Love and Monsters

Love and Monsters – Seven years after raining radiation causes a mutation monster apocalypse, Joel decides to make a dangerous trek in the name of love. Leaving the safety of a communal underground bunker to brave the over ground, he sets off on an 80 mile journey to find his past girlfriend. Yet Joel has a nasty habit of freezing when scared, he isn’t any good at weapons, and it may be that his ultimate destination won’t be that happy to see him… 

Love and Monsters (2020) – Director: Michael Matthews

By Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65586136

Rating: 12

Running Length: 109 mins

Starring: Dylan O’Brien, Jessica Henwick, Michael Rooker

Genre: Science Fiction / Horror

REVIEW: ‘LOVE AND MONSTERS’

Oh no. An asteroid was heading to Earth. Phew, it’s ok: it was blasted out of the sky. But…oh no, the fallout radiation has mutated our planet’s creatures. Ants are now bigger than buses. Worms hunt people. Things have more mouths than they should. ‘Love and Monsters’ uses this set up to thread a love story through a hero’s journey cloth and chuck plenty of creature feature goo all over the result.

Many years after mutation mania, survivor Joel (Dylan O’Brien) isn’t enjoying humanity’s new underground bunker living arrangements much. Feeling useless (due to an unfortunate tendency to freeze in fear) he up and leaves relative safety to travel the dangerous land up top in order to find his pre-apocalypse girlfriend.

That ‘Love and Monsters’ excellently tightropes the tonal line by not falling into too gory, too kiddie, too schmaltzy, or too schlocky really highlights how few films attempt to do the same these days. O’Brien gives Joel a relatable everyday quality that makes his actions ring true, and the movie thoroughly enjoys chucking big ol’ monsters at him without going full on horror, or alternatively undermining the threat. He goes on a journey of growth and we are right there with him. That said, it is a shame that the object of his affections (Jessica Henwick) has little agency beyond a tool for Joel’s arc, but their relationship is sweet and the trauma they went through when separated brings the feels when needed.

Ultimately Love and Monsters doesn’t throw any surprises at you, but by simply being a mid-sized monster movie that isn’t simple splatter nor teen franchise fodder it stands out as rather lovely. Just watch out for the superfast mega-worm death pits, mmm’kay?

CONTENT: IS ‘LOVE AND MONSTERS’ SUITABLE FOR CHILDREN?

The film opens with an animated sequence as narrated by Joel. This shows quick clips of mutating animals getting larger and larger. One newspaper headline states that the President has been killed by a giant moth and this is accompanied by the brief sound of a scream and chomp although nothing is seen. There is a brief animation of a cat being eaten by a creature (we just see the cat’s tail protruding from it’s mouth and hear the sound of a meow). The voice over also states that one kid was eaten in his sleep by a goldfish he won at a carnival.  It is stated that 95% of the human population has been killed.

When we meet Joel he is inside an underground bunker and talking about how everyone is paired off except him. He complains about the lack of privacy and says the couple next to him are still in the ‘honeymoon phase’. He adds that their relationship is ‘quite physical and quite flexible’. It is clear that whilst this narration is going on the couple in question are trying to quietly have sex without disturbing him. There are some quiet noises of intimacy and a bit of a silhouette although nothing revealing is seen.

A creature infiltrates the underground bunker of Joel’s group. After some characters set off to hunt it we see a heat signature map with dots representing them and the creature. At one point the creature’s dot darts forward sharply and grabs one of the dots representing one of the group. People groan and someone close to that character is upset.

Joel attempts to help the group. There is a silhouette of a giant insect behind a shower curtain. He freezes in fear. It pulls across the shower curtain and looms slowly over him whilst he quakes. There is the sound of a splat and then the head of the creature with an arrow sticking out of it rolls onto the floor, twitching slightly.

A flashback with Joel and his girlfriend Amy shows them in a truck, on a date. They kiss and lean back from the front seats as if to go into the back of the truck. This is brief as when they start to be intimate they are interrupted by events outside. Nothing is seen beyond kissing.

As Joel explores the surface he comes across many creatures. A giant creature slowly emerges from a swimming pool and tries to sucker him with it’s massive sticky tongue. He is in peril for a few minutes.

Joel falls into a hole which has lots of burrow holes on all sides. He steps on some bones and breaks a jaw bone underfoot. Huge creatures launch out of the holes at him in a jump scare moment. They have big mouths which split open to reveal lots of teeth. An explosion causes chunks of creature to go flying and land on his face.

During a fireside scene, Joel reveals in dialogue that his parents didn’t make it. Whenever there is a flashback more and more information is revealed about what happened to them. Their fate is not graphic, but Joel is upset in both the flashback and in modern day as he remembers.

Joel and a dog walk through a quiet and spooky forest. A creature slowly emerges and feels around searching for them and making chittering sounds. The dog is in danger for a few minutes and Joel panics.

Joel discovers a cheerful robot called MAV1S. The robot is low on power and will not last long. It’s speech is bright but Joel is upset about it’s limited time left. The robot’s TV face takes on the face of his mother as Joel remembers the whole scenario of what happened to his parents in a flashback. He hugs MAV1S and cries about missing his parents. This is an emotional scene that lasts a few minutes.

A creature chases Joel and dog. It searches for them and slowly wraps itself around their hiding place as Joel desperately tries to keep the dog quiet. This is a very tense moment that lasts around a minute.

Joel is poisoned and becomes very disorientated. He kisses someone in this state but later discovers that all was not as it seemed at the time.

People pitch face first into the sand due to poison. However, they are later shown to be fine.

Another massive creature attacks in the final scene. This is shown repeatedly in close up and all characters flee for their lives. If your child has been fine up until now this won’t be a problem, but as this is the finale and a long exciting scene if they have had any concerns previously we advise caution.

A large male character punches a female main character in the face. We see this from a distance.

Three antagonistic characters are eaten. There is no gore but one yells in distress before being consumed.

CAN I SEE A CLIP?

VERDICT: IS ‘LOVE AND MONSTERS’ FOR KIDS?

‘Love and Monsters’ dances the line between a 12 / PG-13 rating and a PG because there is little too strong and the tone is kept mostly light throughout. Due to sad scenes about the death of parents, the opening suggestions of intimacy, and some scary monster moments we would recommend that ‘Love and Monsters’ is suitable for children aged 9 and above.

• Violence: 3/5 (lots of fighting creatures and some short fights between humans)
• Emotional Distress: 3/5 (Joel remembers and discusses what happened to his parents several times and the scene with MAV1S is upsetting)
• Fear Factor: 3/5 (big scary creatures throughout)
• Sexual Content: 2/5 (kissing, one scene with implied sexual activity)
• Bad Language: 3/5 (moderate bad language throughout)
• Dialogue: 2/5 (talk of death, threats)
• Other Notes: Deals with themes of overcoming your fears, fighting for love, finding your place, appreciating your company, proving to yourself that you can achieve things, and to develop and trust your instincts)

Words by Mike Record