Monster (2018)

"Don't blame me---I have to kill someone!

Every once in a while a low budget, terrible CGI movie can surprise you. Monster was not a great movie, but for its little film niche it performed surprisingly well.

A bus full of people wake up to find that they are in the middle of a desert with no memories of who they are. Nearly everyone panics and runs away only to be obliterated by a literal monster sand storm. Five men and one little girl survive on the bus. The desert reveals other horrors when the motley crew is attacked by roaming sand demon dogs. The little girl calls all the men daddy, naming them after characters from the Monkey King. Who were they before this happened and can they find the way home?

Little Daddy quoted Buddhist proverbs, one of which was, “Good people are always protected by the Buddha.” That saying will be tested and provided clues to the men’s backgrounds. Where the survivors were and how they got there was fairly logical given the writers’ world building. The characters could behave stupidly as often happens in these films but less so than in others. The film also brought up the question of how people would behave if they had no memory. Would they be selfless or self-serving? The acting was actually pretty good, I’m used to actors practically sounding out the words off cue cards in some of these low budget creature features. The child actor could be too much at times, but overall, she gave the men a reason to bond together.

The desert was desolate enough to throw fear into anyone. The CGI critters, sandstorms, and other special effects won’t win any awards yet they helped fulfill the Buddhist punishments of wind, water, and fire effectively enough. Not sure how man-eating monsters fit into that philosophy. Much of the film dealt with how people react and act during a crisis and whether they are willing to protect the most vulnerable. To be sure, redemption played a strong role in the story, my own personal butterflynip.

Monster is not a film for everyone. It won’t be terrifying for those looking for jump scares nor quality enough for the majority of movie viewers. If like me, you are the type to wander aimlessly through film sites and randomly pick films to watch, this one might not burn you like others. Truly damning it with faint praise, I know, but I set my bar of expectations low, very low, and came away adequately entertained.

30 October 2025
Trigger warnings: Dismemberment, and creatures attacking and feasting on humans.

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