My Review Of "Motivational Growth"

Don Thacker’s “Motivational Growth” is a bizarre hyperbole- truly modern. Honestly I think the film will be this generation’s “Little Shop Of Horror”, just replace the singing with fun animation graphics rife with Adult Swim quality humor. Actually take that film and shake it with some “Stay Tuned” and you have the perfect horrortini for your maturing viewing pleasure. “Motivational Growth” stars Jeffrey Combs, Adrian DiGiovanni, Danielle Doetsch, Pete Giovagnoli, Ken Brown, Hannah Stevenson and Megan Hensley. It is a story of madness in true-to-form dark, satirical entertainment.

The story follows Ian Folivor, a depressed, recluse with a strong agoraphobic agitate. The film plays out in a strange spectacle of narration, animation and melodramatic adulation of phobias. The antagonist to Folivor’s tragic character is a talking mold build-up against the bathroom sink. Lets face it, single men (sometimes even gay men) are not the best of housekeepers. So it is just a matter of time before some bacteria or fungus is allowed to evolve into a self aware annihilator of humanity. Of course there is so much to this story that I can’t talk about as not to spoil the film. Let’s just say that even though the premise, at times, seems predictable or flagrant, it still manages to carry some very entertaining and surprising moments. It is just a fun story, that is executed wonderfully by Thacker both with the writing and directing.

The special effects and sound track used on “Motivational Growth” are both very stylized, practical effects that push the story even further into the dark, satirical wasteland. The special effects offer up some truly gross and lighthearted exaggeration to the situation at hand with Folivor’s condition and circumstance. The practical effects are done nicely, reminiscent of mid 80’s horror comedy stuff –notably “TerrorVision” . The animation and graphics used actually add a sort of hallucinogenic quality to the film’s overall persona. It would have went over even more had the dude’s dealer been among the series of intrusions into Folivor’s sacred space.


The sound track is what you would expect. It doesn’t bring anything extremely new or altered to the film, but it works to create an atmosphere equal to the kind of story that Thacker is telling in “Motivational Growth”. Fun, entertaining, satirical and creepy. The film is a very strong, indie horror comedy that screams instant classic. The downer moment in the story was the actual dramatic interaction between Folivor and his object of affection. Had it been as out there as the interaction with the rest of the characters then I wouldn’t have anything bad to say about this film. Still it is a pretty stellar horror/comedy.