Contrary to how some may view it, schlock is an artform. What matters is intent – the effort put in to create a genuine work where humor, action, or horror, are sincere. If filmmakers try to force feed viewers schlock, that could lead to an experience that is messy and bland. But the right formula of cheese and direction can allow for a film that is both hilarious and genuine – offering a fun time like that of Monsters in the Closet.
Directed by The Snygg Brothers, written by Jasmin Flores and Zachary Snygg, the film revolves around the work of Raymond Castle (Tom Cikoski), a famous horror writer who has passed away. Sometime after Raymond mysteriously dies, his daughter Jasmin (Jasmin Flores) goes to visit his home. Upon getting into his laptop, she finds a video dedicated to her where her father discusses his will. While she gets a lot of financial benefit from his passing, she also acquires a book about black magic that Raymond purchased. He shares how the book allows to bring spells to life just by writing stories about them.
Jasmin initially writes her deceased father off as nutty and continues to search the rest of his computer, locating an audio book recording of his. Raymond shares that the recording is of his famous short story collection, Monsters in the Closet, and begins to tell a tale. It isn’t long after Jasmin listens to the story though that some surprise guests appear and start chasing her down.
Through Raymond’s audio book recording, Monsters in the Closet plays out as an anthology – with the moments in-between stories showing what is taking place with Jasmin. There is decent variety to these shorts, with the common factor found throughout each being their embrace of schlock. This is where Monsters in the Closet succeeds most, for this anthology of grim comedy will surely pull several chuckles out of audiences.
When watching something with a schlocky tone, one must keep in mind that there is going to be a decent level of cheese; in this film’s case, there are obvious moments where the actors are having fun with their roles and playing into such cheese. Such a short that excels at this is the second, titled “Home Improvement.” This short involves a young couple who buy a home and strive to fix it up, only for the house to be more of a nightmare than they imagined. When something goes wrong, they both laugh hysterically and shrug it off, the couple striving to maintain a lovey-dovey mentality with each other. With both actors leaning in with straight-faced and over the top acting, their interactions make for funny, even ominous banter. For what is even more interesting about the short is how the humor eventually morphs into something more malicious. Don’t get me wrong, Monsters in the Closet is much more of a comedy with horror elements sprinkled throughout, but this short actually has a strong unnerving nature to it.
This is the only short to really pull that duality off however, with the film’s stronger component being its humor. I mean this in the best way possible – but the humor is very dumb. In “Zombies,” a woman who is slowly turning into one of the living dead gets a look at herself in the mirror, noticing she has a major gash going across her neck. To try and fix this, she grabs a first aid kit and places several super small band aids across this major cut. It’s ridiculous and I couldn’t help but chuckle throughout. For the most part, the actors understand what this movie is trying to sell, with each going in on the schlock unapologetically.
When it comes to the action and violence found among these shorts, one can expect just as much cheese. With quick cuts constantly being used to avoid stabbings or limbs being chopped off, the camera can fly around at times and be disorienting. While this could be an irritating element to some, I found it over time to be another decent component to the film’s overall cheese. Given the level of makeup used throughout the film, it doesn’t matter how fast the camera moves around – the gory bits are still relatively neat to look at (some being more effective than others in terms of grossness).
Of course, not everyone is going to be on board with schlock. It’s a niche form of storytelling that either wins people over or is scoffed at right away. Even in Monsters in the Closet’s case, not every element lands; with some dialogue that comes across cringe, and moments of violence that are just corny and lack a funny or horror appeal, there are several points where the vibe is just bland. When it comes to these issues, the film is somewhat of an endeavor to get through – though, when the funny bits return, they are welcomed.
If you’re looking for an anthology that is focused on sharing tales of horror, then you are not going to find much of that at all here. That said, if you want some horror flavor spiced up with goofiness, Monsters in the Closet will tickle that funny bone.
Monsters in the Closet is now available on VOD outlets.
