9)Â Turbo Kid
I have reservations about adding Turbo Kid to my horror list, but it’s a dystopian story where heads explode on impact and dealing death becomes a way of life. Described by some as Mad Max on BMX bikes, and described by me as a Saturday morning cartoon for horror fans, Turbo Kid is an explosion of colorful confetti, dismembered limbs, and a zero-tolerance for seriousness.
The film itself is a non-stop party for fun-loving horror fans, and could be the most vibrant movie I’ve seen all year. This has cult classic written all over it, from its Mega Man inspirations to a circular-saw-shooting thug. Just unfiltered, hyper-active, trigger-happy joy.
Turbo Kid is what happens when you hit a genre piñata that’s filled with the wildest fantasies a mind could imagine, bursting in a cloud of sparkly acrobatic chaos and pure high-octane beauty. A strong sense of eye-popping colors make costumes and characters vividly memorable, from a garden-gnome-tipped weapon (THIS IS MY GNOMESTICK!) to zooming phasers – this is sci-fi grindhouse done right.
It also helped that I fell in love with Laurence Leboeuf’s turn as Apple, the film’s animated (as in personality) female lead who follows around Munro Chalmers’ somewhat-superhero. You’ll feel like a kid again, mesmerized by wonder – even with all the super-mature carnage.
For real though, can we get filmmakers François Simard, Anouk Whissell, and Yoann-Karl Whissell on an R-rated Mega Man movie ASAP?!
