Siblings Mimi and Luke unwittingly resurrect an ancient alien overlord who was entombed on Earth millions of years ago after a failed attempt to destroy the galaxy. They nickname the evil creature Psycho Goreman (or PG for short) and use the magical amulet they discovered to force him to obey their childish whims. It isn't long before PG's reappearance draws the attention of intergalactic friends and foes from across the cosmos and a rogues' gallery of alien combatants converges in small-town suburbia to battle for the fate of the galaxy.
PG: Psycho Goreman contains examples of:
- Affectionate Parody: Of family scifi films of the 80s/90s, but especially E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Ambiguously Gay: "I do not care for hunky boys... or do I?"
- And I Must Scream: PG has the power to reduce people into horrific mutated states that PG himself considers worse than death. Downplayed with Alistair, who can speak, but is clearly miserable in his new physical form.
- Anti-Hero: Mimi. She's a Bratty Half-Pint who uses PG's powers for her own purposes.
- Artistic License – Law: Three of the five police officers we see have beards, and one has a ponytail. While local laws vary, almost all American police departments prohibit beards and long hair, with exceptions usually coming only for religious reasons.
- Asshole Victim: The group of thieves that PG kills, who themselves had claimed they murdered a person when they first see PG.
- Awful Wedded Life: Susan and Greg are a terrible couple. Greg is a Lazy Bum who treats his wife like a servant, and Susan barely tolerates her husband. Her first instinct on being turned into a Templar is to try to kill Greg.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Mimi and Luke's family is too messed up to actually say they love each other, but they can show it indirectly like when they sing Mimi's "I'm the Heckin' Best" song together, or when Mimi apologizes to Luke through the knocking code. It's enough to teach PG the Power of Love... which he uses in his motivation to destroy the world.
- Berserk Button:
- Pandora destroying PG's hunky boys magazine sends him into a rage during the final battle.
- Mimi and Luke's dad really gets angry when people call him lazy (despite the fact that he is).
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Plan B after Pandora is defeated is for the Planetary Council to all kill themselves.
- Body Horror: PG mutilates and transforms various unlucky people.
- Brain Monster: PG turns Alistair into one. He never turns back.
- Bratty Half-Pint: Mimi is a megalomaniacal adolescent.
- Butt-Monkey: Luke is this. He is constantly treated like crap by Mimi and PG can't even remember his name, only referring to him as "Mimi's brother."
- Calvin Ball: Crazy Ball is an inexplicable game that only makes sense to Luke and Mimi.
- The Cameo: Rich Evans of RedLetterMedia provides the voice of Death Trapper. He even belts out his signature "OH MY GAHD!"
- Comically Missing the Point: PG discovers the feeling of love at the climax and will use that feeling as a motivation to destroy the universe.
- The Comically Serious: PG, in an Ax-Crazy sort of way.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: In the final scene before the credits, we see Alistair's family quietly accepting — or at least trying to ignore — the fact that he is now a giant tentacled brain creature.
- Create Your Own Villain: It turns out that PG was once a slave of the Paladins, and his desire to destroy the galaxy is born from his rage against them. He's become their greatest foe.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Once Mimi lets PG fight back against the Paladins of Sydion, he easily makes short work of them.
- Likewise in his final fight against Pandora when Mimi lets PG have the gem, PG gains the upper hand over Pandora and beats her without any real struggle.
- Dark Parody: The film is much darker and gorier than the family-friendly "kid with supernatural buddy" movies that followed in the wake of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.
- Downer Ending: Played for Laughs. PG wins his fight against Pandora, leaving him free to conquer the earth and the rest of the universe, which he immediately sets off to do, though he agrees to spare Mimi, Luke, and their parents.
- Driven to Suicide:
- A cop mutated by PG tries to kill himself, to no avail.
- In the mid-credits scene, The Planetary Alliance considers suicide when PG kills Pandora and is completely free.
- Dysfunctional Family: Mimi and her family all have seriously toxic traits that makes it difficult for them to so much as tolerate each other. Mimi is a selfish bully who uses her domineering personality and threats of violence to get her way, Luke is an Extreme Doormat who enables his sister's worst traits out of fear of retaliation, Greg is a lazy Manchild who treats his family like servants, and Susan is jaded and bitter over her Awful Wedded Life, to the point gaining Templar powers drives her to immediately make an attempt on Greg's life. They do manage to reconcile and genuinely care for each other at the end, though.
- Eaten Alive: PG believes it is a great honor to be eaten, and eats those he believes to be formidable opponents.
- Emotionally Tongue-Tied: Mimi is too prideful to say out loud she is sorry, but does so via Morse code knocking.
- Establishing Character Moment: Mimi, bedecked in warpaint, plays Crazy Ball with Luke, wearing kitty-cat face paint, and defeats him by decking him. In spite of Luke being her older brother, Mimi is the dominant sibling.
- Extreme Doormat: Luke enables his family's worst traits because he's afraid of facing retribution from taking a stand.
- Evil Hero: The Templars are the force of good that prevent Goreman from destroying the galaxy, but they are just as cruel and ruthless as he is.
- Evil Versus Evil: PG is a world-destroying alien monster, but Pandora and the Planetary Alliance are not much better and just as villainous in their own way. Mimi even more or less says "evil versus evil" during the final battle.
- Facial Horror: PG rips off one enemy's face and melts another.
- Flower Mouth: PG's mouth is able to stretch wide enough to swallow someone whole.
- Freudian Excuse: PG's violent cruelty and hatred of all light can be pretty clearly traced back to being the oppressed slave of a race of shining white theocrats claiming to personally serve the Gods. He's too damaged and too Drunk on the Dark Side to actually reconsider his monstrously evil goals, however, even when he discovers love and friendship.
- From Nobody to Nightmare: PG starts off as just another slave of the Templars.
- Girlish Pigtails: Mimi tends to wear her long hair in pigtails or twin ponytails, which she tends to whip around dramatically. In one scene, she gets a ponytail in her mouth while talking and has to pause to spit it out.
- Homage: PG's initialism name is a reference to E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
- Humans Are the Real Monsters: When Luke asks if monsters are real, his father blithely states that humans are the real monsters, so yes, monsters are real. His mother chastises him for being inappropriate. Mimi later takes this message to heart when she gets Drunk on the Dark Side, and Luke quotes this to Mimi to stop her from killing him.
- Jabba Table Manners: PG unhinges his mouth and devours whole plates of food (including the plates) when eating.
- Jerkass: Mimi and Greg are both selfish towards their family, but in different ways. Mimi is a bully who uses threats to get her way, while Greg is a pathetic Manipulative Bastard who uses guilt-slinging.
- Kick the Dog: During her first appearance, Pandora orders one of her servants to summon a human, whom she immediately crushes into a small cube of gore, just in case you started thinking she was a good guy.
- Kid with the Leash: Mimi is able to control PG and make him do her bidding with the amulet.
- Knight Templar: Pandora is the intergalactic version of this: she wants to rid the galaxy of evil but she is a tyrant in her own right. It's even in the name of her race.
- Large Ham: Mimi dances, snarls, sings, punches, and does just about everything else with major gusto.
- Lazy Husband: Mimi and Luke's father is completely useless. He pretends to injure himself to get out of work, cooks chicken in the microwave and leaves a mess, and generally contributes nothing to the family.
- Mugging the Monster: PG establishes his power by slaying three homeless criminals.
- Mundane Made Awesome:
- Mimi and Luke's game of Crazy Ball is rendered as an epic battle, with dynamic camera angles and driving music. This is lampshaded when the film drops all the embellishments and shows the game for what it is: two kids shouting rules while tossing balls in the air. This received a callback in the climatic game of Crazy Ball, when the epic soundtrack drops out as the perspective shifts to the Gigax Council watching the game in confusion.
- Inverted during the first half of PG's battle with the Paladins of Sydion. When PG is restrained from fighting the Paladins (as punishment for telling them to kill Mimi), the battle between intergalactic fiends is given a suitably epic depiction, but then all the embellishments are removed, making the fight look like childish flailing. Subverted in the second half of the battle after PG apologizes and is allowed to fight back.
- The Nameless: PG didn't have a name (though he was known as the "Arch-Duke of Nightmares") until Mimi and Luke give him one.
- Not So Above It All: Susan. For the first half of the film, she comes across as the put-upon Only Sane Woman until PG arrives. When she realizes she can use him to take revenge on Greg for his laziness and manipulation, she doesn't hesitate. When Pandora turns her into a Templar to help stop PG, Susan immediately abandons the mission and ignores PG to attempt the straight-up murder of Greg.
- Omnicidal Maniac: PG wishes to destroy the entire galaxy.
- Omniscient Council of Vagueness: The Gigax Council.
- Only Known by Their Nickname:
- Somewhat with PG. The closest thing he had to a real name was the "Arch-Duke of Nightmares" before Mimi and Luke discovered him. Mimi calls him Psycho Goreman, but he is constantly referred to as PG for short.
- PG can't remember Luke's name and only calls him "Mimi's Brother".
- Police Are Useless: The two police officers who try to attack PG are swiftly killed or mutated (then later killed) by him. Granted PG is a powerful alien monster.
- The Power of Love: Mimi and Luke try to teach PG about love, and in the end he discovers the feeling of love - which he then will use as motivation to destroy the galaxy.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: The film has a twisted sense of morality that is centered around Mimi, her family and PG. For example, Mimi only gets infuriated at PG for ordering his friends to kill Mimi and Luke, and she punished PG by restraining him and letting the other aliens assault him. She refuses to release the restraints until PG apologizes to her. Plus for all the other villainous acts PG commits (such as ravaging cities), Mimi and her entire family let him do this as long as PG promises to spare them.
- Villain Protagonist: Mimi. She's overall a bratty kid whose willing to stoop to all kinds of lows using PG. Even if it means letting him take over the world. PG also counts as the villainous deuteragonist.
- Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Paladins of Sydion.
- Religious Bruiser: Pandora strongly believes in the gods, and also believes she is destined by them to beat PG.
- Rule of Three: PG's astral projection has to instruct Greg three times in how to find him.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: PG is entombed for millions of years to prevent him from destroying the universe.
- Shout-Out:
- PG's home planet is called Gigax, a reference to Gary Gygax, one of the minds behind Dungeons & Dragons (and widely regarded as being the most influential of them).
- Luke's nightmare sequence closely resembles Michael's in Phantasm. PG even calls him "boy".
- Pandora strongly resembles the Khan Maykr.
- The Paladin who initially betrays Goreman is named Darkscream.
- Alistair, in his Brain Monster form, looks just like Krang.
- The Starscream: The Paladins of Sydion betrayed PG to the Templars so they could rule in his place.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Subverted with PG. While he has grown fond of Mimi and Luke and their parents, he is still a evil world-destroying monster who plans on destroying the galaxy at the end of the movie. Granted he does spare Mimi, Luke and their parents in the climax like he said he would.
- Transformation Horror: PG transforms Mimi and Luke's friend Alastair into a giant bloblike brain with googly eyes.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behavior: Mimi is established to be almost maniacally self-centered and mean even before she can harness the power of a galactic overlord.
- The Unfettered: Pandora will do anything, no matter how monstrous, to prevent PG's reign of terror from returning.
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Alistair as a brain-thing. He evidently had been going home, school, etc. Have his parents even noticed, or are they simply accepting him?
- Worthy Opponent: When PG finds you a worthy opponent, he tends to eat you alive as a tribute.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- PG tries to kill Mimi and Luke at various points and later obliterates a kid who makes fun of how he looks. He eventually gets over killing Mimi and Luke by the climax.
- Pandora isn't above this, either.
