A monstrous garden, where stone dinosaurs are enlivened by rampant foliage and gargantuan flowers.
Monsters features an original soundtrack by composer Abi Fry.
Monsters is distributed by Collectif Jeune Cinéma. Collectif Jeune Cinéma, founded in 1971, promotes visual experimental practices through the distribution of experimental cinema, regular monthly screenings and the yearly Festival des Cinémas Différents et Expérimentaux. To rent Monsters for a screening please contact: admin@cjcinema.org
Please kindly note: to be properly experienced this film should be watched in the dark.
Making Monsters
The following text is an extended reflection on the making of the film and features previously classified information about a monstrous incursion of antediluvian animals in London.
Time Regained
The echoes of her warning shot reverberated off the crystalline surface of the enormous time-shield. Oblivious to the warning, Tatum stood transfixed before the giant reptile, mesmerised by its jewelled eyes. Around it’s armoured head the petals of a giant crimson rose swayed, emitting a heady, intoxicating scent. Unable to approach she watched from the elevated observation platform as the Jurassic beast reared like a fortress above him.
In the months following the detonation of the time-bomb the parkland at Sydenham had been cordoned off whist the scientists made their initial surveys. From behind the protective cordon, security chief Jane Gladwell-Ballard, along with the government approved emergency researchers, had watched the affected zone revert back through time. Within the zone, various blocks of bygone time now seemed to be able to exist simultaneously, with several different time segments concurrently overlaid upon each other. During late afternoon the time-flow seemed to slow, leaving frozen sheets of collaged time hanging in the air. Disorientating shifts of scale were commonplace: a mammoth grove of gargantuan flowers had erupted suddenly, out of which the figures of two Victorian dandies had appeared, their clothes sparkling with the iridescent time-jewels that often decorated the most recent arrivals. Two days later these time-visitors had disappeared, their fading images overlaid with that of the emerging Jurassic mega-flora, signs that the zone was drastically rewinding itself through time. From a past distant and obscure, ancient creatures had began to reappear.
Tatum, an obviously unstable junior film technician, had gained illegal access to the zone having bypassed the security systems of the surrounding dome with a stolen entry key. Clearly he intended to approach the emerging dinosaurs. Through the surveillance cameras he had been seen attempting to film a dormant Megalosaurus, frantically setting up his cine-camera and tripod. The monster, stilled by a temporary lull in the time-flow, had become enveloped by a giant rose, its petals sluggishly swaying like giant perfumed sails. With surprising speed the vast reptilian beast had come to life. Tatum defensively raised the cine-camera as the immense jaws parted above him. Hungry after its journey across time the monster quickly devoured him. It hadn’t eaten for 120,000,000 years!
Toby Tatum, 2014