Mon Mon Mon Monsters

Technically, a first class horror film with beautiful, blood-thirsty humanoid monsters that are great fun to watch when they go on a rampage (the bus scene is truly AWESOME). Unfortunately, it’s two hours long and for much its run there isn’t any monster mayhem, but rather a teenage mayhem – besides a horror film, it’s also a social drama about bullying and horrible high-school kids and their relationships in modern Taiwan. As a result, the main characters are disgustingly evil individuals, to the point that you can trace a parallel about who the real monsters are… That works so well that sometimes it’s hard to watch. In any case, the film manages to hold the illusion and I somehow stayed till the end, which I certainly don’t regret. (11/03/2018)

Not too many good horror films have come out this year so far, in fact the only above average was The Ritual, but this new one from Tai Wan definitely deserves attention as it is one of the better, and I haven't seen a good horror film from Asia in years. On the one hand, it's kind of a high school social drama about bullying, where sneaky teenagers give one boy a decent hell, until they come across a monster that has human form and behaves similarly to a vampire. They kidnap, tie up and "bully" him, but they don’t know that somewhere her sister is hiding and willing to do anything to save hm. Very original, surprisingly well shot, and although most of the murders are out of frame, it has a decent atmosphere and the blood is certainly not lacking. The scene on the bus and the subsequent slaughter of the entire class is definitely a highlight of the film. For a two hour film I was entertained. 70% (22/03/2018)