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Monster 1983 cover art

Monster 1983

By: Ivar Leon Menger,Anette Strohmeyer,Raimon Weber
Narrated by: Marc Warren,Callum Blue,Anastasia Griffith,Lorelei King,Stuart Milligan
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Summary

AUDIBLE DEBUTS CHILLING NEW SCI-FI FROM BERLIN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL WINNER IVAR LEON MENGER.

Callum Blue (Dead Like Me), Anastasia Griffith (Damages) and Marc Warren (Hustle) star in new audio-drama from Germany's master of thriller.

Catalysing the surge of interest in classic 70s and 80s sci-fi thrillers, and just in time for Halloween, Audible today exclusively debuts Monster 1983, an original audio-drama from Berlinale-winning director Ivan Leon Menger. Directed by multiple-Audie and RPA winner Cherry Cookson, the chilling tale stars Callum Blue (Dead Like Me), Anastasia Griffith (Damages) and Marc Warren (Hustle) amongst others.

Drawing influences from Poltergeist, Stand By Me and E.T. and other Spielberg classics, the story unfolds in the small coastal town of Harmony Bay, Oregon. Still reeling from a sudden and profound family tragedy, Sheriff Cody uproots his elder son Michael, and younger daughter Amy, from the chaos of Orlando to begin a new, more relaxed life in the Beaver State. Soon after their arrival however, this new-found tranquillity is disturbed by a succession of brutal but mysterious deaths. As the plot twists and turns its way through small-town secrecy, psychiatry wards and the supernatural, Cody comes under increasing pressure to solve each new case whilst keeping his family safe from harm.

Ivar Leon Menger, author of Monster 1983, said: 'Having been raised on Spielberg, King and Kubrick I can't remember a time in my life when I wasn't watching some kind of horror, sci-fi or psychological thriller. I think the legacy of 70s and 80s horror cinema runs quite strongly through Monster 1983, and that's part of the reason I decided to create an audio-only story, it emphasises both the nostalgia and suspense for listeners.'

Steve Carsey, Director of Original Programming at Audible, said: 'After the enormous success of Alien, Out of the Shadows we knew there was a huge appetite for compelling sci-fi audio fiction. Ivar's stories have been immensely successful in Germany so we're really excited to introduce his work to UK listeners.'

Monster 1983 is a Wireless Theatre production for Audible Studios. Written by Ivar Leon Menger, translated by Guy Meredith and directed by Cherry Cookson with music scoring by Ynie Ray.

Monster 1983 Cast:

Callum Blue (Sheriff Cody), Anastasia Griffith (Deputy Taylor Dunford), Marc Warren (Deputy Landers), Rachel Atkins, Barbara Barnes, Andrea Browne, Nicholas Boulton, Philip Bulcock, Sophie Cartman, Amy Cash, Lobo Chan, Charlotte Christie, Trevor Cuthbertson, Stephen Critchlow, Sean Delaney, Jessica Dennis,Tom Gregory, Adam Hall, Will Howard, Gerran Howell, Nicky Henson, Madeleine Kasson, Lorelei King, Stuart Milligan, Harry Myers, Nathan Osgood, Chris Rogers, Martin T Sherman, Thomas Stroppell and Trevor White.

©2015 Ivar Leon Menger (P)2016 Audible, Ltd

What listeners say about Monster 1983

Average customer ratings
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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Not the full story

Overall very enjoyable until the end where you are greeted with those awful words, "to be continued" interesting story, good cast performance and interesting characters. No resolution leaves you hanging for the next part. I also found the music a bit intrusive at times. But it did its job, it has me waiting for the next instalment.

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30 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Not perfect but loved it.

The acting is ropey and some of the dialogue is strange which makes me think it was written by someone whose native tongue isn't English and the clairvoyant was hard to understand. ( your see what I mean ) but saying all that.... I LOVED IT!!!...story moves on at a good pace so can't understand other reviews that said its slow... good story, lots going on... can't wait for part 2.....

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9 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Really Brill!

I really enjoyed this, I loved the retro feel to this story it's like an authentic thriller from the 80s which is right up my street!
Very highly recommended, its the best thing i've listened to this year!

Looking forward to part 2....

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars

Nearly but not quite

Where does Monster 1983 rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

It's not really an audio book but a radio play. The production values are quite high,

What about the narrators’s performance did you like?

There isn't a narrator - there is a cast !

Any additional comments?

I liked the characters, the setting and the way the story developed. But .......

I was very disappointed to find this is an episode and not the full story. It should be made clear this is part one and not the complete story.

Also the ending of 'part one' is very ambiguous. I am still not sure what the conclusion actually is. I suppose the idea behind this is supposed to leave a cliffhanger for part 2, but it was just confusing.

Since that it wasn't made clear this was not the whole enchilada, after wading through the 7 or so hour running time, not coming to a reasonable ending was frustrating.

I'd like to give two and a half stars for the story, as it seems I only got half the story. However, the half I did get I rather enjoyed.

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Incomplete.

This is part 1 of a multi part story. You are not told this until the end of the story. This was released in 2016 and there is no sign of part 2. Not a single story line is resolved at the end of this.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Loved it, Can't wait for the next one.

I really enjoyed the way it was performed, there's not enough full cast story's out there, especially over 3 hours long, can't wait for the next installment.

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Awful

Would you try another book written by the authors or narrated by the narrators?

No

What was most disappointing about the authors’s story?

I was expecting a multi cast dramatisation as you might hear on the BBC - At first I thought this must be a parody but no, it was just horribly corny with dreadful dialogue, ridiculous characterisation and inappropriately intrusive music. Woeful and laughable in almost every way. As if it was written by school children.

Would you be willing to try another one of the narrators’s performances?

I don't believe the problems were necessarily the fault of the performers - more the writers although some of the American accents were also terrible.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Disappointment

Any additional comments?

Audible - if you are going to continue down the original drama route, you will need to do much, much better.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

shame about the end

great story telling and performance but was let down by the end sadly I I I only I I I i

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Disappointing

More like a poor quality radio play. Story unsubstantial and silly with poorly played characters.

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3 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

A creepy story...


When I first opened the Audible file of Monster 1983 and saw that there were 190 chapters I must admit that my heart sank a little, but then I discovered that some of the chapters are very short and take only a few minutes. And to be honest, once the story begins, both the chapters and the hours fly by very quickly.

The story is creepy from the offset, the small coastal town of Harmony Bay comes alive with intrigue and as the new sheriff tries to investigate a series of macabre killings you can’t help but be drawn into the whole creepy scenario.

The fact that Monster 1983 is a dramatic production of several voices gives the story a noticeably theatrical feel and I found that each individual narrator brought something very different to the story. I really enjoyed the distinctive and individual nature of their interpretation.

In many ways Monster 1983 is a chilling but entirely plausible version of small town America. Harmony Bay is a place of secrets. It is a town where petty grievances are allowed to fester and where control and domination go hand in hand. The chilling nature of the supernatural content grows gradually but with real intent until the malice and mayhem which is evoked becomes frighteningly realistic.

Monster 1983 is definitely one of those productions that you want to listen to with all the lights on and, preferably, not too late at night!

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  • Mel
  • 15-10-16

A bit amateurish

Uneven and overdone; very unpolished. It was hard to stay in the flow of the story with the constant musical interludes and the odd choice of tone used by the actors. Some characters sounded best at 1.5 speeds, while others sounded drunk at the same speed. . . odd. The story itself got a little tangled with two plot lines that seemed to keep the trajectory as foggy as the coastal setting. I'm still not sure about the shark placenta blue plate special; and whether we were dealing with a vampire, some kind of shape shifter monster or a *red* herring. Frightening--and not in the way intended. This one needed a tighter story, better dialogue, better narrator, and lots more rehearsals before recording.

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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • BillyT
  • 19-10-16

Awful

I believe this was translated from German, so a lot of the dialog is stilted and nonsensical. It sounds like an amateur hour retelling of Stranger Things but far less polished and captivating. Couldn't take it and returned for a refund.

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15 people found this helpful

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    3 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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  • Timothy C. Branan
  • 02-11-16

Not worth a credit

I took a chance on this, having grown up in Oregon and assuming by the title it was a cash in on the popular Netflix show Stranger Things.
However the story is rudimentary and not very interesting and the pop culture references attempting to place it in 1983 feel very shoehorned and in some cases wrong. Poltergeist is rated PG, for instance, not R like is mentioned in the story. It was also very lazily translated as it uses British vernacular in a story set in rural Oregon. Nobody says Torch, or Holiday, or Iced Lolly. All combined this felt more like a chore to get through than enjoyment, then everything wrapped up quickly in a lot of exposition and a boring twist ending. Sadly I can't recommend this, much as I wanted to.

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14 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Marilyn
  • 14-10-16

Couldn't get enough

It was like listening to a play. Loved all the sound effects and characters, and the ending was a total surprise, who the "Monster" was. I would love to see a second book continued where that left off. And it did say to be continued, hope, hope. The only thing I had a hard time understanding was the fortune teller when she spoke. Some I could understand, but most I couldn't, it was too distorted. But other than that, and what happened to Deputy Taylor, left us hanging there. Come on give us part two.

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  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • AJ
  • 17-10-16

Horrible

I have thoroughly enjoyed other Audible Original Dramas and I was so excited when I saw this latest release unfortunately I only made half way through before I couldn't take it any more! The plot is senseless. Full of strange, irrelevant details. Confusing and hard to follow. Story makes absolutely no sense!

Arrggghhh! So Disappointing I actually returned for a refund!

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13 people found this helpful

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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • tpcpa
  • 14-10-16

So bad I had to stop

I just couldn't put anymore time into this awful book. 1 star was too high!

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13 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Joanie
  • 15-10-16

worth the.credit. love audible.dramas!

wow. that was a little slow.....but worth the credit. I like audible.dramas and this one did not disappoint. I.didn't see the ending coming.

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8 people found this helpful

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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Jean-Francois
  • 14-10-16

One of the best audio books... Ever.

What made the experience of listening to Monster 1983 the most enjoyable?

Loved the 80 setting. The characters are amazing and I can't stop listening. Great adaptation.

What other book might you compare Monster 1983 to and why?

The book reminds a lot Stephen King novels. Great character development and love the small town vibe.

Which scene was your favorite?

Love the mystery of it all... so all of it.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

If I could of, yes.

Any additional comments?

Would love more books like this one.

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8 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Manu Saxena
  • 08-12-16

Engrossing story but ends on a cliffhanger!

Good audio drama with decent acting. I wanted to give this 5 stars but it ends on a cliffhanger and didn't warn me!!!

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6 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars
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  • Tom Haine
  • 05-11-16

Story Goes Nowhere

Acting uneven. Story drags to irreconcilable ending. Very frustrating. Really not worth investment of time.

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