We Are Monsters

While I had indeed never even heard about the 2015 horror movie "We Are Monsters", which was oddly enough titled "Animalistic" on the version I stumbled upon, of course I opted to watch the movie, given my love of all things horror.

The storyline in the movie was not particularly exciting, thrilling or scary. In fact, the narrative was ruined by some pretty lousy acting performances from the leading actress. I can't claim to say that writers Sonny Laguna, David Liljeblad and Tommy Wiklund managed to concoct a narrative, script and storyline that entertained me in any grandiose way. There was nothing new brought to the subgenre of female revenge movies here.

I was not familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list. Some of the acting performances were good, while others were just hands down terrible. Especially the leading actress, she managed to ruin the movie with her less than believable performance.

Watchable, sure, if you are a newcomer to the horror genre. But for a 40+ years of watching horror movies veteran such as myself, then "We Are Monsters" was a mere walk in the park on a sunny day, and there wasn't really anything scary to be seen anywhere.

My rating of directors Sonny Laguna and Tommy Wiklund's 2015 horror movie "We Are Monsters" lands on a generous three out of ten stars.

Agree with the only other reviewer below and hopefully the only other person who's ever seen this movie besides me. Every single one of these movies are the same -- innocent girl gets kidnapped and brutally raped by psychopaths, one of whom is stereo-typically mentally retarded, and then eventually she gets revenge in the end and the movie ends. Boring as hell with terrible acting and no unique twists.

And enough already with the so called "shock value" of these types of movies. We've seen it all before. Many times in fact. There's really no point in doing a movie like this anymore unless you're going to really change things up. And this movie certainly doesn't even attempt to do that. Dumb plot, dumb actors, dumb movie. Pass.

The gore I liked. We all can appreciate a good Thriller, and this one wasn't bad except for the lead actress acting. Her struggle expressions, were a struggle, which also looked like her scared expressions along with her hard breathing as if she's having a asthma attack. Everyone else did a great/good job, except for Emma and the female tycoon in the restaurant, they killed my vibe. UPDATE: 12/21/2023 Forgot I saw this movie 3 years ago and watched it again by accident. Came to the reviews to see if anyone else was pissed or discussed about Hana Oldenburg (Emma)'s non-acting skills. Saw this review header, and pressed on it to read, and bam, it's mine. Lol... Ralf Beck (Jim) killed it, he was on a whole different, Empire State Building top floor level, EVERYONE ELSE was also on a different level, while Emma basement level acting ruined it for me again, with her 3 facial expressions. I really hope Hanna got some much needed acting skills, cause this isn't it.

Okay, this isn't going to be a gem but for me it did still offer some nasty moments. The story is rather simple, girl being kidnapped and raped, she escapes somehow and is out for revenge. I was surprised that the rating was so low.

If you want to see a typical Hollywood blockbuster forget it because it shows that it was a low budget flick. It take a while before things go wrong and it's only once the girl is out for revenge that it becomes a brutal flick and people could get offended by some torturing done by her. Clocking in under 90 minutes makes it worth the trip to see it. As said before, there are moments that will make you grab the remote but the effects are really well done which makes it a delight for the geeks of nasty brutal revenge flicks.

Gore 1,5/5 Nudity 1/5 Effects 2,5/5 Story 2/5 Comedy 0/5

Reviewers Notes:

1. Yet another torture porn in the grand tradition of films like I SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE and LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT. Seen one, seen em all.

2. The date stamp says 2015 which is actually the creepiest thing in the movie (among many many creepy things) because the settings, the direction, the cinematography, the script, the acting, all of them scream 1974. Which raises the question, why would anyone want to do a film in 2015 that is completely indistinguishable from similar stuff shot about a half-century ago??

3. The only other thing worth mentioning is the "tease" scene off the top where the kidnapper/abductor tells his fellow kidnapper/abductor that he wants to try "something different" with the new girl, he wants to make her "love" him. And for a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second, the poor viewer (any viewer watching this film is automatically in deep distress, hence the adjective) might think that the producers and writers did this film because they have something new and different to add to the genre. But then the moment quickly passes, and you realize they do not.