Cheesy special effects? Check! Gore? Check! Kane Hodder? Check! Mutated men wearing Bigfoot costumes? Check! Bodacious Babes? Double D Check! Love in the Time of Monsters is a low budget ($500,000 is considered low budget nowadays) flick about toxic waste pollution gone awry. It’s riddled with groan-inducing moments, but I gotta admit, I had a fun time with it. It very well could be that Heather Rae Young is smoking hot (the other woman in the movie aren’t bad on the eyes either) and seeing her dance, to distract crazed Bigfoots, is something that I haven’t seen before, but realize was missing from life for a very long time. Also, mutated squirrels ripping shirts off is a massive highlight.
After reviewing Old 37, which starred Kane Hodder, albeit in a somewhat limited role, I was told to check out Love in the Time Monsters, as it also starred our favorite slasher icon. It was nice to see Kane Hodder finally in a role that gave him a chance to say a few lines, as more often than not, he’s reduced to a speechless and thankless role (not counting Jason Voorhees and Victor Crowley of course.) Thankfully, we don’t have another Muck on our hands, as he was only in that movie for mere minutes. This time around he gets to have a little fun, running around as a Bigfoot and killing a few people here and there. He still isn’t in the movie as much as I was hoping, but I’ll take what I can get.
You may or may not be asking what the heck is Love in the Time of Monsters all about and I can tell you it’s a simple, straight forward cheese fest. A bunch of guys tumble into a toxic waste pond and before you can scream Bigfoot, they are killing the guests of a sleazy dude named Slavko, who runs the local attraction of Uncle Slavko`s All-American Family Lodge. Two girls show up to the attraction, Marla (Gena Shaw) and Carla (Marissa Skell) and they get roped up in trying to survive the night. We also have a guest appearance by character actor Doug Jones, who gets to be in a role that doesn’t require tons of makeup and prosthetics. It’s a flick that’s full of eye-rolling moments and hit or miss performances, but the gore and overall tone of the film just screams “have a good time.” How can you not like a movie with a rampaging zombified moose on the loose? Oh, did I forget to mention the zombified moose? Yeah, it’s even more awesome than you think.
I may be going easy on Love in the Time of Monsters, but it’s a movie that wears its cheese on its sleeve and reminds me of the good ol’ days of low-budget monster flicks from the late 80s and early 90s. Also, Heather Rae Young is so damn hot, I can easily recommend seeing the film just for her alone.