The Monsters Without – review

Director: Randal Kamradt

Release date: 2021

Contains spoilers

This Philippine film is far from perfect but it is not fatally flawed, indeed it has a lot of charm. It was provided to me for an honest review by Randal Kamradt and, as you’ll see, it really does a nice job at introducing certain Philippine folklore themes to an international audience, or I assume that was the aim with the film’s dialogue being in English. However, I don’t think it quite knows what it wants to be genre-wise – though it is certainly a fantasy film rather than a horror.

Christina Yr. Limoll as Setsuko

The film starts with some background on the Yablo, as the generic name for the monsters, who came to earth from somewhere else. Then, when humans evolved, the Yablo and humans clashed and war ensued. Now the Yablo live hidden from view and are embedded in the ecosystem. The intro also mentions an elemental creature called Nameless (Nick Medina) supposedly the oldest and wisest of them.

Jake Macapagal as Romero

It becomes apparent that this is all being said to a guy in a bar by Setsuko (Christina Yr. Limoll), but the guy moves on to another woman. Leaving, she gets a ride with a bike taxi ridden by Rommel Romero (Jake Macapagal). It is here where one of the weaknesses of the film is apparent in that sometimes the narrative isn’t well explained. It is clear that there is something with this vehicle (she mentions things like a lack of license) but what exactly is going on isn’t explained. They get out of the city and a gang hold them up, until a Yablo in a tree grabs and eats a bandit. Setsuko offers Romero a job.

April Rose Estoy as Wonder

She works for PHASE, a team that studies, documents and protects Yablo. We meet a new intake of recruits in the form of Benito (Leonard Olaer) and Miranda (Jessica Neistadt) who are teamed up with Richard (Andrew Reiley) and April (Dana Jamison). They are under the command of Wonder (April Rose Estoy), who is Romero’s sister. They go out into the field after a report of a Yablo that eats energy as an aphrodisiac and meet Romero out in the field – wearing a suit.

Carcass in the cave

As they enter a cave tiyanak are mentioned and they find the carcass of a killed Yablo. There is, however, living pictures to contend with and we notice something strange with Miranda. The cave was the resting place of the Nameless and it has been released. They also find Setsuko, who wears a wedding dress. There is a side plot here of Setsuko and Romero failing to get married, something they remedy now, but the point of it was, again, not well broadcast in the narrative. 

Miranda in aswang form

So, we get a few plot threads interwoven, with the Nameless on a course to remove the Yablo from our world and take them back to where they came from. Something that would have a devastating impact on the ecosystem. PHASE, the new recruits discover, is corrupt at its core. And then there is Miranda who is – it is revealed – an aswang. Now the film conflates aswang with manananggal and she can detach her upper half and fly. This conflation, as far as I understand, works in that aswang can be a generic name for the creatures of Philippine folklore as well as a creature in its own right (as portrayed in other films).

manananggal

The film crams loads of ideas in and has a lot to say around ecosystems and eco-exploitation, as well as having something to say about immigrant integration and the continuing impact of colonialism. It also has an LGBT friendly viewpoint. The practical monster effects are rather good given, what one imagines was, a very limited budget. The joins show in some of the green screen work and certainly in some of the logos/uniforms, which look cheap. The acting chops are varied in terms of competence, though one feels acting in their first language might have helped. The biggest issue is that this didn’t really know what it was. It felt like a kid-aimed flick but some of the content felt older (if only a tad). Better narrative explanation wouldn’t have gone amiss. However, it kept me watching and was definitely imaginative. On balance 4 out of 10, but with the caveat that it is watchable and its great to have the Philippine folklore used and presented to an international audience.

The imdb page is here.