The Countdown to Halloween Day 24 Monsterland (2016)

2016’s Monsterland is another horror anthology and there’s nothing better than a horror anthology that I haven’t seen before.  Well, if it’s good that is, also add in I’m watching this during the Halloween season and it’s exactly what I want to see right about now.  We have Indiegogo to thank for several of the stories that make up Monsterland.  For the most part though this one comes to us from Dread Central which is a web site dedicated to everything horror.  Steve Barton, to be exact, is producer here and he is also responsible for giving us Terrifier 2 and Zombieland.

Monsterland is comprised of nine short films that, as is the norm with anthologies, run the gambit of crap to pretty good.  This one has a wrap around story and it’s one of the better ones I have seen in recent memory.  It really adds to the film instead of slowing it down like some do at times.  The first story is a short that is sort of a Jaws rip-off minus the shark.  I guess because I never really saw what was attacking the skinny dippers.  It’s short so let’s move on to something else.  The Grey Matter is a humorous film about a guy with a parasite in his head.  No, this is not the RFK Jr. story, this isn’t that scary.

Next up is Curiosity Kills, one of the better shorts of the film.  Hag comes next and it is probably the scariest story of the bunch.  A very short, animated story is next titled Monster Man and it’s not bad either.  Next up is another one of the better stories titled House Call about a man, who may be turning into a vampire, that visits a dentist.  Happy Memories is done with puppets, and I almost fast forwarded through this one but I toughed it out and it was easily the story I enjoyed the least.  The film ends (not counting the final wrap around part) with two of the stronger shorts in the film.  Stay at Home Dad might be my favorite if Curiosity Kills isn’t.  This one is a hoot!

Finally, Hellyfish is a story about a gigantic jellyfish that goes on a rampage.  Now, as far as the actors here, there are no names I have ever heard of before.  That’s not a bad thing though as honestly, I didn’t think any one was terrible here.  Remember the worst part was a story with puppets in it so nobody to blame for that really except for the writers.  There is a director or two I will mention here and one of them is Andrew Kasch who has also directed stories from Tales of Halloween and Isolation which are two more horror anthologies.  The other is John Skipp who also directed a story in Tales of Halloween but is also a talented horror writer who has nearly a dozen books to his name.  His books have sold millions of copies.

What we have here is a typical horror anthology with ups and downs in the quality of the stories but like most anthologies the good part is if you don’t like the story you are currently watching just give it a few minutes.  Things will start fresh again when a new story begins and you have a new chance to see something you like.  I do have to say that this is not the first time I’ve had penile dismemberment feature in a film during the countdown to Halloween.  I don’t want to see a pattern forming here!  While this is no Creepshow, Monsterland has its moments when it does shine.  I will give this three irradiated pet rats out of 5 but YMMV.