Cinemasterworks: "Video Demons Do Psychotown"

I came here to, ostensibly, review Video Demons Do Psychotown. But this requires some context.

This is a Troma film. Only it is not.

Troma is a gonzo independent production company rooted in late-70s idiot comedies before transitioning to mid-80s idiot horror. Following this, they expanded their repertoire to a wide variety of externally-produced distribution product.

Some of it was pretty great (Cannibal! The Musical, Monster in the Closet, Redneck Zombies, Combat Shock) and some of it was pretty darned bad (Rabid Grannies, Surf Nazis Must Die!, Nymphoid Barbarian in Dinosaur Hell).

Video Demons Do Psychotown is one such externally-produced film. File it under “pretty darned bad.”

I first discovered Troma in 1991 when USA network’s “Up All Night” late-night movie series (hosted by Rhonda Shear) did regular marathons of their flagship Toxic Avenger films. Even heavily edited for basic cable, I found a pleasantly demented spirit in these cinematic abominations. I subsequently grabbed up every Troma film I could find at my local video stores.

Class of Nuke ‘em High didn’t disappoint. Its sequel did. Troma’s War was insane and so incredibly not right (one of its bad guys attacked people by giving them AIDS). Sgt. Kabukiman, N.Y.P.D. impressed me with its gumption. Finally seeing the Toxic Avenger films uncut was jarringly intense. They had some far-beyond-deranged X-rated violence. But nothing that would upset a demented adolescent such as myself at the time. (Trying to re-watch them as an adult is a challenge; they’re pretty nasty. It's funny how kids can handle stuff that adults can't, yet we're always trying to protect them from "dangerous" imagery. We're dumb.)

Around the same time, in a bin in the back of a grimy, decaying comic shop, I found this musty old issue of a short-lived magazine called Toxic Horror. One issue had a lengthy interview with Troma founder Lloyd Kaufman. Dude was funny! A really old-school hammy/charismatic raconteur/showman. And all the Troma movie stills and posters and titles really captured my imagination. I wanted to see them all. (Especially Video Demons Do Psychotown.)

I finally discovered a fine, upstanding local haunt named Video Vault a couple years later. This place had a Troma SECTION in their “Cult” video room up on the third floor. I was in Heaven.

But their collection had some holes. No Evil Clutch or Video Demons. Bah!

And that brings us to today, a wonderful world of infinite online entertainment options, in which Video Demons Do Psychotown just popped up on Amazon Prime. (So did Evil Clutch, which was likewise a lame-o disappointment with a few cool scenes.)

I will say this for the movie: Great title!

That is the last nice thing I’ll say about it.

Kidding. Kind of.

It’s very dull and the dialogue is hilariously inane. It's about two teens who wander around a weird town because they heard it had some spooky things happen there. There's some kind of cult at work there, weird things pop up on the videos the students shoot there, it's a mess.

But in all fairness, check out these gems of screenwriting:

“This place reeks of death and negative vibrations, and yet you walk around is if nothing had happened!”

“You’re asking me to forget everything I ever knew about physics! I’m not ready to do that!”

All in all, a more accurate title would be: Video Production Students Visit Psychic Town. There's no demons, just some mild paranormal phenomena.

It's garbage. But garbage can have a pleasant, familiar flavor that tickles the taste buds like nothing else.

(Just looked it up out of curiosity and yes, Troma is still in business. Over 40 years of producing and distributing the "finest" cinema around.) 

-Phony McFakename

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