With the chill of autumn descending upon Edinburgh, what better way to spend a Friday night than in a lecture theatre watching Monster High? As a girl who owned a ‘Lagoona Blue’ doll in her youth, I was up for this challenge. Initially, I felt slightly out of my depth, since as a child, I was die-hard for Monster High’s sister franchise — Ever After High — so my attendance at this event felt rather traitorous to my roots. My assumption was that I would be entering a den full of ferocious, passionate Monster High fanatics, so I was pleasantly surprised when most people I spoke to had never even seen it. In fact, most looked as though I was suggesting something insane when I mentioned I’d thought they might be here for nostalgia. It was a welcoming atmosphere: a group of young adults gathered purely for the love of the awful-movie-game, and awful movies they were.
1.) Monster High: Boo York, Boo York
First thoughts: well, it’s no Ever After High: Spring Unsprung, is it? The latter being the pinnacle of childhood cinema in my humble opinion. My prejudices aside, the film was packed with a fair dose of New York stereotypes and overproduced songs. For me, it prompted thoughts such as “Wow, I’m going to fail my midterms because I chose to do this instead” and “I’m missing Celebrity Traitors for this.” The most enjoyable character to watch was a man — ‘Deuce’ — who had many Troy Bolton-esque angsty mannerisms, though admittedly with little of Troy Bolton’s magnetism. I’d estimate there was a new character introduced every minute and more plot lines than Coronation Street has seen in the last sixty years. I felt I needed a map to keep track of the recurring characters in this film and it’s only an hour long. I did actually enjoy the relationship between Cleo and Deuce. I felt it brought some nice moments despite being the same recycled ‘my dad doesn’t approve of my boyfriend’ trope that every movie directed at tweens uses.
2.) Monster High: Why Do Ghouls Fall In Love?
Perhaps by this point, I’d grown too used to the low standard of cinema I was being presented with, but I found myself genuinely invested in this one. I appreciated there were less plot lines than Boo York and so a semi-coherent plot emerged. I am still wondering how all these girls can walk so successfully in heels, but I suppose that’s a question for the wider franchise rather than a critique of this film. Moral message wise, I don’t think this is a terrible piece of media to show young girls (aside from the heteronormativity and unrealistic body standards, but that’s a problem for another day). It was genuinely rather satisfying narratively, and the main conflict centred on an unhealthy relationship dynamic, which was interesting. It might be a stretch to refer to a Monster High TV special as educational, but I thought there were some lessons that could be learned about ‘love-bombing’ and holding those around us to unfair expectations. A nice healthy lesson about the dangers of choosing fantasy over reality, and a not-too-agonising runtime of 46 minutes.
With both films, the marathon came to a little over two hours. Overall, Bad Film Society delivered what it says on the tin — the cinema was subpar. But there’s something about sitting in a cold lecture theatre with a group of friendly strangers and laughing at fast-paced, plot hole-laden TV specials that really warmed me. I’d recommend keeping an eye out on Bad Film Society’s social media for future events, because despite the premise, it really wasn’t a bad evening at all.
Illustration by Agatha Shepherd-Jones
