Book Of Monsters (2018)

A little girl is being told a scary bedtime story by her mother. All is well and good until a monster appears, drags the mother away, and kills her. Many years later, that little girl has grown up to be Sophie (Lyndsey Craine), someone due to celebrate her 18th birthday with a party full of her friends, and some people who don't like her at all but will turn up just to have their own fun. Which means there are plenty of disposable victims around when monsters start to show up and kill people, monsters that are in a book that Sophie's mother used to make notes in. It's up to Sophie and her friends to battle the numerous beasties, from a shape-shifting demon to a beast that looks like a crazed plague doctor, and even some deadly gnomes.

Made possible thanks to a successful crowdfunding campaign, Book Of Monsters is a real melting pot of fun moments and enjoyable elements. The practical effects are all generally very well done, the cast do alright, and it moves briskly enough from one battle to the next once the monsters make their appearance.

Director Stewart Sparke and Paul Butler collaborate once again, after a number of previous projects that I'll probably check out at some point (The Creature Below sounds right up my alley, at the very least). Both men have a firm enough grasps on the basics of their craft, and they certainly do plenty to make best use of every budgeted coin, but they seem to have gotten so good with the budgeting that they have forgotten how to set aside less interesting ideas. And allowing contributors to pick specific elements not only leads to both good (a birthday gift that leads to another spirit encounter) and bad (monsters being killed by dildo), but also leaves the film feeling like what it is, a mish-mash of ideas that have been thrown into the mix in a way that stops the whole thing feeling consistent and cohesive.

Craine is decent in the lead role, and Michaela Longden also does good work (as Mona), while the others help contribute to the inconsistent tone. Arron Dennis isn't too bad, as a male stripper who ends up caught up in the nightmare, but I can't help thinking that someone else could have done better with that role, and fans of films based on the work of Clive Barker will enjoy the cameo role for Nicholas Vince.

Essentially a riff on Goosebumps that's aimed at adults, Book Of Monsters has a few decent bits of bloodshed and some impressive creature design. And then it also has some killer gnomes, for no reason other than I guess people thought killer gnomes would be fun (and some viewers like that sequence, I am not one of them). There just wasn't enough here to win me over completely, not at any point, but that doesn't stop me recommending it to others, especially if you want a rental to enjoy with some snacks and beverages of your choice. Sparke and Butler deserve some praise for what they've done here with their limited resources, I just wish that it was something I was more entertained by. Which is an odd thing to say, considering how much it tries to please everyone at different times.

5/10

Check it out here.