The Monster (2016) Reviews

• Emotional, well-acted, and atmospheric, but extremely mediocre.

  HailPaimon_2016-11-12

  The Monster was slightly better than I expected it to be. It manages to take a very basic plot and turn it into something more engaging than you'd think. But it is by no means a great film. First of all, the pros. The acting from the two lead characters, especially Zoe Kazan, who plays the mother, is pretty good. These two show a ton of emotion throughout the film that really hooked me in and made me feel for them. I'm happy to say that the child performance was solid. Child performances are too often cringe-worthy, but this one was okay. Not fantastic by any means, but not terrible. The direction and tension the director managed to create, with the atmospheric lighting, camera movements, and shot composition, was very good. You can tell a lot of effort went into creating a tense, suspenseful atmosphere. The makeup effects on the monster were decent. They are 100% practical, no CGI. If you appreciate practical effects like I do, you might enjoy this monster design. Lastly, the final act of the movie was pretty strong. It was engaging, emotional, intense, and all around the best part of the film. Now the cons. The story is the definition of mediocre. Two people get stranded on a deserted road and a monster from the woods terrorizes them. The film tries to engage the viewer more by making the primary focus of the story about the strained relationship between the mother and daughter and how this terrifying experience brings them together. On some aspects this works, but it's not enough to make the plot anything more than average at best. The dialogue was also very shoddy at points and felt unnatural and forced. I wouldn't call it terrible, but it wasn't great either. Lastly, some of the decisions the characters made just had me scratching my head. They came across as nonsensical and just flat- out dumb. Overall, this is a pretty average movie. I'd recommend one watch just for the decent performances and direction and a cool monster. Don't expect anything great. Expect a flawed film with an unoriginal plot with some good aspects scattered throughout, and you might enjoy it. 5/10

  More

• A Good Indie Horror Flick

  cshawproductions2016-11-13

  There are a lot of strong opinions on this film in its early reviews. I just want to give a practical commentary on what I see. This is a great horror flick with some heavy symbolism. It is a story about a mother and daughter who are terrorized by a monster when their car gets stuck. A lot of dudes (or women haters) seem to hate it (check the low reviews and notice the colorful words they have for women). As a dude myself, I had no problem watching a film from a female perspective. I rather enjoyed it and found it touching at times. The characters are both flawed. I related with the daughter at times because I grew up with a flawed father. I acted and reacted a lot of the ways the daughter in the film did too. So from my perspective, there was some heavy realism in the backstory. I found the "boring" moments to be touching. The practical effects are superb in my opinion. Some will disagree though. Some of the writing is flawed in regards to character choices. I think discourse could answer some of the choices, but my fellow horror film nerds seem to be either accepting or spiteful of cliché character fails in the genre. I could see past them though for quality story though. So if you don't get angry being put in a woman's perspective and like horror films, this should be right your alley.

  More

• Monsters come in all forms

  kazps2017-08-31

  Just watched this and loved it. Another smart addition to the encouragingly robust genre of smart and allegorically innovative horror movies. My take? The monster is simply Kathy's addiction, as experienced by daughter Lizzy. A lot of people are commenting on the weird/ unbelievable choices made by the characters in the third act. If you're looking at it as a straight up horror movie, I could understand that. But seeing it through the lens of the pretty obvious analogy that was being made about addiction, they all felt totally spot on to me. Definitely recommend!

  More

• Don't go ... outside the car

  kosmasp2017-06-19

  The relationship between the mother and her child is the number one priority here. So while this is a horror movie (mostly in the psychological area), it is also a Drama. And some of the best Horror movies (that are not Slashers or particularly explicitly violent) have been Dramas at heart too. And while I get that the child may seem annoying to some and some decisions made feel rushed, the casting was good and the script was decent enough giving them all something to play with (no pun intended). The movie is very dark (both in tone and in visual flair) and while it does drift into expected (read cliché territory) and has somewhat of a downfall towards the end (and maybe for some a slow beginning), overall the positive things do win over ...

  More

• I enjoyed the movie and the acting is top notch

  othervoice-494612016-11-12

  I recommend it. The whole monster aspect and horror sequences are a little generic - nothing ground breaking- but you get invested in the two leads and the acting is top notch IMO. I cared about their characters which made the movie work. It has some decent jump scares and a nice dark setting. I thought it was well written and works as more than just a horror film. It is a limited theatrical release with a fairly small budget and does a great job creating atmosphere. I know some were disappointed in the moving looking at other reviews but I think maybe they were expecting a more traditional horror movie. I myself found it to be quite tense, if anything from an emotional aspect.

  More