Adolescent coming-of-age stories are a dime a dozen in the world of filmmaking, but few have ever dealt with the timeless tale of a young boy yearning to create movie monsters. Okay, so maybe it's not such a common theme, but it's one with which many horror film fans will likely identify. Directed by makeup effects artist Robert Hall (who incidentally shares the same name as original Monsters At Play member Robert "Quinn" Hall), Lightning Bug is a semi-autobiographical work that explores the turbulent teenage years of a horror fan growing up in rural Alabama. Alternating between endearing and frightening, Lightning Bug is fairly enjoyable and a strong debut.

The film follows Green Graves (essentially a recreation of Hall himself), who has just moved into a dilapidated trailer with his mother and little brother. Green is a devoted horror film fan who has a natural talent for drawing and sculpting his own versions of the creatures from his favorite films. He dreams of leaving his backwoods home for Hollywood to start a career as a horror film makeup effects artist, and thankfully his is enthusiasm is encouraged by his little brother Jay and his closest friends. He soon strikes up a promising relationship with local video store clerk Angevine (Laura Prepon from That 70's Show), while also landing a job crafting monsters for the town's annual Spook House.

All would seem to be going well for Green, but a labyrinth of real-life obstacles stand in the way of his happiness. His mother is involved with an abusive drunk named Earl who continually plots to spoil Green's progress with his "faggot ass" pastime. His explosive temper is a constant nemesis throughout the film, as is the meddling of Ms. Duvet, a devoted church-goer and the mother of Angevine. Her misinterpretation of Green's passion leads her to brand him a satanist and make numerous attempts to stamp out his relationship with her daughter. At the same time, Jay is slowly losing interest in his brother's "devilry" in favor of the comforting support of the local church.

What evolves through the course of the film is a back-and-forth struggle between Green and his own real-world monsters. His mother's abuse at the hands of Earl, his increasingly strained kinship with Angevine and the persistent pressure to master his craft and find fame all threaten to bring Green's world crashing down around him. Robert Hall is comfortably employed as a makeup effects artist who has worked on such television shows as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angle, so you can easily surmise how Green's story ends. But the journey itself in Lightning Bug is the selling point of the film, and it is very apparent that this is a very personal and heart-felt labor of love for the director and crew.

Hall elicits some fine performances from his leads, and indeed much of the cast are personal friends of his. Bret Harrison is infectious as the bright-eyed hero Green and imparts a genuine warmth to his indomitable character. The lovely Ashley Laurence (from Hellraiser, no less!) gives a sympathetic performance as his beleaguered mother, while Kevin Gage is downright despicable as the liquor-swilling lout Earl. I've never been terribly impressed with the abilities of Laura Prepon, and her so-so effort here gives me little reason to modify my stance. (And as an aside, Hal Sparks loses some points for an unwarranted political comment during the Q&A session following the screening. Keep your mind on your business, son!)

For the most part, Lightning Bug comes across as an optimistic tale of youthful triumph, but this is unfortunately offset by a few niggling annoyances. Namely, a handful of less-than-stellar acting performances, an over-reliance on swear words for cheap laughs and a rather wry portrayal of both "rednecks" and "bible-thumpers". Perhaps it was the director's intention to present these people as social caricatures through the eyes of the film's naive young lead, but the derisive depiction of these groups as one-dimensional fiends tends to strip away some of the uplifting charm of the movie. I can cut the film some slack in this regard since it is based on Hall's childhood, but these shortcomings tend to dampen the enthusiasm I had for the experience.

But ultimately Lightning Bug is a solid inaugural effort from Robert Hall that deals with a relatively novel topic that many genre fans will find fascinating. There is enough core material here for horror fans to savor and enough genuine laughs to keep things from growing too pretentious. Its drawbacks may be less intrusive to more gung-ho horror afficiandos, so feel free to take them with a grain of salt. As always, I'll let our readers have the last word. Check out Lightning Bug when it sees a theatrical release (hopefully later this year) and decide for yourself. Good, bad or somewhere in between, this is material that rarely gets the feature film treatment.

Thumbs Up, but just barely.