MoniKa

MoniKa: A Bad Way to Die is a supernatural action-thriller that's equal parts ghost story and grindhouse. Featuring premonitions, gunplay, and jagged ghostly visions, the film crafts an eerie, fractured atmosphere, thanks in part to a moody soundtrack and a capable director. C. Thomas Howell and Tim Thomerson are enjoyable to watch, even if the film often leaves them stranded in a script that relies on tired clichés.

Unfortunately, MoniKa tries a little too hard to be quirky and cult-worthy, deploying colored filters, shaky cam, and a throwaway punchline ending that undercuts the story's weight. The plot, while intriguing, stumbles with heavy-handed exposition and inconsistent accents.

While it's not the next Donnie Darko, MoniKa is a curious oddity for fans of indie thrillers or its lead actors. Just don't expect it to haunt you after the credits roll.

All his life, Reagan Tyler (Jason Wiles) has been troubled by dreams, visions and premonitions. After he makes the trip to Las Vegas to meet his pal Double (C. Thomas Howell), Reagan becomes involved with beautiful, buxom blonde Monika (Cerina Vincent). The next day, Reagan learns that the girl he has just spent the night with was killed the day before he met her, shot by gangsters searching for some missing drug money. Is Monika a ghost, out to avenge her death and that of her sister, or just another one of Reagan's dreams?

I find it hard to believe that MoniKa was made by director Steven R. Monroe AFTER his entertaining I Spit On Your Grave remake, the film bearing all the hallmarks of a debut feature from an inexperienced film school graduate who has yet to hone their directorial and writing skills: the script is an embarrassment of dumb clichés that ends with the biggest and dumbest cliché of them all—it was all a dream; the performances are, for the most part, awful, with lead Cerina Vincent clearly cast for her impressive physical attributes rather than her acting skills; and the direction is a massive case of style over substance, Monroe employing irritating wobbly-cam and slo-mo, colour grading his film to within an inch of its life, and accompanying every scene with a soundtrack that is intended to convey pathos, but which only serves to irritate even further.

Monika with a "k" is how the protagonist of this standard crime drama introduces herself to Reagan, her love interest near the beginning of this silly film. Reagan; yes, like the president has premonitions, with flashes of blood splattered walls, involving Monika, and so he ends up meeting the real woman; or is she a ghost? Who knows or cares by the end of all the flashbacks and endless shootouts and cardboard characters from every movie ever made of this type. Cerina Vincent is the lead actress, and at least she wears sexy low cut jeans and a tank top, as her body seems to possess most of her talent. Jason Wiles is competent enough as her partner, Reagan, throughout the story, but in the end, it is all just a waste of time. In addition, the editing is very choppy, giving the look of an MTV video. Writer-director, Steven R. Monroe needs to find another line of work. If you are in the mood for a female killer movie, rent Kill Bill, and watch the work of a real talent, Q.T.

What I did like was the way it was shot and the place it was shot, old Vegas. Guess I have said the most positive thing about this flick. The story itself is rather simple, it's only the ending, the plot that let me watch it until the end.

But before we do have the plot it is a rather boring flick. It wants to be an old exploitation flick but that didn't work out. On the DVD you will see the trailer of American Muscle (2014) which was far better. Naturally they casted Cerina Vincent for her voluptuous body and she do shows a bit here and there but tits doesn't make a movie. I admit that while the flick was on that I talked a lot with friends in stead of watching the flick. There's no gore (except one moment) and the acting wasn't that good too.

It's the worth 'violent' that made me go watch it, I should have known better.

Gore 0/5 Nudity 0,5/5 Effects 2/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5