A man hires an odd group of filmmakers to help him with The Monster Project, a documentary where he interviews three people who truly believe that they're monsters in today's society. The production, of course, takes place at a boarded-up house used for satanic rituals back in the 60s. On the night of a lunar eclipse, no less. While everyone who has ever seen a horror movie would see something seriously wrong with this scenario, this group thinks they're just making a film and press on to get their interviews. That is until all Hell breaks loose and they're fighting for survival. Oops.
Has it been done before? Yes, but we all come back again and again for more scares so I can't knock the story for being a bit cliché. The effects were really good and easily the best part of this movie. The acting was serviceable, with the exception of one cast member (not saying who) who overacted a bit. I will say that I was most impressed with Toby Hemingway and Yvonne Zima, and I found the interaction between their characters strangely compelling and effective. Even the 'found-footage' device was handled fairly well.
The horror genre in general is a tough one to rate. On one hand, some movies are so well done and scary that it's hard not to rate them high. On the other, some are just entertaining and fun. The Monster Project falls a bit more into the latter camp in that it's a well-made movie that gets a lot right, but unfortunately it just doesn't have that scare factor I was hoping for. It doesn't appear to sell itself as a comedy, so I suspect that they were going for a truly scary experience but I just wasn't feeling it for some reason. I can't hate on it though. I can tell a lot of heart and passion went into this, and I want to thank the crew for making a good movie.
6 out of 10.
