Review by Peter Syslo
A few weeks ago, I was relaxing with my guitar and a beer (as I often do late at night) and I put on the Sci-Fi channel. They were showing a Memorial Day marathon and MONSTER MAN (2003) just happened to be on at the time. To my surprise, I started to focus on the movie and, even though I would flip around during commercials, I kept coming back to it. I never thought that I would like the film as much as I did and, honestly, I would probably ignore it if I saw it on a store shelf. That just goes to show you that you never know what you are going to find and it is worth taking a chance on a movie (as long as you aren't spending a lot of money on it). A few weeks later, I bought the DVD at a video store (that was selling off old stock) and I was a happy man. So, what have we learned from all of this? Two things: 1. I was in the mood to see something light, “stupid”, and fun when I watched this and 2. The movie hit upon the right combination of locker-room humor, disfigured country-folk, a hot woman, Satanism, and (yep, you guessed it) a monster truck. What more could you want in a horror movie?
MONSTER MAN is written and directed by Michael Davis. The film stars Eric Jungmann, Justin Urich, Aimee Brooks , Joe Goodrich, and Michael Bailey Smith.
The movie is about an obsessive-compulsive, nice guy named Adam (Jungmann) who is on his way to a friend's wedding. It’s the classic story - he is a nice guy, he has been friends with the bride for years, he is in love with her, and she only likes him for his attention. As he is traveling down I-55, his college friend Harley (Urich) - who is like a cross between John Belushi and Jack Black - jumps out from the back seat and makes it known that he tagged along for the ride. After some “road” antics, the two guys are terrorized by a guy in a monster truck. They narrowly escape, but they encounter the truck and the deformed driver again, at a rest stop. Soon, they learn that the trucker murdered a guy, in a Satanic fashion, and they really start to worry that he is coming for them. After the trucker spooks them at a motel, the guys hit the road again and a hot woman named Sarah (Brooks) joins them on their journey. The three road-mates try to escape the creepy stretch of road as they learn about each other, have a few run-ins with the locals, and find out the ugly truth about the man in the monster truck.
MONSTER MAN can best be described as being a combination of the following: JEEPERS CREEPERS, REST STOP, WRONG TURN, PORKY’S, IT’S A MAD MAD WORLD, and ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE WOLFMAN. I really got a kick out of this film because it hit upon the perfect combination of horror and humor. The picture doesn’t take itself too seriously, but it still remains faithful to the horror atmosphere and the horror storyline. What makes the humor work so well is that the two leads, Jungmann and Urich, play very well off of one another. That is why I mentioned the Abbott & Costello reference because I got that kind of feeling while watching this. The creative team have the “Road Picture” down to a tee and it is very reminiscent of an Abbott & Costello or Martin & Lewis comedy where you have a funny, outrageous character who is contrasted with the “straight” man. Albeit, it is a much dirtier type of humor, like PORKY'S. But, the main thing that makes this movie work is that they do the humor in such a way that it is not “forced” upon the audience. What I mean is that if you take something like the television show, “The Office”, it does have some funny moments but a lot of the humor is done with the cast breaking the “fourth wall”, looking into the camera as if to say, “this is so hilarious isn’t it? you should be laughing now”. Personally, I don’t like being forced into thinking something if funny. I would rather the cast not play up to the audience and let the humor “breathe” and naturally take its course. I think that this is one thing that is truly wrong with the comedy genre, today… it feels forced and I don’t think that it is very funny (gone are the days of 1980s-and-earlier comedies). Also, I don’t like it when something is constructed to be “quirky”, like (let’s say) DEAD AND BREAKFAST. That movie had some decent moments, but it also felt like it was trying too hard to be a hip, quirky, offbeat movie. I feel that MONSTER MAN just went ahead and did its thing, without being forceful, and without trying to be something that it was not. The film was highly enjoyable, the humor worked extremely well, it was witty (it isn’t “stupid” at all), and it was still a horror movie, at heart.
On the other hand, I could see why this film could go either way – it's one of those deals where you either love it or you hate it. It is in the vein of films like 2001 MANIACS and REST STOP, where it is a “meta” type of film that plays with the stereotypes of horror (coincidentally, which some people may find to be silly and “stupid”). That right there is where it may win over an audience or lose an audience. To make a long story short, it is more of a horror film for horror fans. However, it works so well that I think both a die-hard viewer and a casual viewer may appreciate its positive qualities. First of all, the characters are interesting and their dialogue is well-scripted. They are playing the stereotypical characters of horror movies but they talk about interesting things, such as the true meaning of “Rosebud” in CITIZEN KANE (the cast interaction and dialogue had a Tarantino quality to it). Second, you have hints of a relationship comedy in it and it is nice to see things develop between Sarah and Adam. He’s the underdog, everyman who might get the girl - that is always an interesting thing. Third, the horror content is definitely over-the-top, but it is done in a fun and familiar way. The Monster Man, with his monster truck, is unique as a villain – he actually injures and kills people by running them over with the truck – and his story is nicely wrapped-up in the end. It does have a twist to it (that you kind of see coming), but it is so fun to watch that you don’t care about it being predictable. Finally, the gore is over-the-top and it is used in humorous and horrifying ways. There are a few instances of maimed people still being alive, amputees, and bloodshed in general. It is done in a way that works with the humor and you could plainly see that if the film was played straight, it could be a dark and unsettling thing.
Gnawing through the flesh: MONSTER MAN was a great movie. I’m not a trendy, film snob and I'm not a like-everything kind of person. I'm just a simple guy who wants to be entertained by a horror movie. The point is that I had a lot of fun watching the picture and filled a void left by some recent, disappointing films that I have seen. It worked very well as a horror comedy and I thought that all of the actors gave their best effort to the film. The movie is a tongue-in-cheek look at all horror films and it plays with so many horror stereotypes that they are too numerous to list here. So, if you are looking for a horror comedy that is actually funny (without being pushy about it) and easy to watch, then MONSTER MAN may be what you need to see. It is much better than the B-movie that it appears to be and I give it an 8/10.