Review by John Delia
Disgusting and very violent the movie Mon Mon Mon Monsters! has a one of a kind plot that should have you cringing and retching, and those are the good parts. If you are a fan of horror that likes films that repulses more than it scares, then you can revel in this “monsterpiece†that comes out today on Blu-ray and DVD. When you do get a copy, slide the video into your player, step back away from the TV set, take a deep breath, make sure you have a barf bucket handy and press play.
Three school friends Duan Ren-hao, Liao Guo-feng, and Ye Wei-zhu, bully Lin Shu-wei and end up getting assigned to help the boy they bullied do community service. They take Lin to the poorest side of town where a lot of homeless live and while the kids are creating a lot of havoc they come across man who has a safe in his apartment. They set up a plan to come back at night and steal the safe. On the way out of the building carrying the safe they come across two cannibal girls, one of which gets tied to a post in their makeshift clubhouse in a deserted building. When the monster’s ghoulish sister comes looking for her twin, the boys find themselves fighting for their lives.
The film is brilliantly made with a lot of gross scenes, bloody encounters and two of the ugliest man-eating ghouls I’ve ever seen. Director and writer Giddens Ko uses a lot of special effects, first-rate make up and prosthesis to make his two violent beings come alive on screen. His sets are filled with garbage, human waste, rotting animals and spoiled food. His monsters can slither up walls, crawl on the ceiling, and have vicious teeth that bite for blood. Nicely done, the film is a rare find and should scare and cringe the most ardent fan of horror.
Ko’s story may be a bit wacky, but who cares. It’s one of the best of its kind and it should be given an award for this kind of rotten looking costuming and incredibly ghastly looking make up. Combined with low level lighting at times, the film gives off scary vibes that raises the bar high for the genre. The actors are extremely good, especially the bullies who are nasty, brutal, and uncaring about who or what they damage. The two females that play the monsters are ferocious and provide just the right amount of scare to make the film work.
Even though the film is not my usual cup of tea, I’m certain there’s a huge audience for Mon Mon Mon Monsters! out there just waiting in line to pick up a copy at their nearest video merchant. The film has not been rated by the MPAA, but contains, gore, extreme violence, brutality, frightening images, intimidating sets, putrefied elements, and many other adjectives I can’t think of right now.
FINAL ANALYSIS: A brilliant horror fest. (4 out of 5 Stars for fans of the genre)
Specifications and additional video information
Cast: Eugenie Liu, Kent Tsai, Yu-Kai Teng, James Lai, Meng Tao, Bonnie Liang, Carolyn Chen
Directed and Written by: Giddens Ko
Genre: Horror, Foreign
MPAA Rating: Not Rated, contains violence, gore, language,
Running Time: 1 hr. 53 min.
Video Release Date: February 4, 2020
Language: Taiwanese (Changeable to dubbed English)
Reviewed Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
Video: Widescreen, Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French
Number of Discs: 1 disc
Distributed by: RLJE Entertainment
Released on: DVD