The Monster Project

Movie was decent. Above average for a found footage. The Black guy and his stereotypical loud voice nearly caused me to give this movie a 1 star as he was SO annoying. And I mean SO annoying I had to cover my ears sometimes when he went on his rants. Don't know why they still think that that's needed.

Okay so I'm only 20 minutes into it and about to shut it off mainly because the black guy is so OVER THE TOP at being a black guy stereotype it's almost unwatchable. You know that stereotype where the black person in the theater yells at the screen. This is like that. He has a comment for everything and it's just ridiculously annoying. I seriously hope he dies later because if he survives, i'm coming back and giving this a 2.

I saw the trailer for this film, and I thought the premise was unique, interesting and could potentially yield an entertaining and thoughtfully made film, and I was almost completely right in my assessment. From the onset, the film makes no qualms about what it is trying to achieve. A group of people set out to prove that monsters are real by interviewing 3 people who claim to be real life monsters. It is a premise that writes itself. The acting is competent, and most of the actors are quite talented. The standout of this film, by far, are the special effects. The Skinwalker and the vampire were really well done, and the action scenes were filmed with a competence usually exerted by bigger budget films. It seems like whoever budgeted this movie made it a point to not skimp out on the SFX, and this elevated the film to a much higher standard. I was constantly impressed by some of the make-up and transformations. If more independent movies allocated their funds to SFX, they would produce much more entertaining films. Overall, it is a decent film that does some incredibly clever things that have not been attempted before. If nothing else, people should watch this film just to see an original and unique production. It is a rarity in this age of sequels.

I will end my review with this; The character who played "Jamal" was horrible, offensive, needlessly loud, and entirely stereotypical. Whoever wrote his character should be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating such limited and thoughtless characteristics on any character. Never mind that he was the absolute worst of the entire cast, every time he spoke, it was like nails on a chalkboard. 2 points were removed from my score simply because I hated the character so much. He nearly ruined what was a very decent and entertaining film.

This movie is good and it's like the Blair Witch Project with a focus on vampires, demons and skin walkers. The story works and the characters that play the monsters do really well. The pace is also good considering it's a b rated film. Is it scary? Yeah. I'd give it a 7.0 in terms of scariness. Now, on to the two major flaws. The first is the slow pick up. Literally the first 20 minutes is well....boring. I wasn't sure if it was worth watching. Glad I hung in there. The 2nd part that sucked royally....was the token black dude. OMG when I read reviews before watching and saw many people complaining, let me say as a black guy...i felt a certain kind of way. However, fast forward, let me say that.... they didn't complain ENOUGH. Wow that black dude really was SUPER ANNOYING. Drove me crazy. He was SO LOUD and OBNOXIOUS, kinda in the way most of the time and was very "black" stereotypical when he talked WHICH WAS ESPECIALLY A LOT in those first 20 minutes I told you about. So if not for these two things, I easily would have given it an 8. Oh and one more bad thing as an honorable mention is the effects. Which I didn't really care about and found it forgivable considering that it was a b-rated film with the shot on "camera" appearance. I recommend the movie and if you're willing, maybe skip the first 15 minutes or maybe turn the volume off lol for 15 minutes.

While the idea for the film is a good premise with loads of potential, the film becomes another one of the many average found footage films. The plot is simple enough, a documentary group sets out to make a film about monsters while they know they don't exist. When they finally get 3 supposed monsters to be in the documentary, they set up an interview at a creepy old house, but when they finish the interviews, the supposed monsters show their true form. The story unfortunately is just that, a good idea but they fail flesh out this story and it ends up being too thin. They try to add other story elements but they go by so quick and don't effect the rest of the film.

First of all, the acting is very hit and miss, some of the actors do a serviceable job in their roles, but a couple of the actors are so ridiculous and over-done that it made wish they would just stop talking. The visuals also are hit and miss, while the make-up for the skinwalker is very cool, the special effects in other areas are very low quality, something you would see in a bargain bin at Walmart. The film also fails to set a tone like many other found footage films like Blair Witch Project, it just goes from scene to scene with no consistence, though the lighting is moody and effective at moments. The film also tries to be existential and though provoking regarding the ideas of good and evil, but the are cliched and has all been done before.

So in short, the film is hit and miss, some very strong scenes and film elements, but unfortunately some very unflattering acting and special effects.