Macabre…ish Horror Review: Pooka Lives

Pooka Lives, 2020/ 1 hr 20 min

After being dragged out of her job, making the news, stabbing her husband (Wil Wheaton), Ellie douses them both in fuel and sets them on fire. Ellie was the designer of the original Pooka and she lost it when the company decided to change the design.

A year later, Derrick moves back to town, catches up with old friends and gets a  copywriting job with SGI, the company who owns Pooka. Oh and an influencer, Jax, is doxxing him because of a book he wrote, so his life and good name are being ruined by that. Plus he has a very active stalker.

So Derrick’s idea for a viral campaign is to create a ritual or Pooka challenge to summon Pooka. Complete with origin story, spell, wear a pooka mask, singing the pooka song. And he immediately sends it to a message board full of Jax fans, to get Jax to do it. And it goes viral.

And while Jax is live streaming his Pooka toy turns into a giant monster and pierces Jax’s skull with scissors. And all of his adoring fans get to watch. Soon, Pooka, is a part of the creepypasta like tradition, it is now lore. People online are adding to the story and changing attributes of the Pooka. He’s gonna from a giant, man sized plushy, who’s weapon of choice was scissors, to a terrifying, hulking and sinister creature with claws and fangs. This monster lives in the dark, so if you find yourself there…

And now, a terrifying Pooka is after everyone who did the challenge. It’s attributes change as they change online with every kill.

Ok, this Pooka story is not a continuation of the first movie, nor is it the same in origin. But, short of a few very annoying characters (that I preyed would die!), this was arguably better. It is also modern, in that it uses cellphones, social media, message boards, creepy pasta etc. There are moment of silliness as well as a fair amount of gore plus 2 solid minutes of Wil Wheaton! Enjoy!!