The Amateur Monster Movie

The plot: a werewolf, zombies, and a pair of topless girls assault a group of survivors.

I can't really say much about The Amateur Monster Movie that the title doesn't already tell you. It's a humble title, one that's likely to scare away people that hate no budget, independent movies. It also tells you right away that it's likely going to be campy, goofy, and played entirely for laughs. Indeed it is. It's populated exclusively by clichéd stereotypes, the gore can only be described as a parody of low budget splatter movies, and the intentionally bad acting occasionally reaches levels that make you wonder if they're actually reshooting the scenes until it hits rock bottom.

The problem is that the movie just isn't very funny. I often find the absolute worst movies to be rather amusing, and I think I'm one of the few people to actually laugh at unrepentant crap like Die You Zombie Bastards! and Surf Nazis Must Die. Objectively, those movies are almost unwatchably bad, but they make me laugh. The Amateur Monster Movie, unfortunately, failed to make me laugh. Out of all the things that didn't make me laugh, the one that came closest was probably the Joseph Pilato spoof, which I admit to finding slightly amusing. The other cops and the mayor were also slightly amusing, but the teenagers all annoyed me. All they ever did was smoke pot, talk about smoking pot, or try to find more pot to smoke. I did not find their wacky antics amusing, and I kept wishing that they'd die off already.

If you like incredibly bad movies, such as the aforementioned atrocities against film, then you should probably at least give this movie a chance. If you can sit through Surf Nazis Must Die, then you can sit through anything. Guaranteed. I guess I'd probably recommend this movie mostly to people who like watching amateur movies on YouTube.

The writing here in general was quite good. There were many laugh-out-loud lines that perfectly captured the absurdist travesty that is much of the dialogue that dominates many amateur monster movies. What it really came down to for me, however, was the acting. It has been said that only the best singers are able to do a perfect impression of terrible singing, and I feel that this is an apt analogy for the acting in this film. For a movie like this to work, it needs to be believable as an actual attempt at legitimate filmmaking. In order to really pull this off, actors cannot simply do their most over-the-top, chewing-the-scenery impression of bad acting. There is a surprising amount of delicacy to bad acting, and it was touch and go here. Unfortunately, I think the worst offender was the lead actor playing Walter. While he grew on me towards the end, his overacting and frequent smirks to the camera broke the illusion for me. There were some actors who mastered this art, however, including Richards himself, and several of the small roles. When I was able to believe that these people were honestly trying their hardest to make a good movie yet failing miserably, the film was absolutely hilarious and brilliant.

I definitely enjoyed myself during this movie, it was the perfect late-night snack after a long day of much more serious films. Richards seems very familiar and comfortable with the genre of film that he lovingly mocks, and the result is a film that stands on it's own. This is an admirable first attempt by Richards, who shows a surprising amount of wit and insight for such a ridiculously over-the-top gore-fest. I look forward to seeing more from him in the future.