Monster (2008) (V)

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 Evans	...	Erin (as Erin Sullivan)
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 Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain (2001)

Asylum almost forgets that their movies are supposed to be bad...

Asylum came close to making a good film, ala "I am Omega." Almost...

Is it better than Alien v. Hunter, their last movie? Yes, but that's not saying much. Is it worth the $5 to rent? No, and here's why.

Monster is a knockoff of Cloverfield. Basically 2 wanna-be documentary filmmakers (Both ladies), find themselves trapped in a monster plagued Toyko. Oh yeah, the year is 2003.

It starts of interestingly enough, the acting by the two leads is far better than normal Asylum fare. They want to do something about global warming, in Japan. An earthquake, then something with tentacles attacks (we never see the whole monster). This sort of abridgment reminded me of the film "It came from beneath the sea," where Ray Harryhausen, due to budget reasons, could only make and show part of the monster.

Anyway, Justin Jones, a lifelong Asylum crewman, makes a small appearance in the film, and does some of the camera-work. Some Japanese people yell and scream. And then the film abruptly ends; perhaps they ran out of time and had to throw something together, who knows.

Filmed on an HVX-200, the footage actually looks like it was filmed on something worse. Perhaps they degraded the footage on purpose, who knows. Oddly enough I don't think the HVX200 was available until 2005, but I digress.

Where the film goes wrong is in it's structure. At ten minutes into it, all is well, then of course, the "monster attacks." From there until the 74 minute mark, the ladies are marking time, "acting scared" until the last 3 minutes, when Asylum uses the rest of their budget to show a somewhat effective monster rampage. Then it ends almost in mid-sentence.

Asylum had something, and some of the other reviews on here mention that as well.

What tips the scale against me recommending this film, however, is the noticeable absence of commentary. Asylum films always threw out commentary; and most of the time, such as the commentary for "I am Omega," it was pretty enjoyable. For them to not include it raises some speculation on my part as to why. I have a theory dear reader, as I imagine you do as well.

And for that reason, I would encourage you to look elsewhere...