Jeanskynebu
the audience applauded
Ensofter
Overrated and overhyped
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
Tonypulp
Three dangerous vixens, one giant tentacle monster.. it's a recipe for a good old fashioned disaster. In a good way, of course. In this brand new ozploitation flick, the glorious classic elements of the exploitation and the input of several characteristics of the monster genre collide. It's the best of both worlds. I wasn't expecting much, but the first few minutes caused my jaw to drop and my drool to escape. Just a figure of speech..It starts off with the three ladies hanging around in the middle of the desert in their broken down car, all shot in classy black/white, steady photography. Australian director Stuart Simpson is obviously paying a tribute to Russ Meyer's monumental classic 'Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!'. It's an effective start and it immediately brings a certain attitude and vibe to it that fans of the traditional action/crime genre will definitely love.The happy, cheery vibe changes as we witness a terrible crime committed by the, apparently, hit-man-chicks. Monstro Del Mar shows a serious side, but at the same time it will never forget the essence of a great monster flick; taking a breath every once in a while and have a laugh. Plenty of room for silly activities, exploiting the female presence without getting to sexual or cheap.With only 75 minutes on the clock there will be little time to get distracted or bored with the ladies, the monster or the epic combination of both. The ending is one to remember and the fact that they used practical effects for the most part is something that made me smile from cheek to cheek. Stuart Simpson knows what's right, resulting in a mixture of genres that will entertain you in a way that most other modern exploitation revivals fail to do.It's not easy to point out exactly what makes Monstro del Mar that much different from the rest. We've all seen it before for as long as we can remember. Maybe it's the lack of convincing new material that makes this traditionally built piece of horror worth your while. Why change a killer recipe, right? The three vixens, Beretta, Blondie and Snowball are all played by first time actresses, making their part even more impressive. They play their roles as if they are having a good time, not as if they're trying to act.I could just repeat the above and call it an end, but I'd like to point out that it really is a refreshing film in the midst of all the crap released lately. Stuart Gordon, who began his career at Troma (where else?), has convinced me of his talent in a way that very few are capable of nowadays. Check this Australian masterpiece out whenever you can, it will be worth your time!
Neil Welch
Three delinquent young women find themselves battling a sea monster in a small Australian seaside town while swearing a great deal.Bad acting meets cheap and shoddy effects in a film which is such appalling rubbish that it gives appalling rubbish a bad name. The script is one of those which believes that the more profanity you spout, the harder you are. Like so many before it, it is incorrect in this assumption.I can't award lower than one star, and then I'll award another for the use of tripod to avoid the ubiquitous wobblycam. Nothing else merits praise. The monster's tentacles are arms in long socks. Oh, please.
Red-Barracuda
Monstro! is one of those films that sounds like it's going to be a sure-fire winner when read about. It even has a cool poster. In truth, it doesn't live up to its potential. Its story has three bad girls on the run for a double murder. They wind up at a small seaside town that is terrorised by a tentacled sea monster. It should be fairly obvious from the above synopsis that this is a movie with more than a passing debt to the exploitation classic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! Furthermore, it even features the quite specific detail of a wheelchair bound misogynistic old man, which also aligns it with Russ Meyer's film. But this is a far less interesting movie sadly. The three girls here are a far cry from the Pussycats unfortunately and aren't nearly alluring enough to carry the film too far, although they are still the best thing about it.Irrespective of the bad girl trio, it's essentially a low budget Australian creature feature. The monster of the title does pitch up every so often and gets involved in some gory killings. We don't really see too much of it beyond tentacles until the pretty decent finale. But the very combination of the three bad girls on the run with a creature feature is quite odd and does feel like two entirely different films colliding head on; which I am sure was the intention of the writer/director. There's also a pretty good soundtrack of retro tunes which adds some value to proceedings.I would have to classify this as a bit of a miss considering the great possibilities it suggests. But overall it is fairly entertaining and doesn't ever get boring. And at 75 minutes it never out stays its welcome.
Sorpse
el monstro del mar had some pretty good things going for it but in my opinion is ultimately a failure. The directing team seems to have lots of potential but just couldn't muster up enough talent to make these half ass actors look good. I liked where they were going, three sexy bad girls on a killing spree fight for their lives against a tentacled beast from the ocean. Its a low budget grindhouse style film which happens to be one of my favorite genres but this one just didn't do it for me. The biggest problem is the actors; the three lead female bad girls are unattractive. They are a bunch of 3's dressed up as 9's and are only wasting my time. Its not that there is anything wrong with being unattractive its just that the role seemed to call for hot chicks and these girls fell short, also their tattoos looked stupid. This could all be forgiven if they maybe had some sort of acting talent, they vomit out their lines in a completely annoying fashion. I felt the whole movie dragged up until the last 10 minutes where it comes quite close to redeeming itself. Once the monster shows up for the final showdown the movie shows some huge potential and had I not been annoyed for the first house I could have seen myself really digging this movie. The monster looks cool and there is some nice gooey action that almost distracts from the horrible actresses fighting it off. I like me some low budget campy grindhouse-esque monster movies but el monstro del mar is hindered by terrible acting and cheap sound.
