Bao gao lao shi! Guai guai guai guai wu

From the title and poster, I thought this was going to be a cute monster movie with cute boys but it was actually quite depressing (in a good way!) Proving that bullying is the REAL monster!!

Side note - I have really enjoyed a majority of the International films released on Shudder. Movies like this one are totally worth the subscription price alone!! -not a paid endorsement-

It's probably not a good idea to either capture a monster...or make one.

I love to go into a movie as cold as I can, and the barely little I saw of this led me to believe this would be a kiddie monster movie for fun, like The Monster Squad. Oh, hell no. I'm guessing this is "supposed" to contain "humor," but this gets dark, fast and gruesome, just for adults.

This is NOT for kids. Even if it mainly stars them.

Bullied student - and not just by his peers, gets to join his closes adversaries for the day and while he wants to be accepted, he realizes, slowly how dark, disturbed and horrific they can be. And then a monster shows up.

They capture said monster, or at least, one half of a pair that doesn't like to be separated from each other. NOT a good idea.

Just like I like to go in cold into a film, I've only given you 1/100th of the movie and there's so much more you can explore. And needless to say, you'll experience more than you bargained for.

I loved the originality, the acting, film-making, but not so much the fake CGI and CGI blood - one of my biggest pet peeves as of late. It's lazy, cheap and beneath any real filmmaker. Do it practical or up your CGI budget to real filmmaking standards.

As mentioned, this gets dark and once the movie remotely starts to dim...there's no going back. So, if you like that, buckle in and enjoy the ride.

***

Final thoughts: School's out. Time to start learning some lessons. Well, the audience anyways.

Very disturbing and hard to watch at times, but has a pretty interesting and unique plot.

Just love this flick. Is that title supposed to be like the old Casper cartoons? Every time somebody saw Casper they would shout, "Gho gho gho ghost!" Like, if I saw a monster, I might very well shout, "Mon mon mon monster!" Anyway, these monsters are great. They're a sister team of ghouls who live under the city. They catch homeless men and eat them. Then, when a gang of thugs is sentenced to community service by their teacher, they go down into the belly of the beast and catch the younger of the two ghouls, after they abuse the very homeless they were sent to help. They chain up the little one and bring her to their hangout, an abandoned pool. Once there they torture the ghoulet mercilessly. This is the story of how our hero, the abused member of the gang, finally wakes up and figures out who the real ghouls are.

You really have to understand Asian/Chinese/Taiwanese cinema and culture to appreciate this film. The main idea is this: who is the real monster: a monster who eats to live, or humans who delight in tormenting others? As someone who was bullied in school, I appreciate this film. A monster made a monster through no fault of her own, trying to survive, versus teenage humans who take great joy in tormenting and hurting others. Who, indeed, is the real monster? And, what can turn a good person into a monster? Is there redemption for such a person? Do parents create monsters in their children? This is a great film if you understand themes in Asian cinema. Keep in mind that it is magical realism, like many Asian films. It is both in reality, and in a fantasy world. It is both a story, and an allegory. It touches many themes in Asian culture, too many to list here. If you are willing to explore the rich world of Asian cinema and culture, then you will enjoy the hell out of this masterpiece. If you approach it from a Western horror movie mindset, then you might not like it.