A Brilliant Conflict

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

MONSTER!, a low budget TV movie from 1999, is a film that's been written as a homage to and a pastiche of the classic 1950s B-movie monster flicks, in particular THE BLOB which it copies the plot of throughout. It's designed as a nostalgia piece, a throwback to the movies of yesteryear, although it's nowhere near on a level with Joe Dante's similarly-themed Matinée.Unfortunately this is pretty much a failure as a film; other than the in-jokes and references to previous movies, there just isn't much to write home about here. The scriptwriter throws in a lot of clichéd scenes, like the teens making out in a car and being attacked by the beast, and plays them for laughs, but they just aren't very funny. And don't get me started on the monster itself: this is one of the silliest CGI creations put on screen, and I'm glad it doesn't appear very much.The only actor of note in the whole thing is M. Emmet Walsh, an old-timer playing an actor from the original run of monster movies. Walsh gives an energetic, tongue-in-cheek performance that sadly isn't matched by the rest of the cast. No, despite the fun elements this is very much a forgettable outing, even for fans of the movies being referenced.

Well, it's easy to describe this movie. What Wes Craven's SCREAM was to the slasher-movies, MONSTER! is to monster-movies in general. It's an enjoyable spoof that first explains the rules of the genre and than plays with them. M. Emmet Walsh plays Lloyd Reeves, a local movie-hero who has starred in one too many monster-movie. He gets released from the hospital and his son is there to take care of him for a while. But at that same time teenagers begin to disappear and turn up dead. Lloyd is convinced that a monster is terrorizing the town. A monster which returns every three years. Could that be true, or is Lloyd finally losing it himself? M. Emmet Walsh is a lot of fun as the determined Lloyd Reeves, who constantly refers to his legendary film rolls in monster-movies. It's also fun to see almost everything he predicts, come true (because he knows the rules of the genre). The rest of the cast is decent but rather forgettable. The film moves at a fairly fast pace and is as well a parody on as a homage to the entire monster-genre. The monster, which we do get to see near the end, is a bit silly and made out of pretty bad CGI (think Playstation 1 graphics). But it didn't bother me at all, 'cause this is a spoof after all. And a fun one it is.So, you can easily program this movie as the first of a triple-feature monster-movie night, to lighten up the audience. But you can also watch it on a rainy Sunday afternoon with the kids, since there's no nudity or real violence in it. You can pop open a beer and poor in some hot choco-milk for the kids and than enjoy this silly monster-spoof.

If you want to have some real fun this is just the movie for you. Forget all the stuff you have come to expect in "monster" movies. This was just meant to entertain and that it does. I laughed and laughed (I'm laughing now, thinking about it again.) Go back to the innocent ages from a time that has past and relive a parody of what used to be. The story is great. It has all the right stuff at the right time. The town hero has a job to do and does it well while everyone else thinks he is crazy. It has action, adventure, heart warming family interaction, and romance. While you can usually guess what is coming next, you really can't wait and will end up on the edge of your seat rooting for the good guys or the monster depending on your mind set. Best move I've seen in a long time.

M. Emmet Walsh portrays "Lloyd," an aging former star of a series of 50s "B" monster movies; Lloyd always portrayed the hero, a teenager who, initially was never believed by the adults when he claimed that a monster was about to attack the town. Of course, as in all classic monster movies, he was proved right and he "saved the town!" The movies were filmed in Lloyd's own small town, where, though he is considered a local celebrity, he is also considered a loony -- he is in the "New Purgatory Psychiatric Ward" because he insists that his town is, in fact, about to be attacked by "the monster." Enter Lloyd's grandson, who signs him out of the psychiatric hospital; they settle in at Lloyd's home, where Lloyd, who still takes his role of "town hero" quite seriously, instructs his grandson on how to fight the approaching monster according to "movie rules." People do, in fact, start getting killed; however, the sheriff thinks that Lloyd is the killer. Little by little, his grandson comes to believe that his grandfather may just be telling the truth.Don't look for totally logical resolution, but do look for classic 50s monster scenes: the couple "making out" at Lover's Lane, the people running screaming from the movie theater. This movie follows the traditional monster movie plot perfectly and is a wonderful "tongue-in-cheek" tribute to the B-movie art form.