Dedfest '11: Monster Brawl and Picking a Winner: A Movie Review

Director/writer: Jesse T. Cook.

Day two of Dedfest Victoria hosted Jesse T. Cook's Monster Brawl followed by Fulci's Zombie. Organizer Ira Hunter continued to give out the schwag in generous fashion. The film festival ended with a few more zombies in day two, with Monster Brawl offering a wide collection of fighting creatures. The characters were diverse, but this film is much like watching an episode of WWE on which the film is loosely based. Even actors from wrestling entertainment lampoon in the film e.g. Kevin Nash. Overall, this is a fun film; however, Monster Brawl suffers from some pacing issues and maybe even some plot holes.

This is a fighting tournament that has brought eight of the deadliest creatures together for a series of Deathmatches. You can choose who to root for amongst: zombie man (Rico Montana), frankenstein (Robert Maillet), werewolf (RJ Skinner), swamp gut (Jason David Brown), witch bitch (Holly Letkeman), lady vampire (Kelly Couture), cyclops and the mummy. There are different weight classes and the announcers highlight each creature's special ability e.g. the cyclop's mesmerizing gaze. As well, each creature gets its own montage of clips, showing how the monster made its way to the ring. Swamp gut had no choice; his habitat dwindled away until there was nothing left for him to do except explode in the ring (oops, spoiler alert). There are no referees after UFC's Herb Dean expires and even managers get in on the action.

Monster Brawl is hard to put into a category like genre. The film uses horror film creatures, but the film is not really that scary. Is this film a comedy? There are a few laughs from actors Dave Foley, Art Hindle and Jimmy Hart from the booth or next to center stage; however, this movie does not feel like a comedy. Really, this is like watching a showing of World Wrestling Entertainment. Kevin Nash and Jimmy the Hart's appearance also makes the connection to professional wrestling. So, Monster Brawl does not really fit into any known genres in cinema. Has Jesse T. Cook created a new genre?

Perhaps this is a fighting feature or action film. Most of the interaction between characters does involve a lariat or an elbow drop and really this is a series of wrestling matches with monsters. The film does not really step far out of this formula and this strategy is not really a bad one. As well, the fighting sequences are gory with the witch bitch getting the worst of it. How anyone could survive several hammer blows to the head is beyond this critique. There are also some solid use of special effects as actor Lance Henriksen booms through the audio "spectacular," or "discombobulation." This viewer was reminded of the game "Mortal Kombat" with all the one word shouts from a very recognizable Henriksen. Finally, there could have been a few more scenes with the character's spouting their special powers, but this is a low budget enterprise and there are limits to what can be displayed on screen.

And this leads the review into the problem areas of the film. There are some early issues of pacing. The film takes awhile to find its legs and to get going. There are some pauses in the transition from creature to creatures that could have used another line of comedic dialogue. Also, this horror fan was expecting more matches between the creatures. Then, the movie abruptly ends, when another half hour was needed to truly crown the overall champion of monsters (the zombie).

Monster Brawl is a fun time and the film is best seen with a big crowd of people. Some of the situations are a little silly, but there are still a lot of laughs to be found here. Just go into this film with some low expectations so that you will not be disappointed if the monster you love does not win this gory competition.

Overall: 6.75 out of 10.

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Posted in: 2011,2011 release,creature,film festival,horror,movie poster,movie review,the frankenstein syndrome,vampire,zombie