If ever a title was best suited to a documentary about Harry & Meghan then Monsters of California is surely it. Instead here it is a kind of teenage comedy / coming of age drama that the late John Hughes excelled at and into the mix is thrown UFO’s, Bigfoot and conspiracy theories and has been an obsession of Tom DeLonge the lead singer of Blink 182 who makes his directorial debut here.
It’s a trio of teens led by Dallas (Jack Samson) who between bouts of skateboarding are also ghost hunters. But for Dallas it is also a quest for his father who mysteriously went missing seemingly abducted by UFO’s. The script which Delonge also co-wrote allows him to indulge his fanaticism for conspiracy theories so whilst Dallas is something of an atheist much to the annoyance of his religious mother, he does instead believe in the paranormal. So dragging his two friends along with them they are all drawn into a plot that takes in conspiracy theories around UFO’s and throws in Bigfoot for good measure but often for gross out slapstick.
The three ‘teens’ clearly aren’t but the actors give it their all and Arianne Zucker as Dallas’ mother and Casper Van Dien as her new partner and military man involved in a cover up are both reliably good
Monsters of California is certainly overlong, uneven in tone and the frequent jokes misfire but DeLonge makes a decent directorial debut able to indulge his own personal interest in what is ‘out there’ exemplified by an end speech that is something of a plead for peace and to being open minded to the unknown.
related feature : Alien Romulus director Fede Alvarez talks about making the film, practical effects and Ridley Scott
related feature : Richard Lumsden talks about his potty mouthed conspiracy theorist in new film, ‘Swede Caroline’
We chat to Casper Van Dien about UFO’s Bigfoot and Tom DeLonge…..
Here’s the Monsters of California trailer…..
Monsters of California on digital from 7th July 2025 (Plaion Pictures)
