A Brilliant Monster (2018) User Reviews (6)

A not so Brilliant Monster

[mikedegroot · 4/10 · 23 May 2019]

Here's an honest review of A Brilliant Monster. First off, it is labeled a horror movie and there are some horror elements which are revealed very early in the movie, but don't expect any blood or gore. All of the action takes place off screen and it would legitimately be classified as a thriller if it wasn't for the "monster" as there are no scary scenes to speak of.

The production of the film is not going to impress anybody. The cinematography, acting, and sound design are below average at best. It does not ruin the movie by itself but it does kinda leave a bad taste in your mouth.

So a low budget Indie horror movie with low production and no scares needs to have a damn good story if it's going to make any kind of an impression at all. Unfortunately, the story is both the high and low part of this film. It does try out some original ideas, but it's ultimately a one note story that is nonsensical and grows tedious by the end. There are really no twists here and once the originality is revealed early on in the movie, it never grows past it or expands on it in any way whatsoever. There is no explanation or really any conclusion to the story either and it would have worked much better as a short film instead of a feature length one.

Overall, I applaud them for trying something a little different. Sort of like "The Babadook", they tried to put a new spin on the genre, but honestly it falls flat and is no where near the caliber of film. Not the worst movie ever, but it's slow story that could have easily been told in a half hour and unflattering production values make this a pass for me. 4/10

Monstrous

[refeahcs · 2/10 · 27 May 2020]

This movie might have been okay if it was a short. Oh, wait. It basically was a short in George Romero's TV anthology show "Monsters" called "Pillow Talk". A writer feeds unsuspecting people to a thing and gets great book ideas in return. I'll give it this much, A BRILLIANT MONSTER looks good. I'm not sure why it was shot in ultra-widescreen, but it looks nice. The acting is community theater bad, and the pacing is even worse for a movie that's only 86 minutes long. Like I said, 20 - 25 minutes tops would have been really beneficial. Better luck next time, kids!

lackluster at best

[ketarel · 2/10 · 17 October 2022]

There's an old film adage "show, don't tell". This film disregards that completely, instead constantly telling, reiterating, and showing almost nothing.

As others have said, this is not a horror film... more like a drama-thriller.

The characters are comically cliché, it's like the script was written by an AI.

With a ~90min runtime, this film feels incredibly padded. We frequently get these slow motion scenes that hold on characters for way, way too long, and the acting is borderline terrible (though the script doesn't exactly give them much to work with).

The soundtrack is constantly beating you over the head trying to tell you how you should be feeling, and in conjunction with these drawn out scenes and bizarre overacting it felt like a parody at times.

Everything about this movie is just weird and bad. Why ultra-widescreen? What's with the janky camera effects? ..and the lighting? ..and over-the-top stock sound effects?? Why any of this?!?!

I suspect the 10/10 reviews were left by friends and family of people that worked on the movie, or they're being painfully sarcastic. Now that I'm reading them again, probably the latter.

This film might be fun rip on with some friends while drinking (heavily), but other than that you'll probably want to avoid it.

Monstrously bad

[mpantazis-54010 · 1/10 · 30 December 2021]

When I saw the ratings on this movie it had an 83% positive critics review and 100% positive public review. When I saw the preview it had a B movie look to it, but I thought I'd give it a chance even though I had reluctance to rent it. This is the first time I've ever written a review on a movie and the reason I decided to do it for this movie was because it was monstrously bad. The actors were terrible, the script was terrible and the monster was silly as it made no sense as to how or why this monster entered this writers life. On top of that, this monster happens to be a brilliant creative writer! How ridiculous is that? It's a perplexing mystery as to why critics give it an 83% positive rating and why the public give it 100% positive rating. This is the closest thing I've ever seen in terms of mass insanity when it comes to movie reviews for a move that is as boring and bad as this one. Truly bizarre. Don't waste your time and money on this one.

Marvelous.

[michaelmoran777 · 10/10 · 25 May 2019]

I don't want to spoil it so I will be quiet. This film is truly for thinkers. If you are here just for fun, wrong film. So intelligent.

Wow!

[RewskiPhotographyMedia · 10/10 · 18 June 2019]

Hard to believe this film was made in Florida!!! Great cast, lighting, and concept!!! We all have our own inner monsters.