The Monster follows a mother and daughter who have an accident while traveling down a dark and deserted road. While they are waiting for help they notice that there is something out in the woods other than animals. Things go from bad to worse when they come in contact with the thing in the woods.The mother and daughter must try to survive the night and escape this living nightmare.
For me when I either see a cool looking monster on the artwork of a movie or hear that it has a cool monster I am immediately hooked and wanting to see it. This film has a plot that is very similar to many other films in the Creature Feature genre. To me that is fine as long as they spice it up and make it interesting. In the case of "The Monster" they did do something you really don't see done and that's add a heavy dose of drama. What I mean by that is they show the relationship between the mother and daughter and how toxic their relationship is. For the most part I enjoyed them doing that because it added to the film in a good and different way.
I did find it coming up in flashbacks a bit too much though which took me out of the film and made me think "am I watching a creature feature or a drama?". Nonetheless it's like I said and was good to have in the film. As far as the horror aspect of the film I really liked it. They did the route of the film "Alien" and did not just show you the monster, they teased you with it until it's final and full reveal in the 3rd act. I can tell you when you see the monster I think you'll love it as much as I did. Now I know it shows it on the artwork, but trust me when I say that it in full scope and moving on the screen it looks awesome!
That leads me into the creature effects and the gore effects. All the effects were done practically and oh boy they were awesome. I like that they didn't cheap out and make the monster CGI, but instead had a guy in a suit as the monster. The best parts when you see the monster for me were when it was more in the dark and rain as opposed to when it is shown in the light. Which still looked good, but you'll know what I mean when you see it for yourself. As far as the gore goes they did some awesome work on that especially when it is ripping at a characters throat and blood is flowing everywhere. Now not all the gore is shown on camera which is fine because it leaves something to the imagination.
Overall I would say that if you like Creature Features and don't mind some mother daughter dramatic elements added in then I think you'll dig this film. I personally enjoyed what this film had to offer. Hell some of you may just enjoy this film for the drama aspects more than the horror. In the end I highly recommend it!
-Daniel Lee
Director: Bryan Bertino
Lead Actor/Actress: Zoe Kazan, Ella Ballentine
Genre: Horror
Blu-ray Release Year: 2016
Theatrical Release Year: 2016
Time Length: 91 mins.
Rating: R
Region Code: Region A
Release Company: Lionsgate Films
Website:
www.lionsgate.com
The Monster follows a mother and daughter who have an accident while traveling down a dark and deserted road. While they are waiting for help they notice that there is something out in the woods other than animals. Things go from bad to worse when they come in contact with the thing in the woods.The mother and daughter must try to survive the night and escape this living nightmare.
