"Do you believe in monsters?"
Right off the bat, I'll be honest. I hate found footage films. Everything is usually too dark, often green, and generally one big, jumbled mess. During what's supposed to be a tense chase scene, I always find myself saying "gee, this would probably be scary if I could see anything." But at least I'm aware of this bias, and so I'll try to keep that in mind as I review this.
That said, the above complaints are a pretty good description of The Monster Project. It's uneven, chaotic, and generally unappealing too look at.
The film is split into two main halves. The first half tells the story of Devon (Justin Bruening) the dudebro and Jamal (Jamal Quezaire) the black guy, two amateur film makers who are rising in the Youtube ranks with their fake monster sighting videos. Devon decides to take things to the next level by interviewing people who believe they are real monsters. They find a skinwalker, a vampire, and a girl possessed by a demon. Along for the ride is Bryan (Toby Hemingway) the junkie and Murielle (Murielle Zuker) the love interest.
I give them accompanying stereotypes because the movie REALLY wants you to know that they are in fact paper-thin stereotypes. Jamal says things like "shit you be trippin!" and "oh hell naw!". Bryan is pretending to be clean when he's (gasp!) still using. Murielle's either the angry ex-girlfriend or the damsel in distress ("protect Murielle! Don't let anything happen to her!" they shout to each other during chase scenes). You get the idea.
That said, the above complaints are a pretty good description of The Monster Project. It's uneven, chaotic, and generally unappealing too look at.
The film is split into two main halves. The first half tells the story of Devon (Justin Bruening) the dudebro and Jamal (Jamal Quezaire) the black guy, two amateur film makers who are rising in the Youtube ranks with their fake monster sighting videos. Devon decides to take things to the next level by interviewing people who believe they are real monsters. They find a skinwalker, a vampire, and a girl possessed by a demon. Along for the ride is Bryan (Toby Hemingway) the junkie and Murielle (Murielle Zuker) the love interest.
I give them accompanying stereotypes because the movie REALLY wants you to know that they are in fact paper-thin stereotypes. Jamal says things like "shit you be trippin!" and "oh hell naw!". Bryan is pretending to be clean when he's (gasp!) still using. Murielle's either the angry ex-girlfriend or the damsel in distress ("protect Murielle! Don't let anything happen to her!" they shout to each other during chase scenes). You get the idea.
ANYWAY, eventually we slog through the padding of the first 40 minutes, and are eventually rewarded with the second half of the movie. This is, of course, when all the monsters show up to be interviewed. As you would expect, the skinwalker begins to wolf out, kicking things into high gear. The girl haunted by the demon gets all cgi-scary-faced, and the vampire girl just starts attacking for... well, no reason. She's just a bitch I guess.
Eventually two characters get bitten by the wolf and vampire, respectively. I don't have to tell you what that means for them; you already know. You know because you've seen it a millions times. But apparently the movie thinks you don't know, because you're supposed to be on the edge of your seat as something weird starts happening to the werewolf victim's back. *Yawn*
It's at this point that they run through the corridors of the very large house, slamming doors behind them, looking for another exit, etc. One guy conveniently has a video camera on his head, so much of these sequences play out like first-person. video games. There are times when, were you to walk in on someone watching this movie, you would swear that they were playing Outlast. I honestly was expecting Markiplier to start commentating.
Eventually two characters get bitten by the wolf and vampire, respectively. I don't have to tell you what that means for them; you already know. You know because you've seen it a millions times. But apparently the movie thinks you don't know, because you're supposed to be on the edge of your seat as something weird starts happening to the werewolf victim's back. *Yawn*
It's at this point that they run through the corridors of the very large house, slamming doors behind them, looking for another exit, etc. One guy conveniently has a video camera on his head, so much of these sequences play out like first-person. video games. There are times when, were you to walk in on someone watching this movie, you would swear that they were playing Outlast. I honestly was expecting Markiplier to start commentating.
Then there's the twist ending. Come on, you all knew there had to be one. Whew boy, let me tell you... at first I was pleasantly surprised! I honestly did not see that initial twist coming. But then the movie went on for another 10 minutes, and got more ridiculous with each passing minute. By the end, I lost count of how many times I rolled my eyes.
So there you have it! The acting was... aight. The special effects were uneven, the practical being much better than the cgi. Jamal's character deserved better than the dialogue he had. The jump scares were often cheap and undeserved (a loud glitch in the video quality, for example). And, as with all found footage movies, there were times when I found myself saying "why would someone record this moment?"
Honestly though, it wasn't horrible. It's just that with a premise such as this, I expected something more clever.
So there you have it! The acting was... aight. The special effects were uneven, the practical being much better than the cgi. Jamal's character deserved better than the dialogue he had. The jump scares were often cheap and undeserved (a loud glitch in the video quality, for example). And, as with all found footage movies, there were times when I found myself saying "why would someone record this moment?"
Honestly though, it wasn't horrible. It's just that with a premise such as this, I expected something more clever.
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