Popeye's Revenge

In an animatic prologue, we learn that Popeye was once a deformed, outcast child who, in a fit of rage, killed a classmate. In response, the residents of Sweetville attempted to burn him alive, but he escaped the pyre and drowned in a nearby lake. In the aftermath, the townspeople were tormented by nightmares urging them to rebuild Popeye's home. Now, decades later, the child of one of the original lynch mob members invites friends to renovate the property, intending to turn it into a tourist trap. Cue the blood.

The setup borrows a bit from Freddy Krueger, but at its core, this is Popeye as Jason Voorhees. Judged on its own merits, the movie isn't terrible-the characters are serviceable, the acting is decent, the makeup and effects are solid, and it has a nice atmosphere.

The real issues lie in the script, particularly in how it handles the comic strip characters. Popeye's backstory feels like a missed opportunity-if they were going to give him a tragic origin, lifting from I Know What You Did Last Summer would have made more sense, at least justifying his sailor costume and seafaring ties. Instead, we get a bizarre, illogical premise where a grown man somehow returns after dying as a child. Yes, the same thing happened to Jason, but logic was never that franchise's strong suit. Meanwhile, Olive Oyl's backstory is downright ridiculous, and she barely has anything to do.

Compared to other public-domain horror cash-ins from ITN Studios (Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey), this is a step up, but it still feels like a retread. The only real selling point is that it's the first public-domain slasher take on Popeye. And unfortunately, the characters deserve better.

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.

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.

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.

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.