The director and musician Rob Zombie ran two risks trying to adapt the cult series of The Monsters. On the one hand, convert the reboot in a new nostalgia-filled tribute dedicated solely to the closest fans of the original series. At the other extreme, fall into the cliches inevitable that every production that wishes to celebrate another tends to incur.
To avoid the risk of both, the filmmaker took a middle path. Convert the well-known premise of the iconic series of the monsters in a satirical mockery of black humor to the sitcom or sitcoms. In addition, he added a full-fledged parody to the B movies, from which he takes the aesthetics and rhythm.
So the well-known story of the classic monster family, trying to survive middle class America, became something unclassifiable. But in particular, at the center of the delicate balance of a script that had to be supported by a careful dose of mordacity.
the monsters
From the garish aesthetic to the crazy story it tells, The Monsters movie is more interested in the forced mockery of the dark, than in delving into any point of its argument. As much as to put aside the interest in a single premise. What exactly does the director’s film tell? In reality, the script goes from one place to another without real substance.
Classic monsters, but without personality
Rob Zombie fails to find the middle ground in a formula that requires very precise skill during its execution. On the contrary, The Monters it is a combination without solidity, that mixes the endearing with the satirical.
Which might be effective, if not for the fact that this prequel, which chronicles how Herman Monster met his beloved Lily, were less linear and inclined to the ridiculous. It is disconcerting, that the monsters collapse just because of what seems to be the primary intention of the director.
The search to lovingly pay homage to a series that became a beloved little rarity on American television. But Rob Zombie does not achieve it and turns the argument into a crazy chaos without the slightest interest, even as a cinematographic curiosity.
Jokes, monsters with nostalgia but no personality
What is most surprising about the monsters is the lack of personality of the script. That’s despite lovingly looking at the original show from various points of view. But the argument does not point to anything other than a construction full of winks and references, which is not supported by solid elements. If in the original series, the monster family was an epitome of endearing oddities, in the new version it is a joke without the slightest grace.
For the occasion, the familiar black and white of the original footage is transformed into a colorful setting of oversaturated tones. The effect breaks the delicate illusion that the film could be heir to the original series and brings it closer to a parody aesthetic. An idea that could have at least a visual goal of giving the story its own space.
Rob Zombie very soon loses the pulse to sustain his premise as a whole. For the director, the tribute does not come from remembering the most recognizable points of the monsters, as an icon of an innocent comedy. Actually, it plays with the intention of a much more malicious and contemporary background, more related to the idea of the peculiar as a privilege of the few.
The well-known story of the monsters turned into monotony
So Herman goes from a loving family man to a lab creature with the brains of a win-obsessed comedian. Lily, for her part, is transformed into a dark beauty who succumbs to the charms of this clumsy monster with a nasty mood. Everything happens in a rush, without too many explanations. The script of the monsters makes it clear that you do not need them or that you will not offer them in any case.
From the garish aesthetic to the crazy story it tells. the monsters it is more interested in the forced mockery of the dark, than in delving into any point of its argument. So much so as to put aside interest in a single premise. What exactly does the movie tell? In fact, the script goes from one side to another without real substance. It could very well be the story of Herman as he tries to achieve stardom or the despair of Lily’s father, an old vampire who must now fear for the family’s stability.
And again, Rob Zombie tries to transfer a satirical look about what our culture considers love and normality, without achieving it. Which makes the story of fearsome creatures turned into a common American family, less than an anecdote.
the monsters in the monsters that do not cause laughter
During the first half hour of the new film from the monstersthe director pays homage, almost accidentally, to Mel Brooks and his young frankenstein. The atmosphere in faraway neon-colored Transylvania is so unpleasant it’s almost exhausting. Rob Zombie wants to make it clear almost immediately that his film is not taken seriously. That this ode, without meaning and substance, is just a mockery of a larger concept that it does not finish showing and that, in the end, disappears completely.
But even that air of provocation is so clumsy and ambiguous that the humor turns into a bittersweet parody of failure. As the film progresses—even with charming cameos like Cassandra “Elvira” Peterson—it’s clear that the director has lost the sense of his story. At least the ability to carry it in a central direction. The director never manages to overcome the obstacle of a comedy that does not produce laughter, just for trying to provoke laughter without having the necessary tools.
In the end, and only almost in its last ten minutes, this prequel that also works as rebootcome to some conclusion. But showing the monstrous family as pop culture remembers them is a minor triumph amid a massive plot disaster. Without a doubt, the biggest problem of this chaotic production that tries to create a mocking scenario almost by accident.