TL;DR: A Finnish folk horror film full of mythology, sex, gore, and weird ideas that I suspect won't review very well overall, but I found it strange enough that I still had a decent time with it.
Plot
Troubled couples head to a transformative retreat in Finland, where they fall prey to a malevolent ancient goddess of love.
So This One Is Doing Its Own Thing
Love Is the Monster is a strange film, very strange in fact, and it definitely has its flaws, where at times it feels like it’s just moving from one idea to the next without bothering to explain the gaps in between, but I have to respect any film that has a confidence to it like it doesn't actually care if people like it or not, so even when I wasn’t fully sure what was going on, I did still feel like the film knew exactly what it wanted to do.
The Finnish mythology side of things also gives the film its own identity, and I’m not going to pretend I understood every bit of it, but it's more about the mood set of ideas rather than something you’re meant to fully decode I think.
It’s also just nice seeing horror pull from something that isn’t the usual set of ideas everyone keeps recycling, even if it doesn't always work, as the pacing is very slow too, and that will no doubt put a lot of people off, but if you're familiar with folk horror and how that style is, you will be used to it, where it doesn’t rush to fill every second with something happening, and actually gives scenes space instead of constantly pushing forward.
I know that kind of pacing won’t work for everyone, and fair enough, but when things do ramp up, it also doesn’t feel like a sudden switch either, as it feels like everything has just slowly tipped too far and now we’re here.
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This Film is Very Horny
Like, it doesn’t really try to hide it at all, as there’s a lot of nudity and sex, where it just keeps coming up enough that it stops being surprising and just becomes part of the film’s personality, and it does fit into what the film is doing, even if it does go quite far with it.
Still, there were a couple of moments where I couldn’t help but laugh a bit just at how committed it was to the whole thing.
The Cast Hold It Together Even With Poor Writing
The performances are probably the best part of the film, as everyone commits to what the film is doing, even when it gets strange or a bit all over the place, with Milla Puolakanaho in particular shining, as there’s just something about the way she plays it that kept her scenes interesting even when the writing isn't helping her much, as the script is a bit all over the place.
It seems to follow a familiar pattern of setting something up, does something with it, before often just moves on without really following through, so it it simply just drops ideas halfway through and doesn’t come back to them, so it is kind of hard to keep track of everything.
Eventually I just stopped trying to link everything together and went with it scene by scene instead, which made it easier to sit through, even if it doesn’t really solve the fact that some parts feel like they just stop and never get picked back up.
Final Thoughts
Love Is the Monster isn't a film especially concerned with explaining itself properly, but it still has personality, even if it is a weird one, and as mentioned, I suspect a lot of people won't enjoy this film, but as someone who loves folk horror, I embraced the weirdness of it all and sort of enjoyed the ride, even with the flaws the film clearly has.