Here we have girl power in overload, as a group of feisty murderous mama’s take on the sea beast from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Mix into the equation horny, empty headed males, a little girl who’s life is run down and an old geezer with secrets and you have the recipe for one of the more bizarre flicks we’ve seen here as of late.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from this when i first received the screener, it looked very… cliched. Indeed it is, though thankfully in a good way.
As stated above the movie revolves around a group of wild women who are passing through a town after completing a job when they inadvertently stumble across trouble in the form of aquatic nasties. Not being the kind of girls to lie down easily they take the fight to the beast.
The basic premise doesn’t sound that exhilarating but El Monstro Del Mar’s! enjoyment comes from the way in which the movie is executed. It’s clearly low budget but the retro, almost psychobilly feel of the movie is done to perfection.
All of the main cast are brilliant in their respective parts, especially the 3 girls. You can tell they’re dangerous just by looking at them and the characters ferocious vixen qualities are fleshed out superbly. Acting wise there’s not much to complain about with El Monstro.
The movies pacing can be quite slow at parts, it’s not a flick so much about the monster, it’s really more about the girls. Normally i hate that sort of thing but this time the characters are actually worth paying attention to. When the monster does show up we see that it too has an almost retro design about it. It looks like something from a 60’s b-movie though it suffices in my opinion.
I really enjoyed this flick, i did’nt expect to but i did. Anyone who digs retro horror in any way should definitely check this one out ASAP. Even those who are looking to see something a bit different should to. It’s one of the more refreshing titles as of late and i have no qualms at all giving it a full Horror Chronicles recommendation.
Movie Details
Director: Stuart Simpson
Writer: Stuart Simpson
Actors: Nelli Scarlet, Kyrie Capri, Karli Madden, Kate Watts
Release Year: 2010
AKA: Monstro!