The Monster Project

This movie is good and it's like the Blair Witch Project with a focus on vampires, demons and skin walkers. The story works and the characters that play the monsters do really well. The pace is also good considering it's a b rated film. Is it scary? Yeah. I'd give it a 7.0 in terms of scariness. Now, on to the two major flaws. The first is the slow pick up. Literally the first 20 minutes is well....boring. I wasn't sure if it was worth watching. Glad I hung in there. The 2nd part that sucked royally....was the token black dude. OMG when I read reviews before watching and saw many people complaining, let me say as a black guy...i felt a certain kind of way. However, fast forward, let me say that.... they didn't complain ENOUGH. Wow that black dude really was SUPER ANNOYING. Drove me crazy. He was SO LOUD and OBNOXIOUS, kinda in the way most of the time and was very "black" stereotypical when he talked WHICH WAS ESPECIALLY A LOT in those first 20 minutes I told you about. So if not for these two things, I easily would have given it an 8. Oh and one more bad thing as an honorable mention is the effects. Which I didn't really care about and found it forgivable considering that it was a b-rated film with the shot on "camera" appearance. I recommend the movie and if you're willing, maybe skip the first 15 minutes or maybe turn the volume off lol for 15 minutes.

Okay so I'm only 20 minutes into it and about to shut it off mainly because the black guy is so OVER THE TOP at being a black guy stereotype it's almost unwatchable. You know that stereotype where the black person in the theater yells at the screen. This is like that. He has a comment for everything and it's just ridiculously annoying. I seriously hope he dies later because if he survives, i'm coming back and giving this a 2.

I had just high hopes for The Monster Project, I watched the trailer and sat in awe thinking of the potential the movie had and was overjoyed when I found myself with the opportunity to finally watch it.

The concept is fantastic, a documentary film crew going to a "Haunted location" to interview three volunteers who claim to be monsters. We have a supposed vampire, demonically possessed girl and skinwalker and as you can imagine it all goes wrong when they turn out to be real.

The movie starts off okay, introducing the characters and introducing our "Monsters" but as soon as anything actually happens it spirals out of control fast.

What I mean by that is it goes from a great idea to yet another found footage mess. Lots of screaming, lots of shaky cam, lots of predictable jump scares, lots of running away and the obligatory nightvision.

The concept goes out the window and the generic clichéd mess appears and that just broke my heart. What should have been a great film turned into one of the hundred found footage films you can find on Netflix alone.

Go in with low expectations and you might find something, I went in with them high and was sorely disappointed.

The Good:

Great ideas

The Bad:

Generic night vision boredom

Awful protagonist

A man hires an odd group of filmmakers to help him with The Monster Project, a documentary where he interviews three people who truly believe that they're monsters in today's society. The production, of course, takes place at a boarded-up house used for satanic rituals back in the 60s. On the night of a lunar eclipse, no less. While everyone who has ever seen a horror movie would see something seriously wrong with this scenario, this group thinks they're just making a film and press on to get their interviews. That is until all Hell breaks loose and they're fighting for survival. Oops.

Has it been done before? Yes, but we all come back again and again for more scares so I can't knock the story for being a bit cliché. The effects were really good and easily the best part of this movie. The acting was serviceable, with the exception of one cast member (not saying who) who overacted a bit. I will say that I was most impressed with Toby Hemingway and Yvonne Zima, and I found the interaction between their characters strangely compelling and effective. Even the 'found-footage' device was handled fairly well.

The horror genre in general is a tough one to rate. On one hand, some movies are so well done and scary that it's hard not to rate them high. On the other, some are just entertaining and fun. The Monster Project falls a bit more into the latter camp in that it's a well-made movie that gets a lot right, but unfortunately it just doesn't have that scare factor I was hoping for. It doesn't appear to sell itself as a comedy, so I suspect that they were going for a truly scary experience but I just wasn't feeling it for some reason. I can't hate on it though. I can tell a lot of heart and passion went into this, and I want to thank the crew for making a good movie.

6 out of 10.

I first saw this film advertised on the IMDb homepage so decided to check it out after finding the trailer really interesting. Ever since the Blair Witch Project the hand held 'real life' camera method has always given the film an air of mystery as we don't always tend to see what the character sees. However, I can assure you this film is different and doesn't just build up anti-climatic suspense.

The film contains a group of adults wanting to make a documentary about different kinds of monsters to bump up views for their YouTube page when they're contacted by volunteers to give interviews, whilst the crew initially brush the claims off as ridiculousness, they soon start to change their beliefs.

The premise is interesting and the film starts that way too even if it is a little slow to get into. A film like this shouldn't really go over the 80 minute mark but what you gonna do?

There are a few jump scares and once the 'chaos' kicks in it does get really intense. The first 2/3 of the film are the most suspenseful and intriguing parts but come the final third act, we are left with that unfulfilling feeling of emptiness and predictability that these camcorder films tend to conjure up.

Overall, its a fun little film to watch with your friends on a weekend night for a few scares, but it's not a film that will leave a trace in your memory. 5/10