Monstrum (3½ Stars)

This is the second film in the Stuttgart White Nights Festival.

"Monstrum" is a science-fiction drama set in Korea in the early 16th Century. The country's prime minister persuades the king to execute whole villages for no apparent reason. At least, it wasn't apparent to me why he was doing it. First he slaughters whole villages, claiming they have been infected by a plague. In later years he sends soldiers to kill them and tells the king they have been killed by a creature he calls Monstrum.

For half of the film it looks like there is no Monstrum – neither the king nor the prime minister believes in its existence – but then we see a giant creature that was bred by a previous king.

The film has good action sequences, interspersed with comedy elements. The trouble is that as the film progressed it became more and more ridiculous. When people were being killed the audience was laughing, they just couldn't take it seriously.