Of Monsters and Men is a fantasy/action series about misinformation, identity, and redemption written by Domenic Porcari.
Framed for the assassination of the King, a disfigured Knight recruits the monsters his order used to hunt to help him take back the kingdom from the queen who framed him.
Have you ever been called a monster?
Maybe not literally, but chances are you've been slandered, lied about, had your words twisted, been blamed, framed, or defamed for whatever reason suited your persecutor. And in the long hours of the night when even sleep denied you its assurance, you wondered: "Are they right? Am I what they say I am? Am I a monster?"
Of Monsters and Men follows just such a person: ONDRAEDAN, a young knight who is framed for regicide, accused of murdering the king he swore to protect. Left disillusioned and physically disfigured by the fallout, he is offered absolution in exchange for a completing a daunting task: hunt and kill an elusive shapeshifter that plagues a local town.
Ondraedan accepts, but as his hunt evolves, he begins to realize that this shapeshifter might not be quite the monster he's been told, and that he himself might be more of a monster than he thought. With time running out and his life and honor on the line, Ondraedan wrestles with both internal and external demons as the line between man and monster continues to blur both in his surroundings, and within himself.
Laced with themes of Misinformation, Identity, and Redemption, the story asks what will happen to our character he fails his task? But more importantly, what will he be if he succeeds?
Throughout the story, Ondraedan is forced to journey past the edges of the known to a world that challenges his ideas of reality, morality, and his very sense of self. As such, the tone and style of the film harkens to some of the great frontier films of the past and present where characters are pushed past their mental and physical limits to discover a new part of themselves.
But unlike many modern stories, Of Monsters and Men does not leave its audience lost in the darkness of a fallen world or in the emptiness of depraved souls. It is a story of redemption, and thus beauty is woven throughout its brutality through inspired camera work, a heavy emphasis on nature, and a visual poetry unmatched in most action cinema today.
Throughout history, the greatest weapon of the maleficent has been dehumanization. From the anti-semitic propaganda of the Nazi's to the misinformation tactics that fuel today's political machine, there's no better means division than to convince "good" people that anyone different from them is "evil" "less-than" "A MONSTER."
Long have societies encouraged us to deface and destroy those we don’t understand; to see them not as people, but as monsters. This "Us vs. Them" mentality creates an endless game of monsters and men; an infinite, un-winnable game where the only way to avoid losing is to stay on the right team.
If we are to stand a chance at unity as a nation, community, or even family, we must be willing to recognize that the “monsters” we see, no matter their appearance, might not be the monsters they’ve been made out to be. Because if we look deep enough, we find that there's a monster in all of us.
But this film will serve as a reminder, like tales old as time and songs old as rhyme have for generations, that there's no beast that can't be redeemed with a display of beauty.
Read/listen to the first 14 pages!
Watch the proof of concept
Framed for the assassination of the king, a disavowed and disfigured knight accepts a chance at absolution by hunting and killing a murderous shapeshifter.
This forbidden poem from within the world of "Of Monsters and Men" sets the stage for the full series.
Previs vs. Final product?
Crafting action takes an incredible amount of preparation, including "pre-visualisations" (previs) where we shoot a test version of the fight to test its viability on camera. See how the barn fight originally looked.
Proof of Concept Behind the Scenes and Bloopers!
Journey from the comfort of your couch to the 7º nights in a dusty hay barn and riding arena where this short was filmed. The cast may be serious on the screen, although they were anything but on set!
What Now? What Next?
Hear from Writer/Director Domenic Porcari on the current goals to get this story told, its series potential, and how you may be able to help.