User Reviews

Coincidentally this is the second Korean period action film I saw. The kingdom is under the threat of plague. Orders r issued to eliminate all the infected ones. A general is exiled after he saves a small girl being terminated. His sidekick tags along with him cos he owns his life to the warrior. Fast forward in the future n ther r rumors of a terrifying creature in the mountains. The King calls upon the general out of retirement. The story isn't gripping, the characters r not sketched properly. The creature effects r noteworthy. It looks like a hybrid. Body of a raging bull n face of a lion. Ther is some good action but the camera work n editing is shoddy. Nevertheless, it's a decent creature flick.

A former soldier and his brother, along with his step- daughter, are called into action when a monster threating civilization starts to attack people. Very well made monster flick, with great acting and good script.

As an American I truly enjoy these foreign flicks! Old culture wrapped into a good action monster movie with fantastic cinematography!!!! And always great acting and humor.

In an action-horror movie like "Monstrum," it is all too easy to make the mistake of relying on parading a giant hairy beast and the carnage that inevitably follows, but director Huh Jong-ho, who co-wrote the screenplay with Heo-dam, understands what makes horror movies like Steven Spielberg's "Jaws" and Ridley Scott's "Alien" so effective: It is not enough to show the boogeyman and what it can do. In order to build suspense, there must be a convincing enough backstory that the viewers can latch onto. And so when chaos runs rampant, we care and do not get lost in pandemonium. And, boy, does this movie excel in showing havoc.

The story is set in 16th century Korea during King Jungjong's fragile reign (Park Hee-soon). Not only are citizens destitute and hungry, they are living in constant fear due to rumors that a monster is living in the woods-rumors that Prime Minister Woon (Lee Kyeong-yeong) started because he wishes to take the throne for himself. He hopes that the rumor, combined with the growing unrest, will be enough to usurp the king. But the monster is far from imaginary. There are two types of corpses coming out of the woods: those in pieces and those with boils. Only one of these groups has been in direct contact with the monster. But what of the other?

Here is a movie that clearly wants to be an entertaining action flick. There is silly humor like adult men falling over one another (Kim Myung-min, Kim In-kwon), there is a cute sort of romance between a country girl (Lee Hyeri) and a young warrior (Choi Woo-sik), there is mystery in terms of what really goes on out there in the woods, and there is suspense when we are given answers... because answers are not always black and white. I preferred its darker side, but I appreciated its attempt to entertain everybody. Despite the title, the monster itself is not the most evil creature on screen (a case can be made it isn't evil at all) but rather the power-hungry folks who scheme, exploit, betray, ending lives for nothing. The creature simply wishes to survive; it just happens to be higher up on the food chain.

Although the creature is made using CGI rather than practical effects, the technique works because it is kept hidden for so long. Once it is revealed, it is appropriately intimidating: its size, the noises it makes, how it eats people whole. Notice we rarely get a glimpse of its eyes. Regardless of its gargantuan stature, it moves swiftly. It is alert, a top hunter. The writers are correct to give the monster a limitation: a poor eyesight. And so it must adapt accordingly. And so do the characters. Surprisingly, even this supposedly terrible being is given a backstory-so efficient is this one flashback that we come to empathize with it.

I could easily rip apart a movie like "Monstrum," but it offers such a good time that its weaknesses-schizophrenic tone, character relationships not given enough time to blossom (a few not believable at all), occasional lack common sense-end up buried under sheer entertainment value. It knows what it wants to be and proud of it. I wish more action creature-features, especially those from the west, would learn to be as willing to take risks and trust that some will land given the assumption that viewers are smart and receptive to pure escapism.

This was another of those movies that hit Shudder as what felt like in a group. I really like foreign films, especially ones from South Korea. I'm also a fan of fantasy and historical type films as well, especially when you're incorporating swords, monsters and things to this effect. It also seemed like a solid choice as a pairing on Journey with a Cinephile: A Horror Movie Podcast. The synopsis here is Yoon Gyeom (Myung-Min Kim) is a loyal subject of King Jung Jong (Hee-soon Park) of Joseon. He struggles to fight against a monster that threatens his king's life and a group of people trying to depose him.

We start this off that there are historical documents that some of this is true from 1506. The country is in turmoil and I feel like they unseated the king or at least are trying, which has made it even worse. It then shows us they're herding villagers to a cliff by a ravine. It is stated they have plague and that they need to be kept away to avoid it from spreading. They are then massacred. We see a little girl as her mother is killed and watches on as these government soldiers wipe them out.

It then shifts us into the present of the movie. There are talks of a monster that is feeding on people and living on Mt. Inwangsen. It is being called a monstrum. King Jungjong doesn't believe it so he wants an investigation. This causes him to send a government officer of Heo (Woo-ski Choi) to find Yoon. He's now a hunter and living off the land along with Sung Han (In-kwon Kim), who is his brother, and his daughter of Myung (Hyeri Lee). What we will learn is that Yoon was told to kill her as she was the little girl from the opening sequence. He left his post as a guard to King Jungjong along with his brother. It takes some convincing, but he agrees to help.

The trio along with Heo set off with soldiers and a military unit that are trained to hunt tigers to discover if this monstrum exists. They find evidence of people being killed, but it is pointing to something else. The more they look into it, the more it really seems there could be another explanation. There are also cases of the plague from the beginning springing up again. It all comes down to, is the Monstrum real? Or is this another ploy to destabilize the government and kill the king?

Now that's where I'm going to leave my recap of the movie as that gets you really up to speed as to the crux of it. Where I want to start with my analysis is the fact that this movie got released in America on Shudder during a pandemic. Seeing that this movie was made in 2018, well before it, but the release is definitely capitalizing on the state of the world. I'm not saying that is a bad thing. It is strategic for sure.

That is something that I want to delve into a bit more. To start with would be the time period it is set. It was much easier to do things like this, but let's be honest, as an American citizen I've heard of my government doing things like this in other countries most of my life. The Prime Minister here, who I believe is the character of Sim Woon (Kyeong-yeong Lee). He wants the king out so he is doing things like creating panic and spreading rumors to help facilitate this. What is also interesting here is that one of these tales is the plague. We're seeing a lot of people in the United States who are clinging to this as a 'democratic hoax' to destabilize our current president. Personally I think that is ludicrous, but that is what some believe. It is interesting to do a movie sent this far into the past with similar premises relevant today.

I will give that this plague in the movie is much worse though since it actually gives physical signs you can see like boils and welts. There are some who are being killed when they don't have it to sow the seeds of anger and to blame the current king. There is then the rumor of the Monstrum. I'll be a brief spoiler here is that there is something here in the movie and it is correlated with plague that is spreading. I would have been fine even if it turned out to not be there. It is interesting though as earlier this year I rewatched Brotherhood of the Wolf and there are some definite correlations to this movie with the stories as well as who is behind it.

What I haven't had the chance to do would be to fact check this movie to see if there was something like this happening in South Korea during this era. Either way it doesn't hurt my viewing of this, but it would be interesting to learn that this is really being based in fact as the beginning of this is indicating. I wouldn't be surprised if there was though.

I now want to shift this over to something that also worked for me which would be the acting. Myung-Min Kim is really good as our hero here. He was the best warrior the kingdom had and was willing to give it up to protect this child. He's reluctant to return and fight, but he feels an obligation to Myung, King Jungjong and finding the truth for the people of the nation. In-kwon Kim is good to add some levity. He has some good fight scenes as well. Lee is quite attractive and I like that a woman like her playing a secondary, but still prominent role. Knowing a bit about the cultures from Asian countries, you wouldn't expect to see this. Even more so for the era it is set. I like Choi as a guy she's interested in and he adds some good action performances as well. The rest of the cast does round this out for was needed as well, with some good villains in the government.

Since I've moved into it a bit, I'll go into the effects here. I think the choreography of the fight scenes look good. If there are any issues, we do get some times where they go to CGI that doesn't necessarily work for me. Not enough to ruin them though. Aside from that, there is the issue of the monster. I like what they're doing with it, but they go CGI and some of it just doesn't work. It would have been really tough to make it practically; especially what they want it to do, but that is where I'm at with it. I don't completely hate it, but it does take me out of the movie.

Something else that doesn't necessarily work for me would be that this runs too long. I went through the story pretty efficiently where this movie I think drags some things out too much. It clocks in at 105 minutes where I think that there at least 15 minutes that could have been trimmed and that would have tightened up the movie. That's not to say that I disliked this. I did find myself bored a few times though.

Now with that said, I still think this is an interesting movie that is playing some ideas that are relevant even now. Seeing this during a pandemic is interesting and having issues with the government with that as well. I do like that there could or couldn't be a monster here, but what we get there doesn't look great. The fight scenes we get though are on the whole solid with some issues with CGI. The acting though was good and the soundtrack fit for what was needed. It does run a bit long and I lost interest for some stretches if I'm going to be honest. I would still say this is an above average movie overall. Be warned, this is from South Korea, so I watched it with subtitles on. If that is an issue, I would avoid this, but if not, it is worth your time if what I've relayed sounds interesting.

Too long. Some very tedious parts. Monster not that scary. Acting was quite good. Would not watch it again.

Monstrum is a well shot movie. The cinematography is okay and the animation behind the beast is also average. However, there is no strong motive, character development etc at all. Characters are randomly dropped in front of you and then they start doing stuff. The main protagonist stays silent for the majority of the movie and hence his sacrifice in the end means nothing at all. And anyways defying all logic and rationale he survives a deadly blast despite being within zero radius of it. The other characters are also not given any space to establish themselves. Overall a waste of a movie, which could have been much better given the resources at hand.

Coincidence or not I think we can all agree that Rampant and Monstrum are basically the same movie when both of them set in the same era with the same plot,the same type of characters with the same motivation and the only thing that make these two movie worth watching for me is one is a zombie flick and one is a creature feature flick and when it comes to the entertainment value all I can says is they all both equally enjoyable.If it possible I want to see an alien invasion movie set in Joseon era next.

I admit that I found MONSTRUM a disappointing watch, mainly because I had too high expectations for it given my experience of Korean cinema in general. This one is essentially the Korean version of OUTLANDER, as various characters must tackle a giant creature with an appetite for human flesh. The political commentary is expected and okay, but it's the characters I had a hard time caring about here, and none of the actors really stand out. As expected, the monster action is dominated by CGI, which isn't too bad as it goes, but I did find this all rather long-winded and uninteresting - something we've seen put on screen too many times before.

Dont watch it because it is worst than the indian movies, it doesn't deserve your time.

That's what this film is all about. The king calls for an investigation into the rumor of a monster causing many deaths in the mountains.

I enjoyed this film. The story is constructed well. The acting is good and it manages to keep you engaged. I love that this is in the set Joseon era. This does make attempts to being comical and couple times it was a bit cheesy but nothing I couldn't overlook.

I don't have many complaints. Reading the subtitles can sometimes make the sentences seem broken and hard to understand. That can be a pain but I understood what was going on. It was a fun film. Check it out.

I found "Monstrum" to be an enjoyable monster action movie. I happened to watch this movie on a transatlantic flight because I was bored with Hollywood material. That being said, it is clearly a hollywoodesque Korean movie.

"Monstrum" has a high body count, lots of blood and chopped off body parts, and the action keeps you entertained. The story is just enough to listen to while you wait for the resolution of the character arcs. Hell, I even felt like crying in the last scene because of the drama. Recommended if you look for monster action movie that doesn't play in the US but gives you a glimpse into a non-Western culture.

Another decent thriller movie from South Korea. The plot is just so-so, not complicated. In my opinion, the suspense from the so-called Monstrum creature is similar to that of recent Jurassic world. The performance of the actors are great with good character development.

The major drawback of this movie is the shaky camera during human fighting scene, as well as odd moment when the antagonist still can stand and fight (like zombie) regardless being rampaged by the monster.

Entered the cinema with no high expectation but turned out satisfied. Rewatch value: 5/10.

During the Joseon dynasty, rumors of a strange creature lurking in the area upsetting the citizens forces the prime minister to divert his attention away from a devastating plague to deal with the creature by assembling a team of villagers to hunt it down and stop it once and for all.

This was a pretty enjoyable creature feature. Among the film's better elements is the rather impressive setup here designed to provide an understanding of the general political climate and civilian lifestyle at the time. With the country embroiled in chaos with the plague spreading throughout the country and no one able to stop it, the blame on other factions trying to usurp the throne and associating with undesirable individuals as a means of ensuring a peace-of-mind about the situation is the perfect counterbalance to the simplistic lifestyle of the farmers. Living off the land and being honorable rather than engaging in the misguided political mind-games that are taking place in the city, there's a fine contrast here which enables us to sympathize with them. That comes into play nicely with the inclusion of the monster and its attacks against the population. With no witnesses but plenty of evidence of its presence through the deformed and disease-riddled bodies left behind, this sends out the search party which is quite fun as the group treks through the wilderness looking for the creature where they manage to find it as it wipes out nearly everyone involved. The big finale, where it attacks the castle and causes all sorts of havoc running through scores of guards and other personnel in a huge, extended series of destructive rampages across the area killing everyone and setting up for some wild action scenes that are utilized throughout here. Alongside the fantastically realistic look of the creature, these here generate a lot to like with the film. This one does have a few problems with it. Among the biggest issues is the rather unnecessary and unfunny comedic relief intended to provide a balance to the film. Rather than give the film some funny lines or moments designed to ingratiate us to the characters, instead, it ends up as nothing more than wasted opportunities here making the film far longer than it needs to be. Even the humor of her being a woman in the guard ranks doesn't come off as funny either and just seems like a waste. The other detrimental factor is the confusing and somewhat nonsensical political intrigue storyline that manages to take away a lot of the fun of a more traditional monster-on-the-loose storyline that this is going for. Rather than get bogged down in the specifics of the creature going on a rampage and seeing it decimating the population, this one tends to focus more on the rather nonsensical storyline of the rivals clamoring for control of the throne under the assumption of the creature being a hoax even though the plague afflicting everyone is real. Using that as the basis for seizing power makes no sense when the evidence of the charred, plague-riddled bodies sporting inhuman wounds so the insistence on that not being the case is strange and misguided. Otherwise, this was a lot of fun without much else wrong.

Rated Unrated/R: Violence and Language.

Film is entertaining. Great effects for a korean monster flick. and Lee Hyeri is the lead female actress. She is well known as Deok-Sun in Reply 1988 (one of the highest rated kdrama) & and my ultimate fave drama series ever. She's also a member of kpop group Girl's Day.

I heard about Monstrum early 2018 from news that Lee Hyeri, one of the singers from now disbanded Girl's Day (K-Pop girl group), was going to be making her big screen film debut by starring in this film. When I heard it was going to be an action-horror, my interest was piqued. Honestly, the main reason I watched this movie is because of Lee Hyeri. I was pleasantly surprised she was given the female lead role, and did a very good job acting. The movie is a period piece, but it's not just an action-horror. There's elements of mystery and thriller, and even some comedy too. The movie had a nice pace with no dull moments. I really liked the fact that there was no forced romance either. It was kept to just a few lines too. There were a few instances where scenes connect abruptly, with no segue. It was annoying but it doesn't ruin the story. My other gripe, which is a big one, is none of the main characters ever suffer anything tragic. A few dramatic moments, cuts, scrapes, bruises, and some hurt feelings. That's it. Regardless, it was still an entertaining movie. I hope Lee Hyeri will have similar roles in the future, as she did a superb job in this one. It saddens me that Girl's Day has disbanded, as they were one of my favorite K-Pop groups. But at least I get to see the next chapter in one of the member's life.

Monstrum is a South Korean historical fiction movie that bears a resemblance to the excellent Rampant. The film takes place during the sixteenth century and follows two story lines that intertwine. One part of the movie focuses on a strange monster that brutally murders farmers and travelers in the country. The second part focuses on a political conspiracy that menaces King Jungjong.

This excellent movie convinces on numerous levels. The film is filled with brutal, gloomy and mysterious scenes that should equally please fans of action and horror movies. The locations have been chosen with care and bring the historical period back to life with poor villages, magnificent castles and isolated farms. The plot line is tense, dynamic and clever as the two stories intertwine progressively, fluidly and cleverly. The characters are particularly intriguing, especially the colourful lead characters who are investigating the sinister deaths. The entire movie leads to a dramatic finale culminating with explosive action scenes that will leave a lasting impression.

There are only two minor elements to criticize. First of all, the ending feels as if the scriptwriters had tried to pull a rabbit out of a hat. This breaks with the gloomy fanasty sequences and leads to a stereotypical happy ending. In addition to this, some important questions regarding the monster are left unanswered. Secondly, the film Rampant that was released at the same time has a very similar story line but is overall the slightly better movie because it's even more entertaining, intense and surprising. If you have watched and appreciated Monstrum, you must try out Rampant, too.

In the end, Monstrum is another excellent contemporary South Korean movie. This historical fantasy movie mixes a twisted political intrigue with a bloody monster hunt and leads to a spectacular finale. If you like this movie, you should definitely watch Rampant as well. Along with Train to Busan, these three films are among the very best horror and fantasy movies of the last decade as South Korean cinema has left Hollywood behind throughout the past two decades.

I love the way they mixed humor in the midst of drama, suspense, almost terror, cinema praying presenting great productions, impeccable quality, convincing little monster, based on a real legend, or not, because I found nothing on the net, but captivates me, adorable...

Monstrum is an excellent movie.

It's a wonderful mix of Korean period piece, drama, action and monster movie.

They took a lot of different styles and blended them wonderfully. The writing and story is very interesting and well done. The characters are wonderful, with great acting and enjoyable nuance (not the typical mix of hero and comic relief and such that a lot of such movies have).

The action is fast paced and exciting. There's some great fight scenes as well as other great moments. Not the typical "ridiculous wire action" many Asian movies rely on. Naturally, there is plenty there, but it's not the over the top nonsense often present that takes you completely out of reality.

The monster itself is well done. Good special effects, nice story to it's creation and abilities, and it's given a sense of realism and acts like an actual animal and not just some mystical super beast without logic.

Monstrum's definitely worth adding to your collection.

I thought this movie would only another regular monster movie. It is added with political intrigue, which is combined perfectly by the director. The only problem is the CGI is not as good as the hollywood's one. All the actors play their role perfectly. There are Choi Woo Sik from Parasite, Kim Myung Min who is senior actor and he is experience with this kind of character since it similar too Detective K. Also there are some other senior actors like Park Hee Soon, Park Sung Woong, and Lee Kyoung Young that made this movie even better. And do not forget Lee Hyeri who is not just become a "sweet chicks" for this movie. Her beautiful idol look is completely disappear into a tough and competent young girl.