Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		3.0
Extras		0.0
Overall		2.0

Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Randy Miller III February 11, 2020

Despite the vaguely Scooby-Doo-sounding name and cheeky cover art, Taiwanese director Giddens Ko's Mon Mon Mon Monsters! (2017) is anything but a horror-comedy. Rather, this pervasively bleak and pessimistic film examines the cyclical nature of bullying from a young adult's perspective, features zero likable characters, and refuses to budge during all 113 of its deceptively long minutes. Our story concerns the fate of teenager Lin Shu-wei (Deng Yu-kai), endlessly mocked by his fellow students -- especially a group of thugs led by Tuan Ren-hao (Kent Tsai) -- and perhaps the least empathetic teacher (Carolyn Chen) ever portrayed on film. After Lin is paired with Tuan and his gang for a community service project (don't ask), they discover a pair of flesh-eating monsters that have been killing vagrants. When one of the monsters is injured, the kids capture it to exact their own brand of revenge...just for fun.

The balance of sympathetic human drama and cruel violence is a tricky one to maintain, and Mon Mon Mon Monsters rarely finds that sweet spot. (One exception is a scene between the aforementioned teacher and Tuan, who hints at his own childhood abuse and, for a moment, makes us care for him.) But otherwise, it's a marathon of horrible behavior that, in no uncertain terms, reminds us how...*sigh*...humans are the real monsters here. All this would be easier to handle if some of the characters showed more glimmers of sympathy, but almost everyone here -- despicable Tuan, his awful girlfriend Wu Si-Hua (Bonnie Liang, on the cover), and that ridiculous teacher, who might as well be a robot -- represents the exact opposite of a noble character. Even innocent Lin caves in to peer pressure almost immediately and, despite a few slightly redemptive actions, eventually gets sucked into the pit of total cynicism.

It didn't have to be this way, though. Giddens Ko first envisioned Mon Mon Mon Monsters as a mockumentary shot guerrilla-style on an iPhone, but his attitude changed after an unfortunate personal decision cast the young director in a (deservedly?) harsh light. As such, it's better to think of Mon Mon Mon Monsters as revenge on his own audience; fair play within the twisted boundaries of horror, but that doesn't make the film's plot or characters any easier to stomach. If anything, it has the opposite effect (or, at the very least, muddies the water surrounding his own personal life), but Mon Mon Mon Monsters is still a competently made low-budget horror film with decent effects that might develop a cult following. One thing's for sure, though: it was substantially less well-received than his much lighter breakout hit, 2011's You Are the Apple of My Eye , so it'll be interesting to see where the director goes from here.

I'd have loved for my lukewarm opinion of the film to be softened by a more thoughtful home video release, but RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray is hardly well-rounded. While its fine 1080p transfer is more than strong enough to satisfy videophiles, the audio is somewhat problematic (this even extends to the subtitles, explained in more detail below) and there are absolutely no bonus features, which might have gone a long way in swaying fence-sitters like myself. Branded as a "Shudder Original", Mon Mon Mon Monsters is a textbook example of "stream this one first".

Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Sure, the subject matter is extremely ugly but that doesn't make Mon Mon Mon Monsters' 1080p transfer any less impressive. Not surprisingly, the picture is loaded with deep shadows and heavy blacks, all of which are handled quite nicely with minimal crush and only trace amounts of banding along the way. Its stylized color palette usually leans towards blues and yellows with a generally desaturated appearance, along with flesh tones that seem accurate within those boundaries. Image detail and textures are good if not a bit soft at times, though it seems more due to the source material and cinematography than the 1080p transfer. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray maintains a high bit rate and I was unable to spot any obvious compression artifacts, excessive noise reduction, or other such eyesores. Overall, it's more than acceptable treatment for this title and most likely beats the streaming version by a decent margin.

Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

In a word, overcooked. This is one of the loudest audio mixes I've heard to date: no matter if you choose the original Mandarin or the awful English dub (both DTS-HD 2.0 Master Audio), you should turn down your receiver at least 10 dB or suffer the consequences. I'm not about to shell out for hearing aids before retirement, so I dialed back accordingly and Mon Mon Mon Monsters offered a decent enough two-channel experience after that adjustment. Dialogue is clean and crisp, sound effects and music are mixed in well -- if not a bit overbearing at times, especially the latter -- and there's a good amount of separation to keep things interesting. Although it seems odd that a 5.1 mix is not on board, what's here gets the job done and fans should be pleased. Still, a one-point deduction for the volume snafu.

Unfortunately, the included English subtitles match the English dub, which is a big disappointment. I'm nowhere near fluent in Mandarin so I can't speak as to the differences between these dubtitles and the original language track, but I'll assume we're missing out -- even a large portion of the signage isn't translated, which can be confusing.

Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with artwork that's technically from the movie but, for obvious reasons, does not represent its overall tone very well. Unfortunately, no bonus features are included...which isn't surprising, but I'd have loved to hear a commentary by the director or at least a Q&A interview.

Mon Mon Mon Monsters! Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Mon Mon Mon Monsters is a film I admire for its unflinching tone, but that doesn't make it any easier to enjoy. This horror-drama has an abundance of unlikable characters and a very narrow entry point for outsiders, which makes it a tough recommendation for all but the most dedicated horror buffs. RLJ Entertainment's Blu-ray sadly offers little more than a great 1080p transfer -- the audio is a little problematic, but that's less of a disappointment than the dubtitles and lack of extras. All told, it's only worth buying for those who saw it on Shudder and want a physical copy.