Monster Awareness Month Days 26-28

So, today Monster Awareness Month draws to a close. It’s been a ride, and I hope everyone enjoyed it. If you’ve only been following along here, definitely go back and check out the Monster Awareness Month website, because there are some great pieces up there.

I’m hoping that this’ll only be the first of many such months I get to be involved in. This February was a little tumultuous for me for various other reasons, but the monsters helped make it enjoyable. Whatever the future holds, though, I’ve got three more movies to write up to round out the month, so here they are:

Day 26: Pan’s Labyrinth (2007)
The second movie that I wrote up for Monster Awareness Month. Check it here.

Day 27: The Mist (2007)
I’ve seen a lot of folks who didn’t like this movie, but I think it’s brilliant. Not just a great monster movie, but a great movie period, and an improvement on the source material. The big sticking point for most people is the ending. It apparently either works for you, or it doesn’t. It worked for me.

On a side note, if you get the opportunity, I recommend watching the movie in the black & white version that’s included in the two-disc set. It’s how Frank Darabont wanted to film the movie, and it’s been fully color-corrected, so it’s not just the regular movie with the colors drained out. The shadows are as crisp and black as you could ask for.

Day 28: Cloverfield (2008)
The last movie of Monster Awareness Month. Another one I was going to re-watch and didn’t. (I did finally re-watch Jurassic Park, and still enjoyed it.) I saw this one in theatres, but only that once. I don’t recall disliking it, but I don’t recall liking it all that much either. Then again, my tolerance for shaky cameras is notoriously low, and I was already spoiled by the fact that the monster wasn’t going to be this one.