Review: LOVE AND MONSTERS is a Super Fun Post-Apocalyptic Monster Movie Worth Watching!
This past weekend a new film was released in theaters and on VOD titled Love and Monsters. I actually had the opportunity to see the movie in theaters recently and I enjoyed the hell out of it! I initially thought it would be a mediocre and slightly entertaining film, but it was so much more and so much better than I thought it would be, and awesomely entertaining! I had a blast watching this movie!
In a year where it seems like all the good movies are being pushed to next year, Love and Monsters is a seriously great movie out right now that I know a lot of you will love and find joy in watching. It’s perfect escapism in the times we are living in right now.
The film stars Dylan O’Brien as a character living in a post-apocalyptic world overrun with giant insect creatures and the story follows him as he heroically navigates through this monster-filled world to try to reach his girlfriend. The movie has been likened to both Mad Max and Zombieland and is said to have John Hughes overtones, which was great! But I also want to add that the film’s creature aspect of the film was totally inspired by the style of legendary filmmaker Ray Harryhausen. The creature designs in this film were super cool and just the way they fit into the film stylistically was perfect.
The movie felt like a retro 1950s-1960s sci-fi horror film and that’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed it so much. On top of that, the film told a wonderful story and it had a strong script. This isn’t one of those “so-bad-its-good-films” this is just a good movie that you’ve got to see!
The story is set seven years after the Monsterpocalypse, “Joel Dawson (O’Brien), along with the rest of humanity, has been living underground ever since giant creatures took control of the land. After reconnecting over radio with his high school girlfriend Aimee, who is now 80 miles away at a coastal colony, Joel begins to fall for her again. As Joel realizes that there’s nothing left for him underground, he decides against all logic to venture out to Aimee, despite all the dangerous monsters that stand in his way.”
Another one of my favorite aspects of the film was a dog character named Boy that Joel comes across on his journey. The dog has also been doing his own thing trying to survive this apocalyptic world and the way they developed this dog character and his role in the story was unique. There was a lot of layers and emotion there with the dog character.
The film also stars Michael Rooker (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Clyde, Jessica Henwick (Iron Fist) as Aimee, Arianna Greenblatt (Avengers: Infinity War) as Minnow, and Dan Ewing (Occupation) as Cap. All of the actors in the film did a wonderful job bringing their characters to life for the story.
Love and Monsters was directed and written by Michael Matthews with Shawn Levy producing through his 21 Laps banner. The spec script came from Brian Duffield who also wrote Jane Got a Gun.
Love and Monsters is a perfectly entertaining adventure film! If it’s playing in a theater near you, it’s definitely worth seeing on the big screen! But, if you’d rather watch it at home, it’s currently available on several PVOD platforms. I actually enjoyed Love and Monsters more than Tenet.
