Love and Monsters is a fun/funny comedy/adventure about a young man named Joel and his hero journey; a journey where he learns how to survive a monster apocalypse to get to his girlfriend who’s eighty miles away.

Starring Dylan O’Brien, Michael Rooker and Jessica Henwick; it’s the monster special effects that grabbed my attention in the trailer. And let me say, they did not let me down. The images of giant snails and other oversized creepy crawlies had me watching some of the action through my t-shirt. Yet, I still found those scenes oddly thrilling and fun. Of course, ideally, I’d have liked to be less of a wuss. But I guess I now have a slightly better understanding of the kind of thrills some people get when watching scary movies. Particularly since there’s no denying that giant bugs are often gross and undeniably scary.

The humour in the introductory voice-over in the first third of the movie is one of the key highlights. The other highlights include any encounters with oversized creatures which are both well-choreographed and scary; the latter especially if you’re not into bugs of any size. The only part I didn’t love so much is around the middle of the film, once Joel finds himself alone once more. It may be my impatience acting up here but the pacing seemed to slow down a tad. And the way the editing milked a very key moment for our hero just really annoyed me.

Still, I’d watch part two if it were coming. I mean, yeah, I don’t love bugs but for the first time in my life, being scared was actually fun. I honestly didn’t think that was possible for me.

Watch Love and Monsters because it’s fun. It’s a good hero’s journey/ coming of age story with exciting monsters and heroics.

Happy Film Loving

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