Big Monster on Campus

It's not a film I would go out of my way to watch, but it's amusing on a boring Sunday afternoon (when I watched it). I was expecting some awful "teen" rubbish, but was pleasantly surprised. Enjoyably offbeat and dark in places, but it's mostly just unassuming comedy horror.

I saw this film in the video under the release title "Boltneck". I was pleasantly surprised!! The film was funny, slick, and really well acted. A Fun Halloween Movie!! I rented with intentions of just "Killing Time" and ended up really enjoying it!!

Not to sound all Maltin-ey, but what exactly were they thinking when they released this? You've got a stable of legitimate actors and a clever premise but low production quality and an out-of-whack ratio of corny to gore. What does that spell? Boltneck. It's not like there's trouble suspending belief that brains just screw in and lightning can reanimate the dead. It's just that we've seen it done better before. The movie drops in the occasional clever line or physical joke to let you know that something's going on, but for the most part it lays there. Since this genre of film is usually about one excess or another (i.e. sex or gore) then I guess that's where Boltneck failed for me. It isn't too much of anything, and it's not enough of any one thing to make it memorable.

A teen finds he can return the dead to a living being. An entertaining movie with teen hormones. Take it as entertainment realizing there is no reality to it. An enjoyable but not serious experience. Worth watching. I may well view it again.

I stumbled upon the 2000 movie "Big Monster on Campus" (aka "Boltneck") here in 2021 by random luck. I hadn't even heard about the movie prior to now as I sat down to watch it. But I saw that the movie had Ryan Reynolds on the cast list and on the cover, so of course I opted to sit down and watch this 2020 horror comedy from writer Dave Payne.

Well, "Big Monster on Campus" wasn't exactly a grand cinematic experience, that was for sure. But hey, the movie was watchable, despite it being a cheesy movie.

As for the storyline told in the movie, well it was semi-adequate. It was sort of a modern take on the classic Shelley's "Frankenstein" story, but with a hefty doze of teen-spirit added to it. So it was somewhat of an odd movie and an acquired taste really.

What impressed me about "Big Monster on Campus" was the cast ensemble. They had a heap of nice actors and actresses to participate in this movie. It was sort of fun to watch Ryan Reynolds in a movie such as this, and he was actually pulling off the movie nice enough. The movie also has the likes of Christine Lakin, Shelley Duvall, Richard Moll and Judge Reinhold on the cast list, so there is a good handful of proper talents in the movie.

While I managed to sit through directors Mitch Marcus and John Blush's 2000 movie, then it was not a movie that I will be fondly remembering or looking back upon. Nay, "Big Monster on Campus" was a bit too mundane and generic. And I bet that I will have forgotten about the movie come next week.

My rating of "Big Monster on Campus" lands on a very bland and mediocre five out of ten stars.