‘It’s the fight of the living dead’
Monster Brawl is a 2011 Canadian comedy horror film directed by Jesse Thomas Cook (Deadsight; The Hoard; Septic Man; The HeXecutioners).
The film depicts a wrestling-style fight to the death set inside an abandoned and cursed graveyard, shown in a pay-per-view style atmosphere. The fighters are eight classic movie monsters – Cyclops, Swamp Gut, Frankenstein’s Monster, Lady Vampire, Werewolf, Mummy, Witch Bitch and Zombie Man.
Acting as play-by‐play announcer is Buzz Chambers (Dave Foley) with commentating by former champ Sasquatch Sid (Art Hindle). The Brawl itself is divided into two classes: The Creature class and the Undead class. For the Creatures: Cyclops, Werewolf, Witch Bitch and Swamp Gut. For the Undead: Lady Vampire, Zombie Man, The Mummy and Frankenstein.
Review:
This is probably a great party movie, and my criticisms may well be missing the point because watching the film on your own on a Saturday morning is almost certainly not the way to see it.
Perhaps the limitations of set, character and story development won’t matter when you have a bunch of people chugging beers, placing bets and cheering on their monster heroes (in other words, much like a real wrestling show)? And if they had translated this idea to the live arena, even better.
Unfortunately, watching Monster Brawl alone and entirely sober is not a good idea, as the shortcomings are far too obvious.
David Flint, MOVIES & MANIA
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.co.uk
Other reviews:
“Perhaps Monster Brawl would have been better if it were released episodically – as a television or web series. As a film, it was dull, repetitive, and painful to watch for all the wrong reasons.” Bleeding Cool
Buy: Amazon.co.uk
Cast and characters:
- Dave Foley as Buzz Chambers
- Art Hindle as “Sasquatch” Sid Tucker
- Robert Maillet as Frankenstein
- Kevin Nash as Colonel Crookshank
- Lance Henriksen as the Narrator
- Jimmy Hart as Himself
- Herb Dean as Himself
- Jason David Brown as Cyclops /Swamp Gut / Cyril Haggard
- Kelly Couture as Lady Vampire
- R.J. Skinner as Werewolf / Mummy
- Rico Montana as Zombie Man
- Holly Letkeman as Witch Bitch
- John Geddes as Lieutenant Briggs
- Mark Gibson as Agent Dunn
- Christopher Goddard as Sheriff
- Jason Deline as Jacob Blackburn
- Jesse T. Cook as the Village Drunk
- Ashley Byford as Blonde Ring Girl
- Rachelle Corbeil as Black-haired Ring Girl
- Ari Millen as Doctor Igora
- Chris Rutte as The Grub
- Matt Wiele as The Messenger
- Janet Dee as Bucket Fanny
Trailer:
