There Are Monsters

Really enjoyed the storyline, shame none of the potential movie makers in the film could actually focus on anything. Felt quite seasick at times and got bored watching a black screen. I get that they were trying to be realistic but I can film from a car window and still focus. Having said that, I did enjoy it

This was the very last movie at Glasgow Frightfest 2015. And quite a good one to end it all.

The bad: This is, I assume for budgetary reasons, a found footage flick. Unfortunately this means quite a lot of shaky cam. Really, really shaky. Way too zoomed in, and shaky. Like, Blair Witch with Parkinson's. I was literally squirming in my seat hoping whoever was filming would just. zoom. out. And ever so often the movie cuts to these just wild zoomed in shaky parts, where you see absolutely nothing but blur. OK, got the bad out of the way!

The Good: The good thing is that not all the filming is shaky, and pretty much all the actors did a good job. The movie was well paced and not boring (even after watching 5 movies before it, as this one was last). The characters are likable, and seem to have pretty good chemistry. There are some laughs to be had, too.

The Scary: This movie actually gave me chills a couple of times! Kudos. Some of the sound effects, and visual effects, are pretty darn creepy. And a couple of the jump scares are very effective. Pretty cool. I especially liked how some of the creepy parts gets you thinking: was that actually a creepy effect, or was it my mind playing tricks on me?

All in all it was pretty entertaining, and very good for a found footage movie. Good movie to see with a couple of friends, if you have those.

The plot and the acting were both adequate, and even very good in places. It had intermittent "Us" vibes here and there which were creepy enough. But what really drags my rating for this down is the camerawork.

"There Are Monsters" is what I call "quasi-found footage" - some scenes are supposed to be seen as if through the lens of one of the characters' camera, and for some scenes, it's obvious that no characters are recording it. If it were intended to be a bunch of amateurs, or kids, or anyone else who didn't know what they were doing, the camerawork might be somewhat excusable. But even in the "found" footage, the characters operating the cameras were supposed to be professional cameramen.

My ass they were. The movie was so shaky and blurry in so many places, it really took away from the decent work of the actors. No professional cameraman would produce work like that, even on a job they weren't taking all that seriously. As if that weren't bad enough, they continued the horrible camerawork even in scenes that weren't intended to be "found footage". For instance, the main female protagonist entered a bathroom stall at one point. She was completely alone, no other characters were in the booth to film her. It was a steady picture at some points, but a jumbled, chaotic slurry of motion and digital myopia for the most part. There was no excuse for that.

The only other thing I didn't like about it was the jump scares, but they didn't have more than maybe 5 of those. I just hate jump scares in their entirety, so that might be more of a "me" thing.

Over all, if extremely shaky camerawork doesn't bother you, then I would definitely recommend this for you. Otherwise, I'd give it a pass.

I enjoyed the short film of the same name, and looked forward to the feature. This was, sadly, a disappointment. The premise is largely the same, but takes longer to build tension. The acting is good and the vibe is genuinely creepy.

However, this movie suffers from the same problems that a lot of found footage films do; poor camera work. There are minutes at a time where it's completely impossible to decipher what's happening. Scenes are shot in super close up, with super quick cuts, or even, at times, a completely black screen. The camera work is downright annoying, breaking the great tension that the first part of the film built.

There Are Monsters is basically found footage meets Invasion Of The Body Snatchers - and that's no bad thing.

Four friends are filming a documentary about school children (or something like that) when during their filming they begin to notice odd, subtle behaviours in people. The subtle gradually becomes more in your face and outlandish as it becomes apparent that these people aren't actually people at all - they used to be - but now they have been taken over by forces unknown. The four friends eventually become convinced something is very wrong; and as society crumbles around them they end up fighting for their very survival.

There Are Monsters is an above average found footage horror. The acting, plot and pacing of the film are all very good. And the spin on the well worn found footage path that people are gradually being taken over by something unknown brings a freshness to this often stale sub genre.

The one flaw that's apparent throughout is the overuse of shakey cam. At times it's really difficult to actually know what's going on due to the camera flying all over the place, and there are one or two blackout scenes too when you can't see anything. I know this adds to the realism, but at times the shakey cam is so rough it's difficult to watch.

In the main though this is a very good example of how to produce a good found footage film, and with so many bad examples out there, this is a definite diamond in the rough.