Monsterland

Monsterland is an anthology series in which each episode explores a story where one character is a "monster". Since this is an anthology per episode people can watch them in any order, I have only watched 2 episodes, number 1 and 5.

The first one was much better, especially because the monster used in that episode isn't common. Episode 5, on the other hand, provides a very grounded and drama focused approach when comparing it with typical productions where this type of monster is used.

The type of "monster" used in this film is probably the most common of all but I think sharing which is this exact type of "monster" would be a spoiler, in this series, discovering what anomaly we are facing is part of the intrigue. This isn't an action series because at least in the episodes I have watched, the monsters aren't violent although there are a few exceptions in the first episode. The series is about drama with a touch of dark fantasy.

Episode 5 is about a couple of lesbians, one of them has bipolar issues but that doesn't prevent them from deciding to have a life together. They spend several years happily with each other, but eventually, serious issues begin to affect their family life. Until one day, one of them takes a very terrible decision that will change their life forever.

The surprise comes soon after this decision is taken because something inexplicable happens, and this is when the "monster" appears. The fact they just focus on the drama makes the episode lose steam very quickly. There wasn't a sense of danger like in the first episode, and once the "surprise" is revealed it was easy to see where the story was going.

The ending feels absolutely incomplete, but I guess it was difficult to finish this story under 1 hour given the extremely problematic situation the characters were in. The character who should be surprised that all of this is happening didn't give a convincing performance. I appreciated its originality but the final result was underwhelming. The only people who might enjoy watching this episode are those looking for a slow drama with a dark fantasy twist embedded into it.

The best

Original story with a well-known type of monster.

The worst

Not entertaining enough for my tastes.
The ending leaves the character in a very problematic situation. It would have been better to solve that situation before ending the episode.
The series should be spicier. It feels like there is something missing.

More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11489142/?ref_=ttep_ep5 Review: AA In numbers: 6/10

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I recently discovered this new anthology series about monsters and I checked it out to see if it was fun and worth watching. I have only watched the first episode so far and it was fine. This show approaches the monster topic in a very casual way, we have typical people from American small towns having their normal lives and jobs, and quietly a different and strange person arrives at the city and has an impact on the life of a troubled girl.

This girl has taken some bad decisions in her life. She is a single mom of a little kid but she doesn't earn much money working as a waitress and sometimes it feels her life is crumbling down with so much pressure and responsibilities. Plus, her ex who is the kid's father isn't really a good person which means she is all alone and a little bit traumatized.

I wouldn't say this is a horror show because this episode was mainly focused on the drama. There are certain scenes that clearly belong in the fantasy-horror genre but it was not too hardcore. The show doesn't explain anything about the origins of the monster, it simply portrays it as a fairly normal being who has a very special and crazy ability but is not necessarily out of control.

It can even be said this monster has a "human" side, especially after seeing how it interacts with other people. Maybe this being was a normal human in the past and somehow it changed and acquired its special ability.

There were a lot of things left unsaid and unexplained in this episode, but this wasn't a huge surprise. As a comparison, in HBO's series called The Outsider, there was no explanation whatsoever for that monster for the special abilities of one key character. Monsterland isn't as good as that series of course, but its lack of proper answers is similar. This doesn't prevent the show from being enjoyable though. The performances were good although there weren't too many characters involved in the episode.

If you are looking for a drama focused fantasy story about monsters then perhaps you might enjoy this series. As far as I understand, there will be a different monster for each episode so there should be a lot of interesting takes in this series.

The best

It provides an interesting approach to the monster topic.
The performances were good but since this is an anthology with different actors and stories for each episode this doesn't mean future performances will be equally as good.

The worst

The episode wasn't particularly exciting.

More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11348332/?ref_=ttep_ep1 Review: AAA In numbers: 7.5/10

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