TrueJoshNight
Truly Dreadful Film
Majorthebys
Charming and brutal
Glucedee
It's hard to see any effort in the film. There's no comedy to speak of, no real drama and, worst of all.
Philippa
All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
slayrrr666
"How to Make a Monster" is a fun and really entertaining cheesy creature feature.**SPOILERS**Desperate to fix a new video game, Peter Drummond, (Steven Culp) assigns intern Laura Wheeler, (Clea DuVall) to fix the game's problems. Rounding up renegade programmers Hardcore, (Tyler Mane) Bug, (Jason Marsden) and Sol, (Karim Prince) to fix the game and are given a month to do so. Several weeks of attempts later, they all have ideas for improving the game only for their feelings for each other and their egos to get the better of them. As they near completion, they attempt a go-round to determine what final changes need to be made. Trying to get it finished, they take off for the night and come back the next morning to find one of the group members is dead. Carrying on in the need for money, the remaining members find that the death is the result of the monster created for the game coming to life through a power-surge and is killing the group. Forced into a struggle to get out alive, they turn to different strategies to defeat the monster.The Good News: This one's not all that bad. Considering the source material, this here manages to get a lot of mileage from it. From the constant video-game play-through to the images achieved through the game and all the background into the business, there's a lot of it and it makes for an interesting viewing. Another great aspect is the interesting monster created. This has a unique back-story, however contrived, and uses a pretty good creepy look to great effect. This one even gets a decent transformation sequence where it manages to acquire more parts and weapons to make it even more frightening. With the spiked horn, shoulder spikes, large frame and huge blades, this one is quite impressive and frightening at times, and with the real scary face, this one scores some great scenes from it's appearance. It's even quite creepy without the monster, as there's some really great stalking scenes early on to be had, due to a plethora of off-screen noises and crashes to get some jumps in. The deaths, though not at all that elaborate, do feature enough blood and gore to satisfy. The last half-hour is the film's best part, as it features a lot of action, some big chasing and stalking and is it's most watchable part. That's the best part of the film, and alone is worth the watch.The Bad News: There's not a whole lot wrong with this one. Most of this one's flaws result from one area, namely the cheapness of the film. Even though the film is filled with computer graphics, there's still plenty of really cheap graphics. It's nearly impossible for them to become fearful of the images generated from the creature, or even the simulated games. They look like computer games, which is great but they don't look good or convincing in an actual movie. It looks quite terrible, doesn't generate any scares or suspense and takes away a whole lot of whatever good it accumulated in the positives. The cheapness also extends to other areas, as the boring beginning, cramped location and lack of any big moments not done without using CGI all attest to. It does pick up considerably with it's great fight, but there's a real shortage of big moments in this one. There's even a real shortage of kills in here, as this one really doesn't have any real deaths on-screen. The number is incredibly low, making the lack of any real blood or gore a real shortcoming. Featuring bloody aftermath and blood splotches during the few kills done on-screen is nothing really spectacular and only serves to make them more noticeable. They are the real flaws in the film.The Final Verdict: It's a clichéd, cheesy creature feature yet that doesn't mean that it won't entertain. Give it a shot if you're in for some harmless fun or have a particular love for these kinds are encouraged to give it a shot, while those who have a disdain for those types should stay away from it.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity
Boba_Fett1138
This movie obviously doesn't take itself very serious, which is the reason why this movie still remains an entertaining one to watch. The movie is filled with some extreme stereotype characters (you know, the kind that's so over-the-top that it misses its mark and looses its effect) bad dialog and an of course silly concept and bad written story to begin with.It's especially hilarious to see how more important the game, rather then their lives is to all of the characters involved. Even real freaks aren't that freaky! That's a serious and gruesome computer-monster that is killing them one by one in a horrible way but who cares when a game its development and a million dollar bonus is at stake...They just hide the bodies and go on with their work for as long as they can.But to be honest, the ridicules concept isn't as poorly developed or handled as you would expect from a movie like this (even though of course the movie is obviously filled with some highly unlikely and ridicules events.) I liked how well the game-world translated into the real world. Yes, that really is how PC games looked like in 2001. Guess people will have a good laugh at it in 10 years from now. The in-game effects are certainly better looking than most movies ever normally try to bother to.Seems like they seriously did some research and were advised correctly and spend some real money on it. It's certainly refreshing and good to see after so many failed and just plain bad attempts from Hollywood to let video-games- and the computer world in general play key parts of the movie.However big problem with the movie remains that's not scary or serious enough for a horror, not science-fiction/fantasy-full/original enough for a science-fiction movie and not bad and/or campy enough for successful cult-classic. It is also hard to tell what the movie actually tried to achieve and in which category it wanted to be put under. Because of that all, the gore also doesn't work out. I mean, the movie is pretty gory in parts, since it features more than 1 cut of limb or head but yet the movie just never strikes as a gross or gruesome one. For these reasons alone you just can't regard this movie as a successful- or great one.Still amazing to see how many great actors are in the movie. It's however an uneven balance of actors who knew that they were cast for the B-movie value of the movie and actors who try to make the movie look as authentic and realistic as possible. Tyler Mane and Jason Marsden are great as the stereotype characters but it was quite sad to see Clea DuVall. I mean, I see this as an actress who will most likely win an Oscar within the next 7 years. Same goes to some extend also for Steven Culp. He's the guy who played Robert F. Kennedy in "Thirteen Days" for goodness sake!The movie is definitely not a great one but nevertheless it remains an entertaining one to watch, since it obviously also didn't took itself very serious to begin with in the first place.4/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/
Son_of_Mansfield
Steven Culp portrays on of those money loving executives that would think Swimming with Sharks is a masterpiece of how to make it in the world. His opinion, that you have to knock other people out of the way to make it to the top and that making it to the top is the only reason to live, is also the thought of the movie. Since I disagree on both counts, the movie is not worth my time. Culp is good as the shark among guppies, but the high points end there. Clea DuVall and Jason Marsden are wasted in wussy roles while Tyler Mane is very tall and muscular. If you like girls with ungodly large breasts who aren't very attractive, Julie Strain obliges. To make matters worse, the f/x are laughable and the gore is blah. This is really only of interest to lovers of bad movies or people with warped world views.
millerman1893
Wow, I was brought back in time with this movie. It reminded me of so many early computer games. It had so many great parts played by some better than B-movie actors. Hardcore was hilarious and Bug was the perfect nerd. There were a few video game references in Bug's music and voice clips like "Fresh Meat" and "Come Get Some" that reminded me of some games I played back in Junior High. It's a little bit nostalgia and a little bit action. I guess you could say it had a good underlying message, which you'll see in the end... pretty predictable though. I also loved the Evil Dead poster on the wall... good "nerd" movie, and I can personally vouch for that. This movie is definitely worth seeing... for the acting AND the story.