Book of Monsters

2019s Book of Monsters

Book of Monsters stars Lyndsey Craine as Sophie, Who on her 18th birthday, has a party that goes awry. Is it spoilery if I say there are monsters? Or maybe even a Book of Monsters?

Monsters, fun kills, silly practical effects make this an enjoyable watch.

Ok, here is what I jotted down:

What kind of weirdo keeps an open pocket knife in their back pocket? Has a fun BBC/E4 vibe to it, and I love a lot of Brit tv and movies. Funny kills and monsters. Who doesn't love killer gnomes in a Evil Dead-ish scene? I liked the music. A mix of silly overly-dramatic music and synth. Fun practical effect mixed with the kind of bad CGI that is funny and not just bad. Bad sound design throughout. It has a montage, complete with 80s style Jean Claude Van Damme music. Loved the music in the end credits how it was self aware and funny. The post credit scene teases what could be a fun TV show similar to the cancelled Crazyhead.

All in all, if you're looking for a fun and entertaining watch that you can toss on and not take too seriously: this is a good choice.

Have fun.

6.5/10

When Sophie (Lyndsey Craine) has a few friends over for her 18th birthday, she has no idea that her past is about to rear its ugly head. As a child, Sophie went through a tragic event involving her mum and the BOOK OF MONSTERS. Now, her dad has given her this terrible tome, and left her and her friends to have their party.

Two things happen that make for a very interesting evening: THING #1- Someone has invited a small army of strangers, who get busy drinking and destroying the house. THING #2- One of the "guests", a mysterious redheaded woman, opens and reads from the beastly book, with wicked intent! Unthinkable, blood-spraying, dismembering madness soon follows! Will anyone survive the night?

BOOK OF MONSTERS is a low-budget, wonderfully cheeezey-on-purpose, gloriously non-CGI, horror / comedy from the UK. It's refreshing to see movies that don't resort to using computer-generated, cartoonish "blood" or "monsters"! Here, we're treated to old school, practical effects! No, they're not "Hollywood" perfect. They are decent though, and perfect for this particular movie. The story is also good, though it certainly pays homage to past films of the genre. The characters are not -at least not all of them- a bunch of idiots, and the monsters are game!

A gut bucket full of fun for the fear fanatic!...

I say Good Bad as it's one of those films you know you shouldn't watch but somehow end up seeing through to the end.

Although I am on my second bottle of wine as I write this review.

The actors perform well above par for this kind of fare (if you can accept the Hollywood Style Teenagers - where the average age is 16 going on 30, although this could be a piss take).

The film definitely tries it's best to keep up the tension and action. Which is quite impressive given it looks like there was virtually was no SFX or make up budget. Or any budget at all really.

To summarise: a passable film to watch on your second bottle of wine.

Rubber monsters, hot girls and fun scenes where they chainsaw up a spider creature that reminded me of the Alien Queen from Aliens. Not a bad way to spend an evening. I'd watch a sequel if it had a bigger budget.

Book of Monsters is the type of film we are seeing a lot more of on the indie horror scene these days. Take what people loved about those classic 80s horror movies and put them in a blender with a dash of British humor and you end up with this film. There are many faults to find with this movie - the ropey FX, cliche characters and budget which shows on screen more often than not. But I'm giving this film a 7 because despite these things, boy this movie is a hoot and even made me laugh out loud more than once. With killer garden gnomes made out of rubber and a cast of attractive "teens" who either die horribly or use chainsaws to fight the monsters, this movie is entertaining. The three main girls are like-able and I actually cared about what happened to them and its a plus that they are easy on the eyes too. An easy way to scratch your horror itch and not feel like you've wasted two hours.