Let's be frank from the outset: MONSTER is a Z-grade rip-off of CLOVERFIELD, made with about a millionth of the budget that film had and without an ounce of originality. It's made by a studio who knock out lots of this type of junk (check out TRANSMORPHERS) in an effort to make a buck or two, and by and large they're successful. But are there films any good? I don't think anybody could go into MONSTER expecting a classic, BUT...and this is a very surprising but, considering my low threshold for rubbish, I actually found myself enjoying this film.Okay, so the odds are stacked against it. The whole film rests on the shoulders of a pair of girls, Sarah Lynch and Erin Sullivan, who, it's fair to say, aren't the most accomplished of actresses. But they do okay, and for the most part they hold the film together, only getting a bit screechy in the over-emoting scenes. Their irritating characters come about as a result of the script so you can't really blame them for that. They're pretty too, which helps.The hand held camera-work quickly becomes tiresome and anyone who complained of motion sickness from the likes of THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT will find their stomachs tested with the ultra-jerky shaky-cam stuff going on here. Most irritating for me was the way the camera often cuts to a black screen; if you added all the black bits together they'd probably take up a full ten minutes of the film. The lack of narrative structure is also a problem, as although there's a strong start, the film just tails away rather than finishing properly.So why did this film entertain me so much? I'm almost ashamed to admit it, I found it pretty frightening. I watched it with the volume turned up and the sounds of the giant squid-like monster were eerie in the extreme, even if the same sound effect is repeated over and over. The constant rumbling and sounds of distant conflict were also highly effective in the same way that a film like CLOVERFIELD is effective. Basically, the only part of this film that works is the sound effects, and they're quite excellent.The squid itself is a rarely-seen beastie and that's good, because the CGI effects are quite poor: fun poor, though, in the same way that '50s crude stop motion is fun poor. The low budget is really apparent, because on some of the street 'attack' sequences, you just see the camera shake while pointing at one of the actresses, and you know nothing's really happening off camera, just two girls and a camera man standing in the street trying to simulate the effect. I liked the Japanese supporting cast though, who bring integrity to their various parts, and the effects of the half-demolished city are surprisingly decent. Yeah, this is a Z-grade rip-off but as Z-grade rip-offs go, it's a good one.

The title of this movie was the scariest thing about it. Not only was the acting HORRIBLY atrocious; the script, effects, and everything made me want to kill myself! Never mind the fact that the script was both insulting to the Japanese culture, but also made Americans look like absolute brainless wonders of nature. Thank God there was a reasonably attractive heroin in the story (if you can call it that) - but even she killed it the first time her and her sister had to "pretend" to be in a Monster attacked Tokyo; simply awful. Maybe they should try singing for American Idol instead. Intensive acting school is indeed of great need for these would be starlets - as well as many-many lessons in captivating screen writing. (5 burned-out stars, is how I would rate this "monstrous" failure.)

Even though this movie was a total ripoff of Cloverfield, I was still drawn in by the setup. Two girls are visiting Japan to conduct some interviews for some activist group. While filming, they are caught in an earthquake, but some of the locals claim it is something else. They start running around the city, still filming, and we find out it is a giant monster attack. At the end of the movie, the sisters get separated, and we find out that although their footage was later discovered, the girls were never seen again.For some reason, I still like the technique popularized by The Blair Witch Project, where the movie is supposedly filmed by the characters. I know a lot of viewers hate that kind of camera work, and many even claim it gets them sick. I think maybe for me, it makes me feels more like I am transported into the action of the movie, or that what I am watching feels more raw or realistic. Rec and Paranormal Activity were two movies that used this style very effectively and kept me tense all the way through. The problem with Monster is that it never goes anywhere. It doesn't build. They didn't really have any ideas, it doesn't seem planned. Just some footage of American girls running around Japan trying to avoid the destruction. We never really see the monster, which is a big letdown (except for a swinging tentacle). And they over-stylized the camera work WAY past the point of distraction. In fact, it seems like the area of the movie that the most time was devoted to was making the footage seem damaged. Except that it was so over the top, it didn't feel the least bit natural. I won't bother to try to describe the effects they used, but it was a ridiculous combination of static and jump cuts that seem intended more to cover up the fact that they had no story than anything else. I had to kind of fast forward and skip around to get through this movie, and I won't watch it again, nor do I recommend it to anyone.

My intro sums up my feelings on the movie and some of the comments on this site. The easiest way to elaborate is with an "I can't believe" list: 1. That someone paid to make such a painfully bad movie. 2. That I paid to watch it. 3. That some people on this site thought that there were good aspects of the film. 4. That someone thought that simulated crappy camera footage was a good idea for the entire length of the movie. 5. That the actresses said let's stop filming, put down the camera, please stop the camera, and so on about 50 times during the film but no one was mercifull enough to actually stop the f---ing camera. 6. That the monster was about as menacing as a kid in a Squidward costume (Sponge Bob reference) 7. That I hated it so much I joined this site to tell everyone.I don't care what anyone says, the acting in this movie was somewhere between a high school version of the princess and the pea and a really low budget porn movie. Some people liked the 2-3 cleavage shots but even if the two girls were nude for the entire movie it wouldn't have been any better. I kept hoping that the story would pick up and of course it never did; the only thing that I can say is thank god for fast forward. I think that I'll tell the video store that I want my rental charge refunded.