Because everyone loves Halloween and horror-related movies throughout the year, we thought we’d resurrect a not-so-old gem about a haunted truck. Unfortunately, this probably isn’t the ultimate scary truck movie we were hoping for, but we’ll leave that up to future filmmakers. Monster Trucks is a 2017 movie from Paramount Pictures about a slug-looking monster that finds refuge in a pickup truck.

A bored, small-town hunky high schooler named Tripp (Lucas Till) builds what he considers to be a monster truck out of scrapped cars. A nearby oil-fracking accident unearths a subterranean CGI slug-like creature with a voracious appetite for oil and gasoline. You know where this is going. Tripp and the CGI become buddies and he lovingly nicknames it “Creech.”

A Different Kind of Buddy Film

Said to be inspired by 1980s films like E.T., Back to the Future, and Goonies, Monster Truck focuses on too-smart teens who are more acutely aware of strange things happening in their small town than the clueless adults around them. It attempts to blend a VHS-era plot with more modern effects, which sometimes work but mostly don’t. The film features a few decent stunts: a 4X4 climbing the side of a building and racing across rooftops

cluding some not-bad vehicle stunts that feature the sight of a 4X4 somehow clamoring up the side of a building and speeding across rooftops, as it engages in pokey exposition and introduces numerous characters. We meet the shady oil company boss (a duly slick Rob Lowe) who badgers a co

There are a number of car chases, some crashes and mayhem, and some special ops agents who raise the stakes because the government gets involved. If your kids enjoy cars, animals, monsters and a bit of mayhem then they’re in luck. 

Tripp wants to protect the monster because it has feelings and a likable personality. Just like your pals at Motor Biscuit! 

According to the distribution company, Monster Trucks promotes teamwork, environmental stewardship, protecting animal habitats, and showing there is more to life than money and status.

Monster Trucks Was A Scary Bomb

The movie cost $125 million to make and grossed $64 million at the box office worldwide. That means it was a big loser for Paramount. But, in one of those weird studio “accounting” writedowns, Paramount lost over $120 million when factoring in promotion and advertising.  

There really are no curse words, and other than a couple of extras getting murdered there really is no violence to speak of. 

Reviewers generally put it this way: For a $125 million film, it’s not that bad. That’s to say it’s not good, but for the money, Paramount spent what do you and they expect? And it does have some stars like Danny Glover and Rob Lowe, so it’s not a complete cast of unknowns.

If You Watch Monster Trucks Don’t Blame Us

Look, if you download it or catch it on Netflix and hate it, don’t blame us. We’ve tried to give you the highs and lows of this turkey and so it’s up to you to heed our warnings or take a chance. At one hour 21-minutes, take a break and watch something you quite possibly could have regretted not seeing. Or, not.