Mini TV Review – Monstrous

Recently I have been watching Monstrous; and it was an interesting experience! Directed by Jang Kun-jae, and starring Koo Kyo-hwan, Kim Ji-yeong, and Shin Hyeon-bin; Monstrous is a South Korean supernatural horror TV series about the strange and terrible things that happen in a small village, after the sudden discovery of an ancient Buddha statue. Monstrous is a show I have had on my to watch list for just over a year now, and was super excited to watch it. The end result is a little disheatening however, as I wasn’t as drawn to the show as much as I was expecting to be. The first few episodes highlight that the story, is less a story, and more just a sequence of events and no explanation. I get that supernatural horror relies on scaring you first, then explain later, but given this is a TV show, some explanation is required to keep it going for six episodes, as well as keeping you interested. The show does get more interesting though the longer you stay, with things getting more and more serious, whilst using it’s imagery to develop characters (although not by much), and tell of some of their more tragic backstories. But, in the last few episodes, it stops creating imagery, and just sits comfortably in the groove, expecting you to now be hooked, where what you really want, is a few more weird things to happen, just to keep you interested. It’s a weird one. On the one hand it is an interesting premise, with some decent characters in it, which rather amusingly paints local politicians as snivelling cowards during a crisis. On the other hand however, there’s very little story telling, and is constantly teetering on the edge of either keeping your attention, or losing you entirely!