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Monster

  • Video
  • 20082008
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 1h 26m
IMDb RATING
2.0/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
Monster (2008)
Its Wasn't An Earthquake.
Play trailer1:17
1 Video
4 Photos
  • Action
  • Adventure
  • Horror
After a massive earthquake in Tokyo, two American filmmakers document the true cause of the destruction.After a massive earthquake in Tokyo, two American filmmakers document the true cause of the destruction.After a massive earthquake in Tokyo, two American filmmakers document the true cause of the destruction.
IMDb RATING
2.0/10
1.5K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Eric Forsberg
  • Writers
    • Eric Forsberg(story)
    • David Michael Latt(story)
  • Stars
    • Erin Evans
    • Sarah Lieving
    • Justin L. Jones
Top credits
  • Director
    • Eric Forsberg
  • Writers
    • Eric Forsberg(story)
    • David Michael Latt(story)
  • Stars
    • Erin Evans
    • Sarah Lieving
    • Justin L. Jones
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 49User reviews
    • 19Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Videos1

    Trailer #1
    Trailer 1:17
    Trailer #1

    Photos

    Monster (2008)
    Monster (2008)
    Screenshot from MONSTER
    Add photo

    Top cast

    Edit
    Erin Evans
    Erin Evans
    • Erin Lynchas Erin Lynch
    Sarah Lieving
    Sarah Lieving
    • Sarah Lynchas Sarah Lynch
    Justin L. Jones
    • Justinas Justin
    Kazuyuki Okada
    • Mizuchias Mizuchi
    Yoshi Ando
    • Hiroas Hiro
    Jennifer Kim
    Jennifer Kim
    • Aikoas Aiko
    Hiroshi Ueha
    • Japanese Grandfatheras Japanese Grandfather
    Akira Sato
    • Isaoas Isao
    Kosei Seki
    • News Crewas News Crew
    Jason Williams
    Jason Williams
    • Soldier #1as Soldier #1
    Robert Chu
    • Soldier #2as Soldier #2
    Shin Shimizu
    Shin Shimizu
    • Japanese Reporteras Japanese Reporter
    • (as Shinichiro Shimizu)
    Chad Nell
    • American Reporteras American Reporter
    Yosuke Hosoi
    • Cameramanas Cameraman
    Brian Takahashi
    Brian Takahashi
    • Doctoras Doctor
    • Director
      • Eric Forsberg
    • Writers
      • Eric Forsberg(story)
      • David Michael Latt(story)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Mockbuster of Cloverfield (2008).
    • Goofs
      The movie is set in the month of January. Within the movie, they walk around as though it is hot outside. This would not be the case as the average January temperature in Tokyo is approximately 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees Celsius).
    • Quotes

      Sarah Lynch: So were down-town Tokyo, we just went through an earthquake magnitude 7.8. The earthquake happened a little north of the city. I don't know, we're just running.

      Erin Lynch: Sarah, what are you doing, we have to get out of here.

      Sarah Lynch: We're doing the story.

      Erin Lynch: The story. Sarah I'm sorry, the story is over.

      Sarah Lynch: The earthquake is the story, we have to document this.

    • Crazy credits
      The events, characters, and firms depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. [Or is it? You be the judge.]
    • Connections
      Referenced in Dead Meat Podcast: The Asylum Movie Title Game (2019)

    User reviews49

    Review
    Top review
    2/10
    Something else...
    Sisters Sarah and Erin hop the bigger pond, landing in Tokyo to film a documentary about global warming (though God knows why). In the midst of their interview with the Environmental Minister, havoc strikes. At first, it's assumed to be another earthquake. When military presence intensifies, terrorism is suspected. But all too soon, it's revealed to be...something else. Sounds a bit familiar, no? Just to get it out of the way, whether or not it's an unhappy accident of conflicting release dates, there's no getting around that this is "Cloverfield"-lite, with a few (very few) deviations. This is evident--from the distant explosion that marks the start of the action, to the overall concept, to splattering the camera with blood at least once. The monsters even roar as if they were separated at birth. To be fair, this film does have a few things on Cloverfield. The fish-out-of-water angle, namely placing the protagonists in an unfamiliar culture, was a great idea. It's difficult enough to survive disaster when most everyone speaks your language, but when they don't, the challenge is increased quite a bit. While the presentation of the global warming message is..."crunchy" at best, the not-so-subtle hint that global warming itself awakened the creature is another juicy notion. Honestly, there's no better place on earth to set your disaster than Tokyo, the world's capital of disasters! The biggest thing for me personally would have to be the logic of the beast itself. In this film, it seemed to cut its paths of destruction through heavily populated areas, as I believe an angry beast would, rather than conveniently following four scrawny twenty-somethings around, and even directly snacking on one of them, as New York's monster did.

    Now that that's out of the way, even if Cloverfield never existed, this would still be pretty poor. The creature, a giant squid presumably, isn't actually seen doing very much to constitute a threat. Perhaps it could have actually picked up someone or smashed something, but all we're treated to is many angles of large, waving tentacles. One thing it makes you appreciate is how difficult disaster is to write. It seems that it's very easy to get so wrapped up in the turmoil of your story that you forget how people actually talk, particularly in the midst of emergency. Sarah and Erin (their actual first names, by the way; a bright-and-shining sign of non-actors) appear to struggle on the initiative to keep many of David Michael Latt's throw-away lines out of the production, but enough of them sneak in to become distracting. "I feel like we were meant to be here...", "It's so important to document this..." Sure. I realize they would have to invent reasons for our heroines to lug around an industrial-grade camera, but there must have been another way. Call me shallow, but I believe I'd find it difficult to think of what progeny will see someday when flaming debris is exploding all around me, and the street is caving in underneath my feet.

    An additional note about the cast--in truth, considering the script, there's really no reason to have anyone American in it. The Japanese actors (and their characters) are FAR better than the American ones; particularly the high-schooler who lives with her half-crazed dad (and dad seems to know something of the angry creature) and the young doctor who just wants to get across town and make sure his son is okay. I wished the film were about THEM, or someone like them. Were I in Erik Estenberg and company's shoes, I'm sure I would have shot the entire thing with an entirely Japanese cast and subtitles. Couldn't the Japanese document their own disasters? They've had lots of practice.

    So, maybe it's not so much a ripoff as it is just not good. Of course, consider that trailer for another Asylum treat, "AVH". As in, "Alien Vs. Hunter". As in intergalactic hunters with advanced camouflage fighting slimy aliens with elongated heads and teeth. Can't wait for that one, can ya? What? You've seen it? Of course you have...
    helpful•5
    3
    • Cel_Stacker
    • Sep 6, 2008

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • January 18, 2008 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Монстр
    • Filming locations
      • Los Angeles, California, USA
    • Production company
      • The Asylum
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    • Budget
      • $500,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • Runtime
      1 hour 26 minutes
    • Color
      • Color
    • Sound mix
      • Dolby SR
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.85 : 1

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