Someone saw Trollhunter and decided to make a movie like that about Frankenstein's monster, which might be real and living up in Canada. A documentary film crew head up there with a handheld camera, and yes, this is their footage.

This is the kind of movie that seems entertaining while I'm watching it but at the end of the day leaves me with an impression that it wasn't very good. I think it's down to the fact that humans are naturally curious and we just like seeing stuff, so I was able to cruise on through the movie using only the power of my "Seriously? Frankenstein? I wonder what it'll look like".

Yeah it's actually about Frankenstein. Turns out the Mary Shelly book was a completely factual account with only the names changed, so it's really Venkenheim's monster. As silly as it sounds, I'm perfectly okay with that. All movies are silly. I'd even rather they'd gone more into the actual legend and how it was discovered. As it is the interesting part of the story happened before this movie, because we're not given much more here than the guy saying he found some old papers about the monster being real so let's head on up there and reason with it, 'cause surely it will react well to meeting a Venkenheim.

I could believe Venkenheim as a monomaniac, and the grizzled guide could be a character in a better movie, but why is the sound guy in every shot and why is he playing the jackass from a teenage slasher flick? The interviewer lady is basically only there to be the movie's voice constantly telling him to shut up and quit being as ass and could he take this seriously for one second.

What's unsettling to me is I read a few other reviews of this and everyone seems to love the crew guys. One reviewer even calls their banter a "comfortable bro-ish back and forth". Hearing that combination of words used without sarcasm actually did me harm. Do I actually live in a world in which "bro-ish" isn't an insult? I guess it's officially me. I'm out of the people loop and not supposed to be watching their movies. I am however armed with a new term of contempt to give "jackass" an occasional blow on the bench.

And I'm not even sure what to think of that meth head guy. One of the perks of being an actual hermit is you never meet any meth heads and thus have no idea how they behave, so I can't really comment on whether that was an authentic portrayal. Seemed a bit overdone to me though and I enjoyed it not so much.

I enjoy horror movies out in the woods though, and there's a nice shot or two of the monster looming up in front of them in the darkness. That's about all there is of Frank...Venkenheim so less is more type folks will really enjoy seeing almost no monster in the movie. Since the real monster is just a big guy in rags they felt the need to make up a a completely different non-existent thing for the cover and promo material, which always pisses me off a little.

"Graaar! I'm not in the movie"

I reckon I prefer the minimalist approach to having some CG neanderthal running around in every shot, but in the end the whole business never quite comes together to be either Trollhunter or Blair Witch. If you want to experience this vibe done perfectly read Algernon Blackwood's The Wendigo.

As the movie was winding down I got this feeling like they might go for the twist ending. It was all set up, they guy was so convinced he was right and the monster is real, and the attacks and howling at night and all that, so here's how I wanted it to end: monster kills them all, and as he lay dying in a pool of viscera professor Venkenheim looks up and it's not Venkenheim's monster at all, it's just bigfoot. I would have fist pumped.