There Are Monsters

First, I like the idea of body snatcher monsters and it was executed very effective in this movie. The characters, tension building, subtle effects, it all works here... but... what on Earth happened with camera?! Such a good movie completely ruined by what I can only call amateurish shaky blurry camera work. It's not only irritating, as the story/writing is actually engaging, but also quite uncomfortable to watch. Why oh why, you had it and you blew it completely!

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.

I enjoyed the short film of the same name, and looked forward to the feature. This was, sadly, a disappointment. The premise is largely the same, but takes longer to build tension. The acting is good and the vibe is genuinely creepy.

However, this movie suffers from the same problems that a lot of found footage films do; poor camera work. There are minutes at a time where it's completely impossible to decipher what's happening. Scenes are shot in super close up, with super quick cuts, or even, at times, a completely black screen. The camera work is downright annoying, breaking the great tension that the first part of the film built.

This has some great ideas and is genuinely creepy in places. Based around a Body-Snatchers type found-footage premise, it's got some great ideas, but ultimately just falls flat due to a lack of budget.

I'm pretty sure it was shot on iPhones, but in all honesty, that mostly works, and the beasties get some really cool stand out scenes. They also sometimes get some rubbish ones.

Sadly, it just needed some more cash and maybe a year or two's more experience for the cast and, presumably small, crew to really nail it. If you are a film student or just really love horror, do give this a bash though, as it's got some solid ideas in it.

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.