Film Review +3 with Bonus Sarcasm Attack

I am conflicted because I have no idea whether to laugh or cry at the people in this documentary. They are LARPers (Live Action Role Players) and they are a bit different. I have nothing against role playing in general, I just have some questions about grown men dressing up in lizard outfits and shouting sword +3 fire burn burn [maniacal laughter]. Who are these strange people and why is this an excellent documentary despite all of the weirdness? Monster Camp is a great documentary that looks at yet another subculture.

One the level of a straight documentary, Monster Camp is very interesting and well done. I had moments where I really felt like this was a masterpiece of documentary filmmaking. Well, almost. Because then in the middle of this masterful film, I started to watch the people involved. I then fought back laughter at the dismal state of human life, and fought back tears at the dismal state of human life. I know this is going to come off as a majority view of a subculture, but some of these people really need to rethink their lifestyle choices.

Essentially, Monster Camp is about a group of NERO LARPers in Seattle. The film examines not only the game itself, but the people involved. We see the organizer, a man that has way too much pressure put on him to create the fantasy world in which the game takes place. We see the rogue monster that likes the ladies but seems to bring a new one each week. We see the roommates that play games all the time, except when one of them is at work. These people are viewed through an non-critical lens, which could be difficult considering it would be so easy to make fun of them.

I happened to read a few reviews of this beforehand, and many of them hinted that dignity was brought to this figures as they stridently donned their monster heads. Bullshit. Even though the film itself does not “judge” them, the viewer has to. You have a major contributor to the game eventually buying out the leadership role, but he misses one of the games because he was too busy playing Warcraft. Oh did I mention that he is a single father whose solution to his daughter’s complaint about him playing too much Warcraft was to get her a computer so that she could play with him. Or how about the two roommates that play games all of the time. Did I mention they are trying to finish high school, and at the age of roughly 20 to 30. They are not poster boys for LARPing; and regardless of the film not “judging” them, the viewer has to. If the director, Cullen Hoback, had chosen to make fun of them, he would have had a field day. Of course if he didn’t want you to judge them, he would have never shown the parts I just mentioned. See where I’m going with this. Hoback leads the viewer to conclusions while never making a judgment himself. It’s what make this film brilliant.

For all of the previously mentioned players, there are those that have found a balance between their fantasy land and real life. A father and son have the chance to connect and a few outcasts find those needed friends to help them along. There are moment when you realize that LARPing does have some positives. But like anything else in life, if it’s taken too far there are detrimental effects. I even have respect for the gamers because there is no way I would remember all of the rules from the 100 odd page rulebook. It does take some smarts to play, and even some imagination.

Monster Camp serves as an important look at the LARP subculture. The film presents the bad and the good, while letting the viewer be the judge. Hopefully this post is deemed a +3 scroll of GED help so that those two roommates can get their degree.