How to Make a Monster (2001)

Very Cool!!!

Sorry, this movie sucks

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Creating the scariest game comes with a price..and we witness this when a group are put to work on "touching up" a video game which doesn't scare or thrill children who play it. Evilution, where skeletal armored creatures do battle, is supposed to go to market soon and it's up to Drummond(Steven Culp)to get the right associates on board to fix the numerous problems keeping the game from truly adhering to the addictive requirements associated with kids and their parents' dollars. Intern Laura(Clea DuVall), a naive, meek, sweet-natured chick who sees the world through rose-colored glasses, interviews three programming geniuses, all with their various short-comings..Hardcore(..the hulking Tyler Mane)a bit too intense/intimidating with an extensive knowledge of weaponry for "battle games", Sol(Karim Prince), a narcissist who loves the sound of his voice and enjoys informing others of how brilliant he is, and acne-faced, speed-speaking, stuttering nerd Bug(Jason Marsden)who is a whiz at producing sound effects. With a promise of a bonus(1 million dollars) to any of the assigned group who can create this game on time for market, the war begins with each individual often at odds with each other. But, their competitive nature will indeed be tested when an electrical current "brings to life"(..Bug has an explanation, but it's in "geek-speak", so I won't bother elaborating extensively)a telemetry suit used by actors for the game characters. The computer is controlling the suit, and the computer is playing the game so the cast are being targeted as if they were characters in the game. The suit actually uses body parts from a few of the victims to form a hybrid and those left try to escape the best they can throughout the well-secure building..but, thanks to Bug's mishap, the doors are slammed shut with limited means(..crawlspaces)of retreat as the creature hunts for them. Along the way, Laura learns a lesson on greed and the evils of the world. A twist yields a surprise regarding the back up disc, the remaining members are seeking, which contains the entire game.Yes, this is as wacky as the premise sounds, but if you can somehow look past this there's some fun to be had here. I thought the cast did what they could under the circumstances, playing it as straight as they possibly could. Still, the film has a grim view of human nature, leaving us with a transformation of Laura when it's all said and done that's kind of a bummer. There's some truth to her logic regarding the dog-eat-dog world we live in, that she learns from her boss, Drummond. The monster suit is a wild concoction of metal, wires, and body parts. Not overly gory, but some heads are removed and blood splatter. The computer effects are rather underwhelming. I think the casting of DuVall succeeds..she's the normal eyes of what is transpiring, but her battle with the creature at the end is hard to take serious, even if you cut your brain off. Food for thought..perhaps the title has a two fold meeting regarding Laura's metamorphosis?

"How to Make a Monster" is a fun and really entertaining cheesy creature feature.**SPOILERS**Desperate to fix a new video game, Peter Drummond, (Steven Culp) assigns intern Laura Wheeler, (Clea DuVall) to fix the game's problems. Rounding up renegade programmers Hardcore, (Tyler Mane) Bug, (Jason Marsden) and Sol, (Karim Prince) to fix the game and are given a month to do so. Several weeks of attempts later, they all have ideas for improving the game only for their feelings for each other and their egos to get the better of them. As they near completion, they attempt a go-round to determine what final changes need to be made. Trying to get it finished, they take off for the night and come back the next morning to find one of the group members is dead. Carrying on in the need for money, the remaining members find that the death is the result of the monster created for the game coming to life through a power-surge and is killing the group. Forced into a struggle to get out alive, they turn to different strategies to defeat the monster.The Good News: This one's not all that bad. Considering the source material, this here manages to get a lot of mileage from it. From the constant video-game play-through to the images achieved through the game and all the background into the business, there's a lot of it and it makes for an interesting viewing. Another great aspect is the interesting monster created. This has a unique back-story, however contrived, and uses a pretty good creepy look to great effect. This one even gets a decent transformation sequence where it manages to acquire more parts and weapons to make it even more frightening. With the spiked horn, shoulder spikes, large frame and huge blades, this one is quite impressive and frightening at times, and with the real scary face, this one scores some great scenes from it's appearance. It's even quite creepy without the monster, as there's some really great stalking scenes early on to be had, due to a plethora of off-screen noises and crashes to get some jumps in. The deaths, though not at all that elaborate, do feature enough blood and gore to satisfy. The last half-hour is the film's best part, as it features a lot of action, some big chasing and stalking and is it's most watchable part. That's the best part of the film, and alone is worth the watch.The Bad News: There's not a whole lot wrong with this one. Most of this one's flaws result from one area, namely the cheapness of the film. Even though the film is filled with computer graphics, there's still plenty of really cheap graphics. It's nearly impossible for them to become fearful of the images generated from the creature, or even the simulated games. They look like computer games, which is great but they don't look good or convincing in an actual movie. It looks quite terrible, doesn't generate any scares or suspense and takes away a whole lot of whatever good it accumulated in the positives. The cheapness also extends to other areas, as the boring beginning, cramped location and lack of any big moments not done without using CGI all attest to. It does pick up considerably with it's great fight, but there's a real shortage of big moments in this one. There's even a real shortage of kills in here, as this one really doesn't have any real deaths on-screen. The number is incredibly low, making the lack of any real blood or gore a real shortcoming. Featuring bloody aftermath and blood splotches during the few kills done on-screen is nothing really spectacular and only serves to make them more noticeable. They are the real flaws in the film.The Final Verdict: It's a clichéd, cheesy creature feature yet that doesn't mean that it won't entertain. Give it a shot if you're in for some harmless fun or have a particular love for these kinds are encouraged to give it a shot, while those who have a disdain for those types should stay away from it.Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence and Nudity

How to Make a Monster starts with Faye Clayton (producer Colleen Camp) firing her team of software programmer's when the latest game called 'Evilution' that they are working on receives disastrous test previews & the search is on for a new team. This is where Peter Drummond (Steven Culp), Bug (Jason Marsden), Hardcore (Tyler Mane) & the obligatory black guy Sol (Karim prince) step in & take over. The brief is they need to turn 'Evilution' into a really scary game in one month, if they succeed they will earn a $1 million bonus, Clayton also gives them intern Laura Wheeler (Clea DuVall) as a general dogsbody. How to Make a Monster then cuts to 'Three Weeks Later' as the game nears completion, Hardcore has designed the weapons & monsters, Bug has developed the music & sound effects & Sol has programed a new form of artificial intelligence while Peter does what bosses do. One night a lightning strike causes a power overload which in turn makes a motion capture suit come to life & start acting out 'Evilution' as if it were real. Peter, Laura, Sol, Bug & Hardcore all become targets of the killer game & it's robotic suit...Written & directed by George Huang I personally thought How to Make a Monster was a very poor attempt at horror. The script has no relation to the original How to Make a Monster (1958) apart form it's title, there are so many things fundamentally wrong with this film it's untrue. The whole concept sucks & Huang obviously doesn't know anything about technology as How to Make a Monster has no factual basis or notion of reality at all, motion capture suits coming to life? How can it walk & operate before it kills Sol? How can the mainframe computer control it with no visible wires? Radio control, I don't think so. Only three people to program one game? These days it takes dozens of talented programmer's to develop a good game & a hell of a lot longer than a month. I could go on, but I won't. The title How to make a Monster refers to the films hidden meaning, the moral message if you will. You see How to Make a Monster is all about people turning into monsters because of greed, jealousy & ambition. I bet Huang thought he was really clever coming up with that double meaning title. The characters are uniformly unlikable & clichéd, Sol & Bug in particular are highly irritating to endure. Technically How to Make a Monster isn't too bad considering it's TV limitations, director Huang fails to create any sort of tension or atmosphere which is what a good horror film is all about. The kills are all off screen & have no build up whatsoever, when at the end it finally looks as if we might get a decent sequence involving the monster the film keeps cutting to awful in game computer footage, maybe to save money? It breaks up & dilutes any sort of excitement the climatic fight might had, very poor. There are a few computer game/film references, an Evil Dead video game poster keeps turning up in the background, a Tales From the Crypt pinball machine & a scene where the monster rips someones head off complete with dangling spinal cord which obviously is meant to pay homage to Mortal Kombat & it's infamous gory 'Fatalities'. As a whole the violence is restrained with the aforementioned head & spinal cord ripping, another severed head & a cut off hand. The monster itself as it adds bits of human bodies to itself looks pretty cool but is barely used, it's past the 40 minute mark before it does anything. The acting is poor from all involved & watch out for actress Julie Strain who complains about having to go nude, again considering her other work I suppose director Huang thought this would be a funny in joke of some sort. It isn't. Overall there really isn't anything by which I can recommend How to Make a Monster & in actual fact I think it should be retitled to How to Make a Monstrosity of a Film. One to avoid.

Four web designers and a trainee are gathered in a computer company for a challenge: if they succeed in developing a scary game within a month, they will earn a bonus of US$ 1,000,000.00. The group does not have sense of teamwork and all of them are moved by greed only, generating an uncontrolled monster and being destroyed in the end. The trainee learns how to become a monster worst than the existing one, wins the prize and becomes a businesswoman. I believe the intention of the writer of this story was to create a metaphor of the real business life. The title `How to Make a Monster' has a double sense with the creature and the trainee. There are many messages between lines in some dialogs and situations. Unfortunately, although having reasonable special effects in the movie, the screenplay is very silly and is only recommended for killing time. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): `A Criação de um Monstro' (`The Creation of a Monster')