Going Bump in the Night

The Monster (2016)

The horror genre is one of the most expansive genres in film. With so many subgenres, audiences have found so many ways to scare themselves. I have spoken about some of the other horror subgenres with this blog, but I know that the Monster genre is one that I haven’t touched on. It is kind of ironic that I haven’t touched on this subgenre yet, especially since there have been so many great Monster movies like The Thing, Alien, and even most recently Cloverfield. During the past year I had heard rumblings of a decent Monster movie from Bryan Bertino (The Strangers), a director that I have been excited about so of course I had to see it. Distributed by A24, The Monster is a unique take on a subgenre that this reviewer poorly overlooks often.

The Story: 10 year old Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) is the product of two alcoholic parents, Kathy (Zoe Kazan What If?) and Roy (Scott Speedman Underworld). Now divorced, young Lizzy is forced to split her time between parents. On this day Lizzy is being driven to her father’s house because it is his turn to spend time with his daughter. However, during the rainy drive through a dark, backwoods road Kathy hits a wolf and spins out of control. Luckily neither Kathy nor Lizzy were hurt seriously and successfully calls for help. After waiting a while for the ambulance and the tow truck, things around Kathy and Lizzy start to not add up and soon the two girls are not the only ones on this dark road.

The Good: This is very different take on the classic monster movie due to that fact that Bertino uses flashbacks to explain the abusive backstory of Lizzy and Kathy. Intertwined with the metaphorical and physical monsters was oddly refreshing. A lot of times inner demons and how to deal with them can be just as difficult as a physical manifestation of a monster. The performances from both leading ladies were magnificent. Only remembering Kazan from a romantic comedy with Daniel Radcliffe as a sweet 20 something, it was intriguing to see her here as an alcoholic/abusive mother coming face to face with a monster in the night. Ballentine, oddly, is a lot better in the flashback scenes due to the growing up she has to do with some of them. Handling the adult situations during the flashbacks was impressive. I also have to give praise to Bertino. As I mentioned, I have been on the lookout for more films by Bertino since the highly underrated The Strangers. With this film, Bertino uses practical effects to create a more realistic world. Bertino also gives us very haunting images with the camera. There are so many great stills that can be taken from this film, with the minimalistic lighting and eerie visuals.

The Bad: So let us get the bad out of the way. Firstly and probably most important aspect of horror film fans most look for is the scare factor. This isn’t a particularly scary movie. With this part of the film, the film falls into the same formula as most monster movies. What becomes more horrifying is the abuse that Lizzy endures during the flashbacks. I gave praise to Bertino for this psychological trait of the film, but I don’t think he levels out the scares of Kathy and Lizzy’s present predicament. The only other part of the film is just one flashback. Through the some of the movie, Lizzy acts as if her father has his life together, but there is one flashback that shows him as abusive has Kathy. Due to this I have to wonder why in the world Lizzy is so adamant about going to her father’s house. The film doesn’t explain his character very well and doesn’t give merit to Lizzy’s eagerness to be with him.

The Verdict: With a very haunting atmosphere and eerie images, The Monster is a distinctive type of monster film that brings more psychological scares than actual scares. I will admit that the movie is thrilling and tense, but if you are looking for a ‘scary’ movie then this isn’t it. I loved the performances from Kazan and Ballentine, along with Bertino’s direction. The Monster is worth a watch when you want to see a horrifically beautiful film.

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