Monsterville : Le Couloir des horreurs

So all the goth kids' souls are stolen, boo oo stay away from everyone with black nail polish. Dove Camerln carried the movie, it was okay but if you prefer actually scary horror movies, this is not for you.

I don't watch horror. Predictable. And gore is just cheap schlock.

But I love circuses and sideshows. And there are many movies about them. First main introduction was Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way comes which was made into at least two movies.

Anyway...

This one is all a bit predictable. It takes a while - i.e. too long - to get going and it changes protagonists half way through! Really! If you've one eye on the plot line it's a bit jarring.

It's def YA. Not just YA but childish YA. Sub 12 maybe. So although it has a great theme and some spooky moments, the childish parts really detract from the overall movie.

But nice characters, well played and a suitable music score by Ryan Shore.

But does the inane pop/hip hop music splattered throughout really appeal to the target audience? Really?

Yeah, I know that's twice I've said 'Really'.

I can't help but think how much better it would have been if it had aimed at a slightly higher age range or, at the very least, not been dumbed down so much. Hey ho...

So, if you're a young and unfussy YA, go watch it.

If you have nothing else to watch and this is the only thing on TV, watch it I guess.

The biggest problem I had was with the weird camera-work. Almost everything is blurred at the edges and I am guessing they were trying to give it a fairy-tale look with the blurring, but it just looks silly.

The second problem is that the lead male and female have no chemistry. The Hunter guy has more chemistry with the lead female and mostly because they actually are a couple in real life.. so yeah.

In the end, acting is fine, girls are fine, mood is light and I was kinda hoping for all that. But unlike Goosebumps, this movie wasn't very entertaining. Teen problems mixed with campy horror. Meh!

It's a horror movie for kids OK? Look at all the awards. It hit it's mark "dead" on. My little guy goes running out of the room in terror at the first scene, and watches it over and over running into Daddy or Mommys arms everyone. Then he laughs. It's priceless. I agree that Dove Cameron did a great job. The kids are believable and the plot is decent.

I grew up reading rl stine books so this went down well. Its targeted for a younger audience yes but still enjoyable to watch.