Synopsis
A mother and her 10-year old daughter are trapped in a forest. There is something in this forest. Something unlike anything they have heard before. Something that lurks in the darkness and it’s coming after them.
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Cast
- Zoe KazanKathy
- Ella BallentineLizzy
- Aaron DouglasJesse
- Christine EbadiLeslie Williams
- Marc HickoxJohn Brooks
- Scott SpeedmanRoy
- Chris WebbMonster
Recommendations
- 83
The Playlist
It’s what we don’t see, at least not in full, that makes the film scare so effectively. Bertino holds his monster in reserve, conceding its presence through brief and mostly obscured glimpses of its shape. - 80
Los Angeles Times
Not least of the surprises here is that even when The Monster is trying to scare you witless, its every scene insistently reaffirms its characters’ humanity. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
Like "The Strangers," the result is a simple but skillfully told shocker. - 75
RogerEbert.com
The reason that The Monster works is because of how much Kazan’s performance captures the truth of the moment in which Kathy struggles. - 70
We Got This Covered
In the end, The Monster does more by way of thrilling tension and heartfelt admissions than it does through any scares, but that doesn’t make it a bad horror film. Bryan Bertino reveals a gushy soft side, only to tear out his heart and hoist it for all to see. - 70
The New York Times
Part of the ticklish enjoyment in The Monster is how the director, Bryan Bertino (“The Strangers”), plays with genre registers and how, after opening with disquieting stillness and an isolated child, he slowly yet surely turns up the shrieks. - 60
New York Daily News
Bertino is just concerned with making you feel for his characters — and that he manages to do competently, despite their deep flaws. Well, that and spill some popcorn along the way. - 58
The A.V. Club
With The Monster, writer-director Bryan Bertino plants a prickly mother-daughter drama at the center of a violent creature feature. It’s an intriguing combination in theory, but the individual elements both feel a little half-baked, and stirring them up into one doesn’t help. They’re two mediocre tastes that taste mediocre together.
