown separately in a video. Believe it or not, that was among the last of the shooting done for the movie. I do liked most of the movie takes place within a facility. Sure it's been done many times within horror movies. There's just something about how to use an facility in the way this movie does.
I'm getting excited for Shiver Me Timbers as well as Screamboat. I would say at this moment Popeye the Slayer Man the horror Popeye movie to beat. There isn't much I could criticize. Even the actual length of the movie doesn't drag out that much. Probably the closest complaint is the blood a bit too bright.
Don't get me wrong the blood as well as gore looks way better than Popeye's Revenge. Not to mention every kill we see on screen in that regard. Also I could excuse parts of that in a mostly dark location. Which is probably why they chosen to make the blood notably brighter. I just felt the blood being a bit darker could've worked a little better for this Popeye movie.
Not to add salt I did in fact enjoy the famous live action Popeye movie with the late Robin Williams. I would say this in a few ways better than that. As much I could respect Williams' portrayal of the character. I simply prefer Jason Robert Stephens' performance more. This was a rather unique take on the concept that surprisingly works this well.
I should point out he's mostly called the Sailor Man which is fine. Although some may pick at parts where his name Popeye gets said. Personally we all know his name is Popeye. He is a sailor who really cares!!! Olive Oyl through a picture cameo was a nice touch as well. Now we know all three original horror Popeye movies in some form had Olive Oyl.
You actually start to feel bad for Popeye later on. I will confirm there's a possibility of a sequel. Popeye also has a few lines in the movie. For the most part, he's a silent killer. At least when he talks it doesn't ruin the character like Popeye's Revenge. Popeye the Slayer Man was a decent slasher film that's low budget to work amazingly well I felt.
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