Digital Released Date Was on Tuesday, 1/30/2024
Jack, played by veteran stage thespian Joey Collins, is a successful photographer being menaced by an entity showing up in the shadows of his studio, in and outside of his home and even along a trail path were he jogs. In the early stages of the film, he doesn’t know he’s being stalked but the audience knows. Eventually, his awarenes sharpens, especially those times the entity jostles him.
One day when he and his wife are commiserating in their home, trying to patch up their relationship, Jack is shocked to see it outside a window and the couple, Carol played by Ena O’Rourke, rush outside but can’t find anything. She wonders what is going on in his mind. In another scene, the monster hovers over Jack as he sleeps. Numerous altercations occur jarring Jacks sense of being. His wife and best working friend, David, played by Marcellus Bassman Shepard, wonder if he’s losing his mind,.
But the audience knows and has known without a doubt 15 to 20 minutes into the movie that there is a monster.
THERE IS A MONSTER started off with what this reviewer regarded as a creative pulse of kinetic energy auguring promises of 82 minutes of real cinematic entertainment: A picturesque, aerial panoramic scene accompanied by a stirring, percussive music score set off visceral waves of excited anticipation in this reviewer who could feel that it was only matter of time before he would be on the edge of his seat.
This reviewer never made it to the edge. There were nifty scenes, shots, dialogue palaver and plot elements that true blue film aficionados and film cognoscente will recognize as promising. Yet, at the same time there might be lackluster audience word of mouth spreading about the plot and the way the film was shot.
Thus the following Caveat Lector for Audiences: Gravitas Ventures released the film on digital platforms yesterday Tuesday, January 30. It has a running time of 82 minutes, and is not rated by the MPAA. Unrated films sometimes have more trouble getting distribution because some theaters won’t show them – a pity, because, again, there are moments, maybe not as many as there could be, delivering real entertainment pleasure – say for about 50 minutes. If there was an alternative galaxy of cinematic comings and goings where filmmakers can do quick turnarounds, revisions and rewrites as journalists like me do rewrites and revisions, a shorter running time around 50 minutes could make this film a humdinger.
- Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery & thriller
- Original Language: English
- Director: Mike Taylor
- Producer: Mike Taylor
- Writer: Mike Taylor
- Release Date (Streaming): Jan 30, 2024
- Runtime: 1h 22m
- Distributor: Gravitas Ventures
- Production Co: There is a Monster
- IMDB
Starring: Joey Collins, Ena O’Rourke, Jesse Milliner, Marcellus Shepard, Kelly Schwartz, MerryRose Howley, Bill Thomas, Steve Teller, Tim Nicholson, Laurent Amzallag, Duff McCully, Haja Janneh, Phil Cefaratti
Editor, Publisher Gregg W. Morris @ gregghc@comcast.net, profgreggwmorris@gmail.com