MONSTERS OF CALIFORNIA (2023)

3 stars

Plaion Pictures. Digital. 7th July

Tom DeLonge is one of the members of group Blink-182 – but apparently he is also well known for being a UFO conspiracy nut. No surprise then that when he came to co-write – with Ian Miller – and direct a movie, it would centre around that subject matter.

Dallas (Jack Samson) and his friends Toe (Jack Lancaster) and Riley (Jared Scott) like to investigate the paranormal – a bit like the Scooby gang. In their latest escapade they set up their cameras and other equipment in an empty house, and end up running scared from a possible phenomenon.

Dallas is a non-believer, but comes from a highly religious family. His Dad, who is now missing, was part of some mysterious top secret government programme, looking into UFOs. Dallas becomes determined to try and find his father, who was probably abducted by aliens!

His Uncle Jim (Casper Va Dien) worked on the same project and calls in looking for old files but finds nothing in the garage of the house. But wouldn’t you know it, the trio discover the papers and a gizmo hidden under a pile of Playboy magazines. Clearly Jim didn’t look that hard…

The files prove the existence of UFOs and the equipment is some kind of GPS device which shows co-ordinates.

They decide to go check out one of the locations. Along for the ride is Kelly (Gabrielle Hughes), who Dallas has just met. Off to find Bigfoot – as you do. It isn’t long before they are being followed by government agents. What will they discover? Will Dallas find his Dad alive?

With a trio of “dudes” who act stupidly much of the time, this can’t seem to decide what tone it wants to take, often going for the humour – perhaps if it had leaned into that it would have been better. As it is, it desperately wants to be a throwback to earlier, more entertaining Spielberg type productions. The story constantly grinds to halt for an info dump, which ruins any pace it had and the whole affair feels too long winded.

Steve Kirkham