Popeye's Revenge

Ahh, Popeye's Revenge. A movie that I picked up based on it's fantastic cover and gimmick of turning a beloved children's character into a sadistic murderer. But is it any good? Let's talk about it.

The movie addresses the circumstances of Popeye's birth, the tragedy of his youth and subsequent disappearance in a convenient animated sequence at the start, so the movie can chuck us straight into the sex and violence, which I appreciated.

Tara, her sad boyfriend, and a bunch of her totally unlikeable and shallow friends (who are self obsessed and/or cheating on each other) take a Twelve hour car journey to Popeye's house. Tara plans on taking advantage of the place by turning it into some kind of spooky tourist attraction. Her parents, the owners of Popeye's house via inheritance, are unaware that their daughter has decided to become an amateur entrepreneur for the weekend.

Unfortunately for Tara and her "friends", Popeye is on the loose and they're sitting ducks.

Much like the movie Alice in Murderland, one has to question why Tara would hang around with a bunch of people that she clearly has nothing in common with.

These are people who would rather look at Instagram than do any work. There's even a stereotypical outcast/stoner character called Beanie who literally NOONE likes, yet he is still there for some reason.

When the killings begin they're alright. Nothing over the top or incredible like the Terrifier movies, but they'll do. It's a shame the film didn't have more of a budget to create some really gruesome practical effects given that the whole reason we're watching is to see Popeye murder people. There was (I believe) a kill which paid homage to Zombie Flesh Eaters, which was pretty cool.

The movie doesn't outstay it's welcome at only 77 minutes long, yet the dialogue and delivery feels awkward from the irritating characters, making it hard to watch at times. I took comfort knowing that Popeye would be along shortly to murder one of them.

Popeye himself is a gigantic grinning beast of a man, impossible to take seriously but absolutely perfect in his role.

The acting talent is low, but it's acceptable for a small budget horror of this nature. Tara's dad was absolutely clueless throughout. He reminded me of Ian Beale from Eastenders. Near the end of the movie, he gets out of the car and says something like "Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?!" to the Mother character. Like we're supposed to believe that the parents sat there in Silence during the TWELVE hour car journey to the cabin and didn't address this. Lol.

Anyway, Popeye's Revenge is certainly not a classic but it's competently made, the sets look good, and the cinematography doesn't look too amateur. Fans of trashy horror need only apply.

Popeye's Revenge opens with an animated backstory to the film's killer which looks like it has been drawn by a ten year old. And not a very talented ten year old. The slipshod nature of this introduction is a very good indication of the film's overall quality: it's cheap, amateurish garbage.

The plot, for what it's worth, sees the young Popeye bullied by his peers until he snaps and retaliates with lethal force. An angry mob pursues Popeye, leaving him for dead at the bottom of a lake. Fifteen years later, a group of friends arrive at Popeye's old home to renovate the place and come face to face with the homicidal sailor.

Borrowing from A Nightmare on Elm Street and Friday the 13th, there isn't an ounce of originality or invention in the script: it's a series of unimpressive kills, punctuated by scenes of sheer banality, most of which feature unattractive silicone-enhanced bimbos in various states of undress.

I have no problem with dumb, brainless horror in general, only when it is executed in such an uninspired fashion. Popeye is just some dude in a cheap sailor suit, and what little prosthetic make-up has been used on the actor is so poorly applied that it can be seen dangling off his face. The writers of this trash miss the opportunity to have the killer deliver amusing one-liners, the acting all round is atrocious and the characters are all thoroughly obnoxious.

The film's kills are the biggest letdown, completely lacking in creativity and devoid of cartoonish over-the-top splattery special effects. Popeye's nautical background could have resulted in some really inventive death scenes, but the obvious lack of budget means that most of the victims are simply splashed with a bit of blood. It's all very underwhelming.

I rate Popeye's Revenge 2/10.

I had hope for this. Even when taking on the obvious low budget it place, Popeye's Revenge is so so lacking.

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From what i could tell, Popeye's Revenge borrows much from a number of other superior horror movies:

Monster (Popeye) appears with the fog - The Fog (1980) House on a lake - Friday the 13th (1980) Death by wood in eye - Zombie Fleash Eaters (1979) Car fails to start - This age old tension builder has appeared on numerous occassions.

The script is lacking. Throughout there is an overwhelming sense of down time.

I doubt we'll be seeing much of the cast in the future, although the blonde had talent.

There was something about the female who goes topless, i thought she had talent also.

The guy with the Beanie hat, he possed talent also. That's my take.

Sometimes bad horror movies can be proped up by decent death blood speial FX.

Sadly, Popeye's Revenge lacks decent blood special FX.

Popeye's Revenge (2025) is another horror movie take on a childhood character that started off with Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey (2023). While I have unironically enjoyed all the Twisted Childhood Universe movies, I really hated watching this movie.

Positives for Popeye's Revenge (2025): The movie is less than 80 minutes long.

Negatives for Popeye's Revenge (2025): This is the childhood horror movie that turned me off the most. There is nothing worth watching this movie for as the filmmakers get everything wrong about the horror genre. The acting is absolutely atrocious and no one is even trying to give a decent or okay performance. This horror movie version of Popeye looks like a very cheap cosplay that cost only 10 cents. There are no good kills, no blood or any food practical effects being used here. Despite being less than 80 minutes, the movie was horrible pacing as it drags the story on for so long that it wasn't even funny. And finally, this is the type of horror movie that will turn off people to the genre and it makes me sick to my stomach.

Overall, Popeye's Revenge (2025) is easily the worst horror movie of 2025. I just hope there are other filmmakers who will actually put effort into these childhood character based horror movies.

Popeye's Revenge is complete nonsense. Turning our childhood's spinach-loving sailor into a cheap horror figure is neither creative nor interesting. The movie tries to be scary but ends up being unintentionally funny, and its attempt at building an eerie atmosphere is so weak that even the jump scares are predictable. The script feels like it was written by an AI trained on "how to make a horror movie" and then printed out without any editing. Add in terrible CGI and awful acting, and you get a film that's nothing but a waste of time. Instead of resurrecting Popeye, they should have made a documentary about the benefits of spinach-it would've been scarier. But to be fair, it's still better than Snow White.