Nekrotronic is a 2019 horror comedy about a man who discovers that he is part of a secret sect of magical beings who hunt down and destroy demons in the internet.
It can’t be said that writer and director Kiah Roache-Turner lacks imagination. The Australian filmmaker, along with his brother Tristan are not following conventional wisdom when it comes to horror movies, mixing dark comedy and genuinely chilling visual effects in delivering very odd, over-the-top and heavily stylized movies that dispense with the need to be authentic in favor of a comic-comes-to-life approach that cranks up the weird to eleven. Their debut, the high energy zombie flick Wyrmwood: Road of the Dead set the standard and now, with their sophomore effort, double up on the outrageous with a wild and inventive spin on demon hunting with Nekrotronic.
Having a shi**y day, literally, Howard North (Ben O’Toole) is a sewage worker with some untapped talent he’s about to find out in a hard way, is pretty crucial for saving the planet. After his coworker Rangi (Epine Bob Savea) downloads a new augmented reality game that supposedly tracks ghosts, the pair find out it’s real, with Howard learning that an ancient battle between monstrous necromancers and demon hunters have entered the digital age where possession through mobile phones has made turning innocents to the dark side a whole heck of a lot easier. However, there’s a twist, Howard comes from a long line of demon hunters and when he’s face-to-face with Finnegan (Monica Bellucci), an evil demon leader with a secret and a plan to rule the world, it’s up to him to stop her.
There’s a host of old standbys in the soup here with the everyman hero discovering he’s a kind of chosen one perhaps the most obvious trope at play, but it’s really no matter as Nektotronic is far more interested in taking the familiar and having some fun with it. The Roache-Turner Brothers don’t skimp on style or production, as Wyrmwood made it clear, and with this one, go a step deeper, saturating the screen with fast action, flashy dialogue, and a wicked mix of practical and computer effects, along with plenty of social commentary. It’s certainly good looking and plenty inventive.
Mixing in plot points from Batman, Ghostbusters, Men in Black, Die Hard, and even An American Werewolf in London, Nekrotronic wears its Homage Badge on its sleeve with hearty confidence, relying on momentum and slick characters to ultimately make it work. These include the limited but cheese-filled fun of Bellucci’s commitment to the carnage and Caroline Ford and Tess Haubrich as a pair of badass sisters packing punch on the side of good. There’s not a bad spin from anyone in the cast.
Nekrotronic is sturdy built for fans of the genre, independent film lovers who crave adrenaline rush action on a budget from movie makers who absolutely love what they are doing. The Roache-Turner Brothers are those kind of movie makers. This won’t be for everyone but they know that and so instead cater – bending over backwards – to please those that scour the digital movie shelves for this kind of thing. It’s a bloody, funny, good time.