WFG RATING: B+

Gravitas Ventures presents a Alpake Entertainment production. Written, edited, and directed by Paul Stephen Mann; based on the characters created by E.C. Segar. Produced by Paul Stephen Mann, Keith Montgomery, and Alastair Statham. Cinematography by Andrew Begg.

Stars Amy Mackie, Brendan Nelson, Niahm Parrrington, Ross Dillon, Leona Roberts, Yu Heng Li, Joel McDade, David Hallows, and Anthony Greer. 

The second of three horror films released this year featuring the once lovable Sailor Man, this one takes the legend to the 1980s where a certain comet is the cause of a killing spree. 

April 11, 1986. Olive Oyl, a high school graduate, is heading with her brother Castor and some friends to a campsite in Northern California. They plan to see the falling of Halley’s Comet. Olive has been accepted to MIT as she is quite smart. However, she has some reservations and is considering taking some time off. En route to the campsite, they nearly hit Old Man Popeye, a sailor who is at the campsite to go fishing. 

Olive and Castor run into their friends at the campsite as they await the comet. When the comet finally arrives, a piece of the meteor dust lands in Old Man Popeye’s pipe. This causes Popeye to change from an old man to a younger version who has become taller and more vicious. A mutant version, Popeye begins to kill the campers one by one. When Olive realizes it is the comet that causes the mutation, she must find a way to stop the sailor man from killing before she’s next. 

This year, Popeye the Sailor Man has hit the public domain and of course with the likes of childhood heroes Winnie-the-Pooh and Steamboat Willie (the original version of Mickey Mouse) having horror movies as a result. Now comes the sailor man who’s strong to the finish because he ate his spinach. Popeye’s Revenge is not an entirely bad film that gives the Sailor Man a Freddy/Jason kind of vibe. For this film, think of Color Out of Space or The Curse as a meteor is the cause for Popeye becoming an unstoppable killer. 

Popeye here is played by two people. The Old Man version is first played by David Hallows and once he undergoes his transformation from the comet dust going in his pipe, he’s played by Anthony Greer, who does quite a job when it comes to be virtually unstoppable and shows why the Sailor Man is “strong to the finish”. 

Where Popeye’s Revenge has the character of Olive Oyl seen in a new light, the Olive here is destined for final girl status. As played by Amy Mackie, she brings on the screams while also using her smarts. Seems like this Olive can be the sharpest tool in the shed, especially when in reference to another horror classic, she goes all out in the finale. Her brother Castor, played by Brendan Nelson, is not so much a buffoon like Donovan Scott’s take in the 1980 live-action Popeye film but one who defines a “big brother” as he supports whatever Olive wants to do and will help her as needed when it comes to killer Popeye. 

The kill scenes are a combination of CGI and practical FX. Sometimes it looks a bit hokey, but overall, they do get quite an A for effort. One particular kill pulls a Robocop with one victim forced into toxic waste to become a mutated almost skeleton and another has one decapitated by Popeye’s strength only to still scream when his head is thrown. The finale is quite insane and yes, it does leave open a sequel, which is currently in development as of this review.

I enjoyed Shiver Me Timbers. When it comes to using public domain characters for horror, the execution of the story is important and while we have tropes here, the fact we see Popeye change from an old man to a hulking monster is quite a fascinating one. Definitely one to check out. 

The film is now streaming on Tubi.