Horror Movie Review: There Are Monsters (2013)

There Are Monsters is a damn frustrating watch. It has a well told story, good acting, genuinely chilling moments & effective jump scares that are ruined by the bane of my horror movie existence…found footage.

Some of the most vomit-inducing shaky camera work alongside so many unnecessarily zoomed in shots ruins what would otherwise be one of the best horrors of the decade. What use are tension built scares if you can barely look at the screen without wanting to throw up all over it!?

You might think I’m exaggerating but I’m not.

There are monsters…but we can’t see them coming.

A crew of student film-makers are on a work-related road trip when they uncover proof that the world is being taken over slowly, quietly and efficiently by creatures that look exactly like us. Paranoia runs rampant, who can they trust? It’s all in the smile.

The premise of There Are Monsters is similar to the classic Body Snatcher films but updates it & makes the story its own. The cast are really good, really believable & certain characters denial of what is staring them in the face makes sense. Who could believe such a thing? Who would want to?

The movie builds tension well, it builds & builds to the point where you as the viewer don’t really understand what is going on. Everything comes to a head in an absolute treat of a sequence in a hospital. One of the most tense moments I’ve seen in horror for a long time.

The movie does its horror so well. Even the jump scares it employs fit & very effective. These creatures can move very fast in an instant! It’s a creepy movie enhanced by some clever sound effects & some subtle & smartly used visual effects.

Unfortunately, it’s not just the filming technique that lets it down though. The film doesn’t seem to know when to end. Several times it seemed as though it had hit the perfect time to finish but yet it carried on. At this point, there was nothing else to tell so it just comes across as a dragged out ending.

If only There Are Monsters had money behind it. Enough to see it filmed professionally then this would be a 9/10 movie easily. Its story is so interesting & well told but it’s nearly unwatchable at times. A real pity.