There Are Monsters (2013) Reviews

• Good Movie, Could have been great

  ellen-300482018-02-18

  Really enjoyed the storyline, shame none of the potential movie makers in the film could actually focus on anything. Felt quite seasick at times and got bored watching a black screen. I get that they were trying to be realistic but I can film from a car window and still focus. Having said that, I did enjoy it

• There are jump scares and shaky cams

  Finfrosk862015-03-12

  This was the very last movie at Glasgow Frightfest 2015. And quite a good one to end it all. The bad: This is, I assume for budgetary reasons, a found footage flick. Unfortunately this means quite a lot of shaky cam. Really, really shaky. Way too zoomed in, and shaky. Like, Blair Witch with Parkinson's. I was literally squirming in my seat hoping whoever was filming would just. zoom. out. And ever so often the movie cuts to these just wild zoomed in shaky parts, where you see absolutely nothing but blur. OK, got the bad out of the way! The Good: The good thing is that not all the filming is shaky, and pretty much all the actors did a good job. The movie was well paced and not boring (even after watching 5 movies before it, as this one was last). The characters are likable, and seem to have pretty good chemistry. There are some laughs to be had, too. The Scary: This movie actually gave me chills a couple of times! Kudos. Some of the sound effects, and visual effects, are pretty darn creepy. And a couple of the jump scares are very effective. Pretty cool. I especially liked how some of the creepy parts gets you thinking: was that actually a creepy effect, or was it my mind playing tricks on me? All in all it was pretty entertaining, and very good for a found footage movie. Good movie to see with a couple of friends, if you have those.

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• Spoilers follow ...

  parry_na2017-12-02

  Looking back, 2013 was a prolific year for horror films. However, not many of them have proved as enjoyable as this low-budget found footage production. Using simple but very effective tactics, this project does its best to convince us that our planet is slowly being taken over by doppelgangers. These beings look like us and do their very best to act like us – but in subtle ways, they get it wrong. I've always been more frightened of the idea of human monsters than the bug-eyed variety, and 'There Are Monsters' plays very well with this idea. A group of sardonic students on a road trip, filming their experiences, are methodically shaken out of their high-spirited reverie by repeated sightings of people acting very oddly. Well, actually not very oddly – just slightly oddly. It is a subtle device, but that and frequent news bulletins of things being 'not quite right' create an effective feeling of growing unease. Director and writer Jay Dahl is a name we should hear more of. His style here is very 'found footage' (lots of shaky cam and a seemingly haphazard knack of catching reactions and fleeting glimpses), and he makes full use of it. There are even a few very effective jump scares. As the relationship between the group becomes more frayed, we are aware that we are in a kind of 'Invasion of the Bodysnatchers' scenario, just without the horticulture. Two elements of this film put me in mind of other things. The briefly seen 'twins' reminded me a little of the mighty Castel twins in a number of fantastique films directed by Jean Rollin (especially 1975's 'Lèvres de Sang/Lips of Blood'). Secondly, some of the effects used reminded me of the terrifying Aphex Twin's music video for 1997's 'Come to Daddy'. Original, unnerving, and highly enjoyable.

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• Brilliant Story & A LOT Of Shakey Cam

  DarkBlueChris5552019-02-26

  There Are Monsters is basically found footage meets Invasion Of The Body Snatchers - and that's no bad thing. Four friends are filming a documentary about school children (or something like that) when during their filming they begin to notice odd, subtle behaviours in people. The subtle gradually becomes more in your face and outlandish as it becomes apparent that these people aren't actually people at all - they used to be - but now they have been taken over by forces unknown. The four friends eventually become convinced something is very wrong; and as society crumbles around them they end up fighting for their very survival. There Are Monsters is an above average found footage horror. The acting, plot and pacing of the film are all very good. And the spin on the well worn found footage path that people are gradually being taken over by something unknown brings a freshness to this often stale sub genre. The one flaw that's apparent throughout is the overuse of shakey cam. At times it's really difficult to actually know what's going on due to the camera flying all over the place, and there are one or two blackout scenes too when you can't see anything. I know this adds to the realism, but at times the shakey cam is so rough it's difficult to watch. In the main though this is a very good example of how to produce a good found footage film, and with so many bad examples out there, this is a definite diamond in the rough.

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• Actually really good

  nathanmanson2019-01-08

  Ay you know that actually scared me wow, when their faces moved it actually sent me under the covers. My 25 year old brother was holding on to me for dear life at different parts during the film. I didn't like when he did that but fully understand why.