There’s a variety of monster insanity to be found in this quadruple feature of Asian horror films. So let’s get a little glimpse at what you can expect if you dare to check them out.
MONSTRUM (2018)
Monstrum was getting some hype on social, and I’m always looking for a good monster movie my horror-lite hubba hubba can appreciate as well, so I gave this one a try.
He liked it better than I did.
Mostly because I didn’t like it.
It takes 35 minutes of talk for a group to organize a hunt for a giant monster that is supposedly infecting people in the kingdom. Even some slapstick comedy couldn’t keep me engaged.
The monster finally attacks 49 minutes in, and I’ve seen better cutscenes in a video game.
It’s just sad that this form of special effects is the norm these days and people think it’s cool. The monster looks absurd, tossed bodies look like cartoons, and as always, the programmers can’t manage to keep the size of the creature consistent. I guess on the bright side it looks cool when it’s not moving.
The battle with the beast at the end is definitely action-packed and entertaining. It would have to be since that’s really all this movie with a thin plot and basic characters is going for.
MON MON MON MONSTERS (2017)
Either this film is terribly mismarketed or I totally misread the marketing. I got the impression it was going to be one of those fun and campy Asian teen horror flicks.
Instead, it’s quite reminiscent of the repulsive concept of the film Deadgirl. After we’re introduced to a pair of cannibalistic humanoid underground girls (CHUGs?) we meet our main boy, who is terribly bullied by his shitty classmates while his teacher stands by and does nothing about it…until she forces him to spend time alone with them to learn how to get along.
After terrorizing the elderly, they see one of the girl humanoids get hit by a car, so they abduct her and then continuously torture her.
Sure the movie might be trying to show us that humans are the real monsters, but there is no redeeming value to any character here. It’s no fun when your moral compass is forced to choose between man-eating monsters and sadistic adolescents.
It’s unfortunate, because the CHUGs are terrifying. Yet…I sided with them in the end. It was just so satisfying when the free one comes to save the captured one and slaughters a school bus full of kids while she’s at it.
INHUMAN KISS (2019)
Asian horror film Inhuman Kiss will remind those who lived through the 1980s immediately of Mystics in Bali, because both films are about floating female heads.
However, most of the good head here is packed into the final act. This film runs a whopping 121 minutes (way too) long. Much of the movie is spent building a sort of love triangle along with the mythology of the Krasue, as these female heads are called.
A young woman who experienced something terrifying as a child is now working as a medic in a small town. She has a boyfriend and a close male friend who pines for her. Personally, I’d go for the pine scent…
Meanwhile, there is rumor of a Krasue running loose in the town and eating cattle. Hunters come to the town and offer to help hunt her down.
Because of what the main girl experienced as a child, she and her two male friends become drawn into the terror that is gripping the town, and both boys are determined to do anything they can to keep her safe. It really is a love story at…um…heart.
We see very little of the Krasue for most of the film, but the mythology gets even more complex at the end with insane mythological male monsters suddenly appear on the scene. They’re sort of flying demon creatures and they’re awesome, delivering some wild monster wars in the sky.
But be warned. This is a heartbreaking love story in the end, giving it more depth than your usual horror flick.
O.O MHz (2020)
Blend teen horror with Asian hair horror like The Ring and possession films like The Exorcist, and you have this time waster. To me it also brought to mind the Fatal Frame survival horror video games.
There’s absolutely nothing new here, but if you’re itching for some Asian horror and can’t get enough of ghost and/or possession films, you’ll probably enjoy it.
A ghost hunting group of kids called 0.0 MHz goes to an abandoned village where a girl was killed in a house…and then an exorcist was killed in the house.
Their plan is to do an experiment involving the interaction between dreams and ghosts, so they perform a ritual with dolls to channel the ghost. What they get is a ghost girl that drags them underground with her CGI hair. The hair effects are really cheesy.
The one refreshing twist is that when it’s time for an exorcism, which includes levitation, puking, and head spins (the usual), not only is one of the girls possessed, but so is the exorcist! Nice.
There are also some bad CGI ghouls, like a weird demon bird and a witchy floating face, but this film is mostly just a retread of classic Asian horror from two decades ago.
