Author of adventure/thriller and horror fiction

  • Home
  • The Blog
  • Email List/Contact
  • Interviews
  • Apocalyptic
  • Horror
  • Military Thriller
  • Sci-fi/Fantasy
  • All books

MONSTERLAND

October 5, 2022 by Craig DiLouie Leave a Comment

Based on the short story collection NORTH AMERICAN LAKE MONSTERS by Nathan Ballingrud, MONSTERLAND (Hulu) is an eight-episode horror anthology exploring the idea of monsters. It’s a masterclass in “monster as metaphor” and overall a terrific addition to screen horror, though some episodes were stronger than others.

In each episode, we see people either making it or not making it but in every case slowly being crushed by some conflict: poverty and a problematic child, a family scandal, an ailing family member, mental illness, the loss of a loved one, an environmental disaster. Within five minutes, we see people caught in an almost intractable web. The monster element offers either alleviation or punishment, affecting the plot while being directly integral to the story’s theme, and it’s not always clear who the real monster is. This is not the typical monster story, where the central conflict revolves around clear-cut survival. This is more literary stuff about people trying to survive horribly real circumstances, with a monster playing a part.

For me, I found the episodes all well produced but uneven in storytelling. Some shined, others were basically good, and a few weren’t so hot, mostly because they were too on the nose in the relationship between monster and theme. In most, I would have preferred a stronger resolution.

Despite these minor reservations, I liked this series a lot for its storytelling and admired it quite a bit for its approach to genre. Overall, I recommend it to anybody but particularly horror fans looking for something a little more literary and offbeat to chew on.

Filed Under: APOCALYPTIC/HORROR, Film Shorts/TV, MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE, Movies & TV, The Blog

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Categories

  • APOCALYPTIC/HORROR
    • Apocalyptic
    • Art
    • Film Shorts/TV
    • Movies
    • Music Videos
    • Reviews of Other Books
    • Weird/Funny
    • Zombies
  • COMICS
    • Comic Books
  • CRAIG'S WORK
    • Armor Series
    • Aviator Series
    • Crash Dive Series
    • Djinn
    • Episode Thirteen
    • How to Make a Horror Movie and Survive
    • One of Us
    • Our War
    • Q.R.F.
    • Strike
    • Suffer the Children
    • The Alchemists
    • The Children of Red Peak
    • The End of the Road
    • The Final Cut
    • The Front
    • The Infection
    • The Killing Floor
    • The Retreat Series
    • The Thin White Line
    • Tooth and Nail
  • GAMES
    • Video & Board Games
  • HISTORY
    • Other History
    • Submarines & WW2
  • MEDIA YOU MIGHT LIKE
    • Books
    • Film Shorts
    • Interesting Art
    • Movies & TV
    • Music
  • POLITICAL
    • Politics
  • SCIENCE
    • Cool Science
  • The Blog
  • WRITING LIFE
    • Craig at Work
    • Interviews with Craig
    • Reader Mail
    • Writing/Publishing

Copyright © 2023 · Author Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in