| 454 Monster Drive | |
|---|---|
| |
| Directed By | Kelly May Chris Gray |
| Produced by | Daniel Beck Ivan Frank Tyler |
| Written By | Kelly May |
| Starring | Hadley Belle Miller Jemaine Clement Lisa Kudrow John Goodman Kelsey Grammer Aubrey Smallman Tina Fey Keegnan-Micheal Key Jordan Peele Jennifer Tilly June Squibb |
| Edited By | Eddie Ivan |
| Casting By | Marty Hutchins |
| Music By | John Bernstein |
| Production Companies | Paper Studios B22 Films |
| Distributed By | Focus Features |
| Release Date(s) | October 21, 2016 |
| Running Time | 84 minutes |
| Rating | PG |
| Budget | $60 million |
| Box Office | 107.1 million |
454 Monster Drive (stylized 454 Monster Dr) is a 2016 computer/stop motion animated horror comedy film produced by Paper Pictures and B22 Films and released by Focus Features, written and directed by Kelly May, with Chris Gray co-directing. The film's premise revolves around a girl named Sky, who, after being mysteriously dropped off by her mother, is raised by a gang of classic horror story monsters, as she grows up, and attempts to balance her weird family, with the even weirder town she lives in.
454 Monster Drive was officially released by Focus Features on October 21, 2016. It grossed $56 million in North America, $51.1 million in other territories, grossing $107.1 million worldwide. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, citing its unique art style, inventive humor, and emotional story as points of praise.
Premise[]
A young girl, Sky (Hadley Belle Miller), is orphaned by her mother and dropped off at a gothic house on top of a hill looming over the mysterious Gloomsville. The house is inhabited by monsters, a vampire (Jemaine Clement), a mummy (Lisa Kudrow), Frankenstein's Monster (John Goodman), a werewolf (Kelsey Grammer), and zombie minions, who quickly take the girl in and raise her as their own. Now, Sky must find her footing in life as her family life gets crazier, the people of the town get weirder, and the cracks of this quaint little town start to show…
- Focus Features
Plot[]
The movie opens with a shot of a forest, with a mother running through them. She is carrying a baby in her hands. Soon after, she comes across a gothic house, looming over the forest. She leaves the baby at the doorstep and bolts, leaving her there. We then cut to inside the house, as we see a mysterious figure loom over the door. Suddenly, Dracula opens the door, attempting to scare what he believes to be pranksters playing a ding-dong ditch. When he finds no one there, he looks down, and discovers a baby, with her cradle turned away from the door. Hesitantly, Drac picks up the baby, and she begins to hug him. As Drac starts to crack a smile, a mummy, named...Mummy, sneaks up behind him, startling him. After seeing the baby, Mummy asks Drac if he's going to eat it. Soon after, Frank (Frankenstein's Monster) and Wolf (Werewolf) show up, and start growing curious too, eventually leading to Mummy asking Drac they can keep the baby. Drac reminds Mummy that it's a bad idea to keep a human child. Drac calls down zombie minions, and orders them to find someplace safe to hide the baby. But afterwards, Drac starts feeling bad for the baby. Suddenly, he changes his mind, and saves the baby from being dropped off of a ledge by the incompetent zombie minions. Drac then agrees to keep the child.
We fast forward 12 years later, and the child, now named Sky (because the monster believe she fell from the sky), is getting ready for her first day of the 7th grade, greeting her family as she gets ready (with Drac being her dad, Mummy being her mom, Frank being her brother, and Wolf being her uncle). When she arrives at school, she is immediately teased by Jamie, the school bully who makes fun of Sky constantly for living in a gothic house and, according to rumors, living with monsters. This leads to a fight between the two girls during lunch, where Sky ends up biting Jamie. This causes them both to get sent to the principals office, where they are forced to apologize to each other.
When Sky takes the long way back to her house, in order to stall out the inevitable. When she arrives, she is greeted by Drac, who is aware of her situation that happened at school, and expresses his disappointment. Drac sends Sky to her room, annoyed, where her annoyance slowly fades into sadness, before she goes to bed early. Later that night, Mummy suggests to Drac that he should be easier on Sky, as her family isn't exactly "normal". Drac reminds Mummy that it was their idea to keep Sky, and that she's not a monster like the rest of her family. Mummy begins to remind Drac of the first time he held Sky, which starts to get to him. But before she can get far, Drac walks off, upsetting Mummy.
We cut to a building, presumed to be the mayors office. Inside, we see an office with a dark figure sitting at the office desk. A door opens in the office, where two officers, Ron and John, enter the room. The mayor brings herself into the light, and asks the officers what do they want. They tell the mayor that "the monster girl" got into a physical fight at school today, where she bit someone. This upsets the mayor, as she has held a grudge against the monsters living in that house for a long time. She had been trying to contain them, but with them having a kid, she fears that monsters are slowly entering her town. Ominously, she states to the two officers that during this year annual "Day of the Red Sea" celebration, "we'll be fighting fire with fire..." This confuses Ron and John, who fail to understand what the saying means, before they are yelled to get out by the Mayor.
The next morning, since it's the weekend, Sky decides to go for a walk in the park, hardly talking to her family as she leaves. As she goes on her walk, she feels like she's being stalked, but thinks nothing of it. Soon, however, she steps on a pitfall trap, and falls in a long winding hole that leads underground and knocks her out when she reaches the bottom. When she wakes up, she finds herself ties up upside down by rope, currently being tied. Sky starts freaking out, but is quickly told to calm down. As she looks around the room to find who is talking, she finds a little girl with goggles pacing around the room. She introduces herself as Lili, as she puts up a dart board of a bunch of pictures of Sky's house and blurred pictures of her family.
TBA
Voice Cast[]
- Hadley Belle Miller as Sky, a 13-year-old orphan raised by monsters.
- Jemaine Clement as Dracula (or Drac'), the classic vampire
- Lisa Kudrow as Mummy, a female mummy with a blonde ponytail
- John Goodman as Frankenstein's Monster (or Frank), the classic horror character.
- Kelsey Grammer as Werewolf, a short tempered werewolf.
- Aubrey Smallman as Lili, a curious 7-year-old, and the daughter of the mayor of Gloomsville.
- Tina Fey as Mayor Rosie, the no-nonsense and strict mayor of Gloomsville.
- Keegan-Michael Key as Ron, one of the two police officers who (try to) keep Gloomsville safe.
- Jordan Peele as John, one of the two police officers who (try to) keep Gloomsville safe.
- Jennifer Tilly as Jamie, a schoolgirl bully who constantly messes with her classmates, especially Sky.
- June Squibb as Mrs. Roberts, the nicest teacher and most oblivious person in all of Gloomsville.
Additionally, co-director Chris Gray provides growls and groans for the zombie minions.
Production[]
Development[]
Early into their careers, directors Kelly May and Chris Gray envisioned a new animation style where the characters were animated to look like paper, and the backgrounds were done with real life objects (clay, cardboard, paper, etc.) Shortly after the formation of Paper Studios in 2013, production of a movie entitled "Monsters" began, with the animating stage lasting about one and a half years. The film was animated using the method they had previously envisioned; all of the backgrounds for the movie were created by stop motion and origami artists. All the cars, trees, and other objects were animated this way, while the characters were animated with a thick white edge around them, moved around in a 3D space, in order to give the illusion of paper.
Early into production, the name of the film was changed to "454 Monster Drive", to convey a more lighthearted tone to the film.
Music[]
The film uses "Turn the Lights Off" by Tally Hall for the end credits sequence and some marketing material.
All of the other music for the film was composed by John Bernstein. Some of the tracks in the score allude/sample classic horror themes, such as the the main theme of "Psycho" and "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor" by Johann Sebastian Bach
Release[]
Theatrical[]
454 Monster Drive was released in North America on October 21, 2016. It was released weeks earlier in other countries.
Home media[]
454 Monster Drive was released on digital platforms (Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play Movies, Fandango at Home, etc.) on January 16, 2017. It later received a release on DVD/Blu-Ray on February 10, 2017. The physical release of the movie included a handful of extras and bonus features, such as director commentary, making of features, bonus shorts, and deleted scenes.
Due to a licensing deal singed with Netflix, the movie was scheduled to, and was, released on streaming services on June 23, 2017.
Reception[]
Box Office[]
454 Monster Drive grossed $56 million in the United States and Canada, and $51.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide gross of $107.1 million against a $60 million budget.
Critical reception[]
The film received a 89% rating on Rotten Tomatoes with the consensus reading, "With it's unique visuals, engaging characters, and spooky vibes, 454 Monster Drive does more than enough to make up for its desultory plot." On Metacritic, the film received 72 out of 100, showing "generally favorable" reviews. The movie gained an "A+" grade in CinemaScore, a 4/5 rating in Common Sense Media, received an overall positive score of 81% in PostTrak, etc. Critics and audiences also frequently pointed out the movie's darker and somewhat mature tone. The film touches on topics like family, and growing up, and features a lot of scenes that imply blood, rituals, the devil, and violence.
Credits[]
Main article: 454 Monster Drive (2024 Film)/Credits
Tropes[]
Main article: 454 Monster Drive (2024 Film)/Tropes