Customer Reviews

Monster Camp

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3 star:		(1)
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If you ever feel like you don't belong or are misunderstood watch this film. It takes you to a place where people who just can't fit in with society gather to pretend like they fit in with a society that doesn't exist.

Yea confusing. No matter what you think about these types of people the film makers show an amazing insiders view of this strange and often disdained activity. It was eye opening and hilarious at the same time. If you like documentary on social subsets this is for you.

So I ended up watching quite a few documentaries over this past weekend, two of which had a common theme. What was the common theme you ask? It was nerddom. Utter and glorious nerddom. I feel a special affinity for nerds because, to be frank, I kind of am one. I understand the attraction of games and genre fiction. However, these films showed some of the more extreme examples that are out there. Let the awkwardness begin!

So..."Monster Camp." "Monster Camp" follows the trials and tribulations of the Seattle branch of NERO, the New England Roleplaying Organization. NERO is basically a live action fantasy roleplaying game where players assume the roles of wizards, warriors and various monsters. Face paint, homemade costumes and foam rubber swords are everywhere you look. Think Augie from "Role Models" and you get the idea.

The first thing that struck me about this "game" is how ridiculously complicated it is. In one scene, a man named Fern (yes, Fern) is instructing a new recruit on the finer points of dealing damage in a melee battle. Fern explains that your weapon deals out a certain number of damage with each strike and may have enchantments that make it deal out certain types of damage. It is your responsibility to then yell out what type and how much damage you are doing with each strike of your mighty Nerf sword of doom. For example, you would yell out "Normal 2!" for 2 points of normal damage. Got all that? Of course you do.

How this actually plays out in practice is a bunch of grown men and women spastically swinging "weapons" at each other screaming "NORMAL2NORMAL2NORMAL2!" in a swarm around some poor sap that is playing a monster. This really underscores what I think is the major problem with the film. The game is boring to watch. Really, really boring. It's needlessly complicated and they all take it very seriously. While the film goes for the predictable "look-at-how-ridiculous-this-all-is" laughs, that pretty much gets old after the first ten minutes (although a very husky man playing the part of a giant death moth or something shouting "HYPNOTIC STARE!" while spreading his cape "wings" is pretty hilarious).

The film's attempt to humanize the players is mostly done in such a way that we pity them. Two best friends/roommates that are profiled haven't finished high school, one a seventh year senior and the other a fourth year senior. Of these two, one of them doesn't even have a job. He plays World of Warcraft all day while his roommate is at work and then moves to videogames on the TV when his buddy gets home. Another player is criticized by his daughter for playing too many games and his solution is to buy her a computer so they can both play in the same room together. You just never get any more emotionally invested with these people because they seem so alien, to me at least. And if your documentary can't make you connect with the subjects, what's the point?

First a rant on that other LARP Documentary:

I was excited when the buzz about Darkon started. I had played in a LARP one time close to fifteen years ago, and although I was never in a position to ever go back and do it again, I enjoyed my experience so much that I still think fondly of it years later.
Darkon went to film festivals.
Darkon had a neat interactive promotional website.
Darkon was a huge disappointment.

Darkon spent far too much time talking about things that the viewer really doesn't care about, such as the internal politcs of a LARP which even though the players may be enthusiastic about, doesn't translate into somthing interesting for anyone outside of that particular LARP...even to other LARPers. They also spent an extrordinary amount of time outside of the LARP talking about the personal struggles of the players. We get it, they have sucky things going on in their lives...WE ALL DO, YOU AREN'T MAKING A POINT WITH THAT.
So in essense, Darkon split its time between the most boring aspect of any LARP to anyone not playing it, and the crappy lives of its players.
Not really what I was looking for.

And now to Monster Camp:

I had lost faith in ever seeing any doc on LARPing that would be representative of my experience until I managed to see an ad for Monster Camp on some website (facebook or something, I dont know). I looked into it and found out it was about a chapter of NERO which is the grand daddy of most on-going LARPs. And my interest was piqued. So I decided to give it a try. And it was everything that I wanted it to be.
Where as Darkon came off as a documentary done by people that only had some abstract acedemic interest in the subject but no real experience, Monster Camp felt like it was done by someone who loved LARPing and the people invovled and would hang out with everyone later. (This is evidenced by the fact that the camera person was apparently monstering during the final field battle near the end of the movie)

Now going by my earlier comments against Darkon you might think this means this whole doc is done in game, but it is not. They do go into the lives of the players (or monster NPC as the case may be) but they don't do it in a way thats trying to show off how broken their lives are like Darkon did, they give you just enough knowledge of teh players outside the game to show you how much they enjoy and look forward to the next game, and to show that these are a good group of people who may or may not remind you of people you know. It also showcased the best part of any LARP, which is how all these strangers (and sometimes relatives) come together and have a great time.

As far as in-game stuff, they mercifuly didn't get involved in any politics, but instead focused on what it takes to run a large ongoing event while volunteering with a small staff. This was a really interesting look behind the scenes at Plot. Which most LARPers spend their time blissfully unaware of, so it would be interesting to LARPers and anyone watching the film who has absolutly no experience with it. It also showed the difficulties that come with the responsibility of running a LARP.

I could go on and on about all the ways in which this is superior to that OTHER LARP doc, but I'll just say this:

This movie made me want to LARP again. It made me miss the adventure, the costumes, the fantasy, the late nights, but mostly, it made me miss the people.

This isn't a movie about a bunch of broken societal rejects taht have to run away from reality to cope, and even then get overly pissed about stuff that happens in a game. This is a movie about people that may have different backgrounds from me or you, but this is where they go to have fun and hang out with friends.

If you want to know what going to a LARP is really like, in terms that anyone can enjoy and understand without underhanded condescension, then this is the movie for you.

I love to LARP and this documentary really excited me. I loved seeing their costumes and also to get an inside look at the members of plot.