Love and Monsters Movie Review

As most of you know by now, I am a huge fan of monster films and love 1980s cinema. Any film or television show that manages to incorporate both of these, is on my radar. In 2020, director Michael Matthews did just that with his incredible film 'Love & Monsters'. After a disappointing marketing campaign and the COVID-19 pandemic limiting this film's release, I was surprised at just how amazing this film was. 'Love & Monsters' follows Joel Dawson (played by Dylan O'Brien), 7 years after an apocalypse brought on by the rise of monsters, which has seen the demise of civilization as we know it. Our survivors now live in camps/factions. The film's premise is something we have seen many times before, but not in this style, not in this way. 

'Love & Monsters' benefits from the charisma of its lead Dylan O'Brien. O'Brien has been good before, but this film showed that he is more than capable of being a leading man. He is fantastic in this film. Loveable, charming and human. The humanity he brings to the role is important for the audience to be able to connect to him, and he does this exceptionally well. His character growth and development over the course of the film is a huge reason why the film works. I love the emotional weight behind Joel. We understand his motivation and it provides us with moments of genuine heart, that had real-world implications, with comparisons at the time to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

The designs of the creatures are a lot of fun as well. Most of which are CGI, however there are some awesome uses of practical effects as well. The design of the creatures are monsterised versions of everyday animals including: a frog, insects and a giant crab, just to name a few. The designs are fun, but also take a very HP Lovecraft, inspired turn. The creativity behind some of these effects feels wholly original and different from anything else out there at the moment. Michael Matthews uses the creatures sparingly as well, which I enjoy. 

Overall, I am a huge fan of this film. It ranks among one of my favourites from 2020. It's fun, full of heart, has some great action set-pieces and amazing and creative effects to boot. Definitely check this one out if you haven't, as I think it fell by the wayside a little. It definitely needs to be seen by more people. Head to your local Sanity or online to pick up your copy on DVD today. You won't want to miss out on this one!  DVD or Blu-Ray today. Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity.

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Christopher Pattison wrote this blog post for Sanity. See more from Chris here