Movie Review: The VelociPastor (2019)
Right off the bat, we would like to say that this film fulfilled all expectations we had and even went beyond that. The VelociPastor is not only a movie about a pastor who is also a velociraptor, but it packs a lot in there. It’s got horror, action, comedy, romance, ninjas, kung fu, gore, explosions, montages and more! It was written, directed, produced and edited by Brendan Steere. Steere does a good job in all of these roles. There is obviously a lot of room to be creative when making a film like this, and they didn’t seem to hold much back which is best with these types of films. Just let it all out, and that they did.
Greg Cohan plays Doug Jones. A priest who is just a bit lost and looking for the light of God to help him so he goes on a journey to find it. It brings him to China where he stumbles upon an injured girl with a relic in her hand. He agrees to take care of it for her, and his new journey begins. Cohan has a very familiar face and has a lot of acting credits. He was great as the lead here and stood out in the fighting scenes. This film reminded us a lot of the old American Ninja Michael Dudikoff movies in the ninja fighting department. Alyssa Kempinski also was really good as Carol, Jones’ love interest and also generally a badass who works for a pimp named Frankie Mermaid when she meets him. Did we mention there were pimps? She does some serious ass-kicking of her own alongside Jones.
We really liked that this film didn’t take itself seriously in some ways, but definitely did in others. There was a lot of over-the-top comedy in there, but the film still had a lot of merit without it. Definitely cheesy, but they did enough character development without overdoing it, and when it was overdone it was deliberate and funny. There was a decent amount of gore and some pretty awesome moments involving it. The special effects were very low-budget but appreciated. Practical effects for gore and an actual costume for the VelociPastor instead of CGI really made this a great experience.
Overall, The VelociPastor was a really fun film. There was a lot accomplished on a low budget here, and it has a lot of heart. We would absolutely recommend that this be watched by everyone, and sincerely hope a sequel is in the cards. It seems like there was still a lot of the story left on the table and it would be pretty awesome if that happens. The VelociPastor releases tomorrow, August 13, on such platforms as iTunes, Comcast, Spectrum, Dish, Vudu, Amazon, Fandango and Sling. It releases on Blu Ray on September 17 and we will definitely be grabbing a copy.
