Monster (2008) (V)

User Rating:

2.1/10   

Director:

Erik Estenberg

Writers:

Erik Estenberg (story)
David Michael Latt (story)

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Horror

Plot:

Plot Keywords:

Block Blunder

Cast

Sarah Lynch	...	Sarah
Erin Sullivan	...	Erin
Justin L. Jones	...	Justin
Kazuyuki Okada	...	Mizuchi
Yoshi Ando	...	Hiro
Jennifer Kim	...	Aiko
Hiroshi Ueha	...	Japanese Grandfather
Akira Sato	...	Isao
Kosei Seki	...	News Crew
Jason Williams	...	Soldier #1
Robert Chu	...	Soldier #2
Shinichiro Shimizu	...	Japanese Reporter
Chad Nell	...	American Reporter
Yosuke Hosoi	...	Cameraman

Runtime:

Greece:90 min | USA:86 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Global Asylum, The

Movie Connections:

References Cloverfield (2008)

Laborious

You've probably all figured out by now that this is the straight-to-video knock-off of the much anticipated "Cloverfield". I was pretty curious about this, partly because it comes from The Asylum (their stuff is just addictively bad!) and because the trailer for it looked nearly competent. So naturally I rented it as soon as I had the chance.

The plot (ha!) concerns two women, a documentary crew, who fly to Tokyo to interview an official about global warming. Everything in the movie is filmed vacation-video style from the girls' hand-held camera (just like "Cloverfield"). During the interview the monster attacks and the city becomes a disaster area. Our heroes are forced to run for cover and try to find people who speak English while still documenting the monster's rampage.

I expected weak CGI effects and bad dialogue, but I was also disappointed to find that the hand-held camera wasn't hand-held looking at all (the making-of feature on the DVD betrayed their real techniques) and the down-time that fills out most of the movie happens in spots that look more like L.A. than Tokyo. Transitions are accomplished with unconvincing video distortion, an attempt to sell us on the gimmick that we are watching found footage. There's an attempt at explanation for the monster too, which was perhaps the worst aspect of this mess.

"Monster" may be The Asylum's worst. In spite of a good trailer, this will be forgotten especially because they chose a title already used for a Charlize Theron movie. "Cloverfield" has nothing to fear from this.