Chompy & the Girls

Delightful quirky story with an It Follows feel. An estranged daughter and father who have only just met for the first time mere minutes ago witness a man open his mouth to gargantuan size and swallow a tween whole. Then he comes for them - running. It's a goofy and great story about figuring this thing out with the help of a wise magician and the wife. It speaks to the possibility that there are ways to handle things that don't involve fighting or running.

When a troubled daughter turns up to meet the father who never knew she existed, they both witness a bizarre killing and go on the run from the relentless perpetrator.

Zany sci-fi horror that sort of mashes up It Follows with Body Snatchers. The opening scene is excellent and really got me hooked, but what comes after that is patchy entertainment. While the energy and the concept are engaging and the two lead performances good, I think this needed more development at the storyboard stage.

One mark of an undercooked story is that half the dialogue comes in the form of questions, and most of the scenes ramble around before deciding to put in a plot point. That looseness takes the snap out of the humour, and while there is character development it doesn't feel earned.

Still, the characters are likeable, and the switch of direction at the halfway mark allows the story to end on a satisfying note, with a reassuring reflection on how we can adapt to life, no matter how desperate our plight.

The music is light, some ominous stuff to accompany Chompy and the girls, and the camera work and lighting do give some ordinary locations a sense of spooky isolation.

Overall: Heart in the right place, slightly off on the writing.

There is no hiding the fact that this is a low-budget film. The special affects and CGI are passable at best, but mostly obvious. With the exception of Udo Kier's vocal cameo, the cast is pretty much unknown.

It would be easy to write Chompy & The Girls off as just another low budget indie flick, but it really is so much more than that.

The general plot is, admittedly, ridiculous. Bit the way it plays out is brilliant.

We have dark humour which is totally on point. Plot twists that nobody will see coming. Relationship drama that is presented comically, but also very honestly and realistically.

There are moments in this movie that, despite the absurdity of everything else that happens, really hit an emotional nerve; it really doesn't take itself too seriously, but can still pack a punch when it wants to.

Ultimately, this is a film that does wonderful things on a shoestring. Make no mistake: it's an absurd, silly story. Anyone wanting a serious, cerebral horror will be disappointed.

On the other hand, if you're willing to go along with the crazy story and madcap events, you're in for a wild, entertaining ride.

This is definitely low-budget gold.

A crazy little flick that mixes in an assortment of themes (from girl with daddy issues, suicidal depression, drug addiction, paranormal entities, bad driving and "mouth angels") and shows some weaknesses (like the Lotus character, who is a complete bust - just remove it from the final cut, you'd get a better movie), but proves to be an entertainingly weird and original piece.

As much as I can find interest in broke horror-affiliated flicks that make the best out of their limited means, exploiting their economical poverty to give more boldness to their creative potentialities, Chompy & the Girls fails to raise its ambitions above an average bored-children-targeted show.

Poor special effects are never an issue as long as the plot is solid enough; this one isn't sadly. As enjoyable and delightful its absurdity can be, and beyond the 'wow-what-is-this?!' factor of the first appearance of Chompy, the writer plays it very safe and lazy. In retrospect, it feels like lots of original opportunities have been virtually wasted by a lack of imagination, and the story turns out very basic in the end making Chompy and his quest orphans of what could have been a really crazy tale.

The film obviously tried hard to counterbalance its loony side with the presentation of some human situations... that didn't convinced me more. Here again, the film misses its target: the young female character is too histerical, too superficial to bring about any valuable emotion to the father/daughter relation the writer obviously wanted to become the center of gravity of the plot. If the daugher's character is thin, the father's personality is empty (although I found the actor was good in all his restraint); and physically, really, he bears no resemblance at all to his alleged daugther - what at least could have make the possibility of a family link more tangible (there's still a doubt about the reality of the link however, but its too vaguely expressed to bear any relevance). As for the couple's crisis that abruptly reveals it-self towards the end, it is too very roughly sketched to make any sense at this point of the film.

The grand final is as funny in a good way as it is laughable in a bad way, and the happy-end epilogue drags like the crew didn't give a damn anyhow, what also raises the question of the editing and of the overall - messy - rhythm the film has. Again, like for many horror-tagged movies, what I miss the most here is an atmosphere, the sense of a peculiar mood that would really take you on a ride. Too bad, as its monster-ish character has a strong vintage Joe-Dante appeal and it could have opened to a more exciting experience.