Despite the presence of horror icons as revered as Kane Hodder and Doug Jones in Love in the Time of Monsters, Matt Jackson’s low-budget horror-comedy loses steam before it even reaches its second act. Michael Skvarla’s screenplay’s attempts at satire fall flat at best and engender regressive stereotypes at worst. Even a pack of ravenous zombie squirrels struggle to bring levity to an overlong movie about mutated Bigfoot impersonators.
Only a recommended purchase for DVD collections that specialize in very specific horror subgenres such as regional horror, eco-horror, or representations of Bigfoot in popular culture. Love in the Time of Monsters doesn’t live up to its clever title or the stars named above it.
Sister Carla and Marla (Marissa Skell and Gena Shaw), bound together by the traumatic and freakish dismemberment of their father in the film’s prologue, travel to surprise Carla’s fiancé for a family vacation at his workplace - the kitschy Northern Californian mishmash of Americana, Uncle Slavko’s All-American Family Lodge. “Expect liberal fun at conservative prices,” Michael McShane’s Slavko brags in a Stars and Stripes-plastered commercial - one of the film’s funnier moments, which would fit in tonally on an episode of 30 Rock.
Before the end of the sisters’ first night at Slavko’s, the Lodge’s resident team of Bigfoot impersonators turn cannibalistic after rollicking in DNA-altering, biohazardous pond water. Carla and Marla must team up with the few survivors of the Bigfoots’ murderous rampage to survive the night, discover a cure for the mutation, and save Carla’s fiancé from certain death in a furry Bigfoot suit.
Kane Hodder (known from the Friday the 13th and Hatchet franchises) and Doug Jones (Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shape of Water) stand out in a ragtag crew of resort employees. Hodder’s intimidating physicality works in his favor as the head Bigfoot that goes full Shocker upon infection, and Jones charms as the beatboxing, exposition-espousing doctor dressed as Abe Lincoln. The cast is rounded out with Slavko’s wife Marianna (Shawn Weatherly), survivalist and Marianna’s long-time lover, Chester (Hugo Armstrong), and Marla’s ambivalent love interest, Armando (Danny Vasquez).
Unfortunately, Love in the Time of Monsters suffers from pacing issues within thirty minutes of its start time, and the script’s humor risks offending viewers. (Marla teasing Armando by calling him “Ricky Retard-o” feels especially outdated in its casual racism and ableism.) Stereotypes about Hispanic and Black people are repeatedly played for laughs and, while these jokes might have translated to satire in more capable hands, will likely alienate modern audiences.
As a horror-comedy, Love in the Time of Monsters struggles to succeed in either genre, though it does capture some regional charms of the Pacific Northwest and provides moments for its cast (including big names like Kane Hodder and Doug Jones) to shine despite a clunky, sometimes offensive screenplay and uneven pacing. Media librarians that specialize in regional horror, low-budget horror, eco-horror, or Bigfoot movies might consider adding Love in the Time of Monsters to their film collections.
How would audiences react to this screening?
At a screening, an audience would likely enjoy heckling Love in the Time of Monsters and vocally reacting to the more visceral effect gags.
What kind of film collection would this title be suitable for?
Love in the Time of Monsters would be suitable for film collections that specialize in low-budget horror, horror-comedies, ecohorror, regional horror pertaining to the Pacific Northwest, or cryptozoology and representations of Bigfoot in media.
What kind of film series would this comedy horror film fit in?
Love in the Time of Monsters would fit into a series that showcases the careers of its biggest stars (Kane Hodder and Doug Jones) or a series of on-screen representations of Bigfoot.