Monster Fest 2019: PORNO

There’s something very special about watching a big, hilarious gross-out moment in a packed-out cinema, and Porno provides one of the funniest and grossest I’ve seen for a while. Without spoiling anything, there is a scene towards the end of the movie that had the crowd roaring with laughter while at the same time they flinched and groaned at what they were seeing. This is communal cinema at its best.

Back in the 90s

Porno, a movie that buying tickets for will forever be hilarious, is the story of five workers at a tiny two-screen cinema somewhere in suburban America. They are all different stages of Christian, and they all have their hang-ups when it comes to sex and rebellion. Chasity is in love with her co-worker Ricky who has secrets of his own. Todd and Abe are a couple of pervs, and Heavy Metal Jeff is a born-again straight edge.

After a shift of showing people either Encino Man or A League of Their Own, the crew are allowed to stay at the cinema and watch a movie by their Christ devoted boss, Mr. Pike. Locked in the cinema they find a different movie, play it, and unleash something horrific into the world.

As they try and stop the succubus walking among them, they will come face to face with some truths about themselves while trying to avoid getting castrated, seduced, and damned to Hell.

Losing My Religion

Porno is not a particularly scary horror movie, but it is very funny. The religions of the main characters are mocked but in a light-hearted way. The joke is not simply that they are religious, but just different ways that that religion manifests in their actions. Heavy Metal Jeff, for instance, has gone all-in on being saved and has adopted the mantra CBTL. Christ Bears The Load.

The others have differing levels of faith, but again the fact that they are Christians is not the whole joke. I’m not religious in any way, but it is low hanging fruit to simply say aren’t religions dumb and not add any nuance. Porno manages to find the sweet spot where religion is a security blanket for some, hypocrisy for others, and a weakness when faced with a nude succubus that looks like what you heart (and other parts) desires.

Gross

As well as the frequent nudity of the succubus and some smash cuts to male genitalia, the movie gives us one of the grossest sequences that most audiences will have ever seen. It’s hard not to spoil but to talk around it, it involves a groin injury, a payoff to an earlier joke, and a clumsy shoelace tourniquet being applied to a very convincing prosthetic. At least, I think it was a prosthetic.

This is where Porno soars. To see the above sequence in a packed cinema during Monster Fest was incredible. A hundred people screaming, laughing, cringing, groaning, and staring while trying to look away was what cinema is for. Horror is a very much a communal genre and gross-out horror even more so.

Porno: Conclusion

Porno is a tight horror film coming in at just over 90 minutes. It gets into things very quickly and maintains a solid pace throughout. It is very funny, very gross, and full of heart.

Towards the end, it becomes a bit more surreal and insane, but the filmmakers manage to hold the tone and keep it consistent. The characters and the actors who play them are charming and like-able, and incredibly the movie manages to be about religion without making religion the punchline to every joke. If you get a chance to see this in a packed-out cinema, take it. You won’t regret it.