Mon Mon Mon Monsters is a 2017 Taiwanese comedy horror film written, co-produced and directed by Giddens Ko (writer of The Tenants Downstairs).
The movie stars Eugenie Liu, Kent Tsai and Yu-Kai Teng.
Plot:
A group of teenagers capture a man-eating monster…
Blu-ray release:
Mon Mon Mon Monsters will be released in the USA on Blu-ray and DVD by RLJE Films on February 4th 2020. The movie is currently streaming on Shudder.
Buy Blu-ray: Amazon.com
Reviews:
“As there are some solid, likable elements to enjoy within this even though it does have plenty of detrimental and highly problematic flaws, this is a pretty troubling effort. Give this one a chance if you’re into these kinds of genre efforts or willing to look past those flaws…” Don’s World of Horror and Exploitation
“Mon Mon Mon Monsters works as pure entertainment with laughs and gore aplenty, but its lasting power — the themes that fuel it towards a beautiful gut-punch of an ending — is in its recognition of the monsters within us all.” Film School Rejects
” …there are a number of good ideas throughout the script, some mined more effectively than others. I can’t even really complain about the direction from Ko. It’s generally good, and one or two key sequences tower over the rest of the film, both of them involving the main female characters.” For It Is Man’s Number
” … if we compare Mon Mon Mon Monsters to something like Takeshita Mike’s Lesson of Evil, it feels disappointingly soft-core, and a little too in love with its own climax. But nor does Mon Mon Mon Monsters want to turn that into a shameless creature feature. Which leaves this, Ko’s third film, a dull high school drama sprinkled with horror trappings.” The Forbidden Room
“Visually and technically, Ko owes a debt to the J-horror wave of the 1990s (Ring in particular), but he’s built a suitably grim palette for Monsters, with Chou Yi-Hsien’s (Love Off the Cuff) claustrophobic images and Pao Cheng-Hsun and Huang Mei-Cing’s splattery special effects serving the story perfectly.” The Hollywood Reporter
“Mon Mon Mon Monsters is a wacky and frequently entertaining high school horror-comedy that has just the right balance of novel and familiar elements […] On the other hand, it also displays a disturbing knack for cruelty that won’t sit well with some viewers, who may also find it hard to latch on emotionally due to a lack of sympathetic characters.” Screen Anarchy
“The director’s ultimate aim is to represent the evilness of humanity and how ultimately everyone exists in varying shades of grey […] The film is incredibly picturesque, calling back to a lot of J-horror 90s flicks with a dark colour palette and beautiful special effects. Mon Mon Mon Monsters is definitely not one for the faint-hearted, but it’s an excellent film all the same.” Eastern Kicks
Despite its utterly bleak world view, Mon Mon Mon Monsters offers plenty to delight horror fans, with a dazzling visual style, a number of standout set pieces – including a bloody encounter on a school bus – and compelling performances from a mostly young cast. As a storyteller, however, Ko sells himself short.” South China Morning Post
” …the latest from Giddens Ko doesn’t quite take pleasure in its cruelty, but it is unflinching in how it uses school bullying as its backdrop for a supernatural horror story. A lot of viewers might hit the point of enough being enough or outright disbelief even before the dismemberment starts in earnest, although they probably shouldn’t.” eFilm Critic
“Monsters paints a disturbing picture of contemporary youth culture while delivering gruesome sights that’ll have horror hounds howling in approval. Though slim in analyzing of what has driven these kids to such extremes, Ko’s vividly decorated and atmospherically filmed exercise in nihilistic horror is a mighty fine ride for those who like this sort of thing.” Variety
Main cast and characters:
Eugenie Liu … Older creature
Kent Tsai … Duan Ren-hao (as Kent Tsai Fan-Hsi)
Yu-Kai Teng … Lin Shu-wei
James Lai … Liao Guo-feng
Meng Tao … Ye Wei-Zhu
Bonnie Liang … Ren-hao’s girlfriend
Carolyn Chen … Ms Li
Film facts:
The Mandarin title translates as “Report to the Teacher! Strange Strange Monster”.
Technical details:
113 minutes
Trailer:
