Book of Monsters

This British horror comedy had a budget of less than 100k and though I entirely support independent movies I always believe in not over-shooting. What I mean by that is don't make a movie above your means, if you have a micro-budget then maybe avoid monsters, aliens, giant spaceships and explosive action. Considering the subject matter here for that reason I had my concerns, I didn't need to apparently.

It tells the story of a girl celebrating her 18th birthday by having a house party. Before they know it they're under siege from an array of monsters, will they survive the night?

I liked this, we don't see "Monsters" as much as we used to so it was a nice refreshing change seeing people under assault from them instead of the usual generic slashers or zombies.

With a neat little competent unknown cast (Though too old to be playing teenagers), impressive effects for the budget and a fair bit of originality I was very impressed by what they accomplished here.

Sure it's hardly groundbreaking and the budget limitations do show in places but they made the best of what they have and that right there demonstrates the talent both in front of and behind the camera.

I'd actually like to see a sequel to this, it's an underground movie that deserves considerably more attention than its likely to get. More of these and less Hollywood trite please.

The Good:

Looks great for the budget

The Bad:

REALLY poor casting for teenagers!

Stock sound effects

"Book Of Monsters" is a fun, high energy, bloody good time. It is a micro-budget horror comedy that is reminiscent of classic 80's movies, such as "Evil Dead" and "Night Of The Demons". The story is a patchwork quilt of typical horror tropes, setups, and characters, but because Sparke knows the film he is trying to make, the familiarity is more a tribute to the genre than a copycat. It isn't perfect, there are times the humor falls flat, or the scene stumbles a bit, but the pace and the energy over-takes any real flaws.

Special effects are blood-soaked, gory practical elements that soak up the spotlight in "Book Of Monsters". It's like an 80-something minute long episode of 'Todd And The Book Of Pure Evil' on steroids. Sparke goes for broke creating visceral scenes of carnage, so much so that even the moments that fail are fun and enjoyable to watch. The creature designs, practical effects, and so many characters battling for "Scream Queen" gold are so captivating on screen.

Overall "Book Of Monsters" is a great indie horror comedy that gets so much right and does so much on such a small budget. There are some downers, the exposition material drags a bit- but how could they not after so much high energy scenes of monsters and guts and screams! For the most part "Book Of Monsters" is a must for indie horror fans, and is a prime example of why we love indie horror!

I feel this movie has good intentions made by lovers of the genre , but may have bitten more off than they can chew. I think meant to come off like a film in the vein of Evil Dead, Brain dead & Night of the Demons, is actually more comparable to the movie 'The Spookies' What works.

• Loads of inventive (albeit low budget) gore effects. People getting torn in half, heads getting torn off , it's all in here. But it's not sickening gore, but fun gore if that makes sense
• The movie is very fast paced. You will not be bored, there is always something going on. Ultimately means you will not get bored in this movie
• The actress who plays Mona, is very good in this movie

-The LGBT angle is integrated very well. The main character just happens to be gay, but it's treated just as a matter of fact and does't get preachy or nor does it fall into sterotypes

• It's visually very ambitious , trying to make a splatter creature feature movie

But what does't work

• It might have ambition in the visuals, but the story is actually very pedestrian . Teens get attacked by monsters at a party and have to survive . not much more too it than that
• As i alluded to earlier, they may have bitten off more than they can chew. The monster effects are pretty poor. Literally looking like someone in a homemade Halloween costume.
• The acting isn't great. Our main protagonist actress doesn't seem to be able to emote , and gives one of the most unenthusiastic performances of a lead character that i recall seeing. But it's not just her, others are like that too. Then some actors are just bad actors.
• There is virtually no characterization in this movie. Our main character gets a bit of background, but we still don't see what she is really like. Her two friends, one of them doesn't even get to really speak until the monsters show up
• Very little world building & plot holes. To demonstrate this , I'm just gonna talk about the prologue to avoid spoilers, but this type of thing can be applied to the rest of the movie too. So mild spoilers ahead for the opening scene

We just have to accept that the mother is some kind of monster hunter, with no context as to why , how , what that means etc. Within the logic of this movie, she is reading bedtime stories to her young daughter directly from a ancient demon summoning book ( doesn't seem like great parenting does it ) . Then it alludes to , she's somehow summoned a monster under her daughter's bed ( if not, are we to believe it's been hanging around there all the time?). Then the movie contradicts it's self later by saying the monsters are summoned via the blood of a virgin, when that's not what happened in the prologue . So you get what i'm saying, this movie needed to have a 2nd script draft, or as i see in so many times in indie movies, someone else outside of production to test it on, who isn't just gonna say yes, yes, yes, because they are either employed of friends with the film makers

Overall, this movie does have some fun with the carnage and is enjoyable on a basic level. This isn't a 10 out of 10 as some of the 'cough' "Genuine" 'cough' reviews indicate, but nor is it a 1 out of 10 either. Fun but very flawed

Ok. So it's not gonna win many awards for acting .......saying that the main characters are great.....just a few supporting actors (namely the father!) make this feel more like a Media Collage level project.

The old school practical effects were great to see and you can just tell it was a real labour of love for all involved making the various creatures and gore effects. Low low budget but with lots of heart. Plenty of Evil Dead influence throughout but with a more British sense of humour that works in most places. Under a more experienced director the scenes could have had the tension that it was lacking, but that will come in time. A fun way to spend 80mins...... Switch off the brain and enjoy the blood. One good thing is that they didn't go into the realm of shoddy after effects cgi (except the explosion) like a lot of budget films do and kept it practical with inventive monster designs (except the Djinn which was Poundland Halloween level. Ha .

Well done to all involved. Teens will love it. Pretty girls, blood and........well more blood. p.s...... I was actually left wanting to see further adventures of the female trio of monster slayers......which is rare.

I say Good Bad as it's one of those films you know you shouldn't watch but somehow end up seeing through to the end.

Although I am on my second bottle of wine as I write this review.

The actors perform well above par for this kind of fare (if you can accept the Hollywood Style Teenagers - where the average age is 16 going on 30, although this could be a piss take).

The film definitely tries it's best to keep up the tension and action. Which is quite impressive given it looks like there was virtually was no SFX or make up budget. Or any budget at all really.

To summarise: a passable film to watch on your second bottle of wine.