In short: The Monster Project (2017)

Professional asshole Devon (Justin Bruening) ropes in his buddy Jamal (Jamal Quezaire), recovering junkie Bryan (Toby Hemingway) and his own ex-girlfriend Murielle (Murielle Zuker) to help him out with his awesome/dumb new internet documentary project. “The Monster Project”, as Jamal dubs it, concerns itself with interviewing three people who say they are real monsters. There’s a faceless – in, the film is never showing his face - Navajo cop who is supposed to be a skinwalker, a tattoo artist slash vampire (Yvonne Zima), and a demon possessed teenager (Shiori Ideat and PeiPei Alena Yuan, because that’s how demons roll).

To heighten the creepiness factor, Devon and his gang are interviewing all of them in some creepy old house, on the same night, a night which also just happens to be the time of a lunar eclipse. Surely, nothing can go wrong there, and two thirds of the film won’t consist of the filmmakers running round and round and round the house, fleeing the monsters, striking back, fleeing the monsters, fleeing the monsters some more and stumbling upon a hilariously stupid yet also somewhat fun twist ending.

No, wait, that’s exactly what happens. Before that, director Victor Mathieu’s POV horror film actually seems to be a little more interested in characterisation as is the norm in this style. Not that the usual unrequited love business or Bryan’s drug problems are going to blow anyone’s minds with their originality and depth, but the film is at least putting some effort in, and the actors are convincing enough.The Monster Project also generally looks better than a lot of POV horror does, with framing and staging of scenes that suggest Mathieu put thought into constructing his cinematic funhouse ride. The special effects are sometimes effective, sometimes not terribly good but given the obviously limited budget and the film’s willingness to actually show its monsters doing things, complaining about the bad parts of the effects would be churlish.

I feel perfectly justified in criticizing how repetitive the characters’ circles through the evil, evil house are, though, scenes that start out fun enough to watch but end up seeming to never end. Others might also roll their eyes at the silly plot – particularly the villainous master plan even before one thinks through its theological implications – but I found its cartoonish air fitting enough for a film which is after all called The Monster Project, not A Very Serious Film About Some Monsters.


If only there were less footage of people running in circles through a not particularly large house, this would be an obvious recommendation for those times when the mood for lighter horror fare strikes. As it stands, The Monster Project does need some patience from its audience.