Here’s an anthology of ghoulish flicks that are sure to make you gag or laugh depending on your mood. The eight short films are written and directed by different directors and provide their idea of what terror and even silliness has become. Most of the adult audience should be able to find at least one of the segment of Monsterland they can call their cup of tea, but remember this DVD is not for kids.
The opening scenes are the introduction to the films and features flying beasts destroying a big city as a man with a baseball bat enters a movie theater with the marquee spelling out Monsterland. Walking into the auditorium we see people lying dead in the aisle as the man takes a seat just as the film begins.
Don’t Go in the Lake is the first short feature and we find teens meeting friends for a dip one evening. It’s their usual spooning place and their all excited to skinny dip. Getting into the water is a breeze, but they may have a little trouble getting out.
In The Grey Matter a guy wakes up in the street with blood all over him and a piece of the skull on the back of his head missing. He has no memory of what happened. With no health insurance he decides to treat himself and goes to work as usual. At work he sees a girl he has a crush on and they start to hit it off. But, it’s not what you would call the “perfect” romance, especially since a he has a parasite as a helper.
The next flick is called Curiosity Kills with a mean young boy deciding to go through the briefcase of his mother’s scientist lover even though the man has told him not to. When his pet mouse finds out what’s inside, it’s too late for the boy and everyone else.
In Hag a guy’s wife sleepwalks and tells him the next day she is having nightmares. They decide to go to a therapist and he tells them it’s not unusual. When her sleepwalking starts to involve an apparition, things begin to bother him to the point of eating him alive.
In this intermission animated cartoon we finds a guy fighting off a monster and it kills his best friend. He calls the monster killer man who arrives in time kill the beast, or so he thinks.
House Call a Dentist at home getting drunk because he’s been served with divorce papers gets a caller at his front door. At the point of a gun the man demands the Dentist pull his canine teeth out.
Happy Memories, a live action, animated with puppetry short film feature about a monster invasion.
In a flip of the marriage duties Stay at Home Dad tells the tale of a man who gets breast feeding implants so he can take care of the couple’s newborn so the mother can go to work.
Lastly Helly Fish is about a diver off the coast of America who finds a huge megaton bomb that he was looking for to sell to the Russians. But things do not go as planned and giant jellyfish start to spawn.
The films are unrated by the MPAA, but contain violence, nudity, language, and gore; and some disgustingly disturbing stuff too.
FINAL ANALYSIS: Some of the films are corny, others provide a big laugh and one or maybe two actually are real examples of horror. (C )
Specifications and additional video information:
Cast: Josh LaCasse, Noel Jason Scott, Cody Goodfellow, John Condit, Sarah French, Anna Gravel, Andrew Sawyer, Kacy Woodworth, Peeter Marin, Rita Ratseep, Jaak Valdre, Drew Wicks, Magan Duffy, Eileen Dietz, Ruben Pla, Sean Keller, Alex McClung, Brian Feldman, Chris Davis, Hanna Miller, Matthew Currie Holmes, Alisha Seaton, Trent Haaga, Richard Grove, Agnes Asplund, Mohammed Simbawy, Abraham Lebos, Liberty Lebos
Directed by: Jack Fields, Erik Gardner, Andrew Kasch, Josh LaCasse, Patrick Longstreth, Sander Maran, Peter McCoubrey, Corey Norman, John Skipp
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains nudity, violence, drug use, language, gore
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Anthology
Running Time: 1 hr. 49 min.
Video Release Date: June 7, 2016
Language: English
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital Stereo
Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ration 1.78:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RJL Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
