If “Flesh for the Beast” (2003) was created by American filmmakers as an homage to the era of the European cult, “The Carnivorous Monster” revives its own traditions of American low-budget horror. Visually, it is similar to the films of the late 1980s and early 1990s, which is probably why the reviewer Radu concluded that the film was shot much earlier. But the credits don't lie - 2001.
The carnivorous monster is by no means a Z-movie. It is clear to the naked eye that the budget was, and the authors managed it correctly. The monster is completely non-computer, looks pretty good (similar to the evil Cheshire cat). In an abandoned house on the instructions of the government, he was taken out by a scientist who established a trusting relationship with a reasonable monster, but the big cat was tired of sitting in a cage, and he killed his master. And the moment the monster decided to leave the house, he saw four boobs who decided to hang out in an abandoned house. Is it worth saying that the evil cat changed his mind to leave?
Kertz and Mader's film is shot without a shadow of irony and for the most part does not deserve it. After all, the Carnivorous Monster is intended exclusively for fans of American low-budget horror stories of those years, shot in the old-fashioned way. Needless to say, the level of cinematography here is much higher than in the shoddy crafts of Roger Corman’s studio or in the monster TV show, which TV-3 so likes to show. Even the plot includes not only teenagers who are forced to flee from the Cheshire Cat, but also the military, who again have an experiment out of control, and they do not want the press to know about it.
Such stories were very common at the time, so to blame the film for the lack of originality is not to understand why it was created. The interior of the house is well thought out, so that wandering around it does not cause boredom. The action is very measured, the methods of intimidating the viewer are extremely old-fashioned, like showing a scene from the face of a monster who sees everything in a yellowish color, his hide-and-seek in the dark, and so that the viewer does not think that the monster is the Cheshire cat, and therefore you do not need to be afraid of him, there are a couple of scenes of gutting – our cat with character, do not fall for him.
For directors Kertz and Mader, "The Carnivorous Monster" was the debut. Joseph Curtz did not show himself in cinema, but Kenneth Mader made a huge number of short films. There is on his account and the more famous horror “Moving” with the participation of Susan Blakely and Bruce Davison. There are no famous actors here, but little-known lyceums quite well play their simple roles without causing the viewer irritation. Therefore, one can only regret that no one translated this horror story - already in the 2000s. there was a clear shortage of good films about monsters. The film does not claim the laurels of “Flesh for the Beast”, but it is perceived quite well as a successful imitation of the aesthetics of low-budget horror films of the 1980s. So it will be useful for horror fans to get acquainted with this rare sample of the genre.
6 out of 10