Review of The Monster (2016) by Brett B — 12 Dec 2016

After a nearly fatal stumble with MOCKINGBIRD, director Bryan Bertino gets himself back on track with THE MONSTER, a genre effort that has moments of effective horror and effective emotion. In fact, an argument could be made that Bertino is merely using the trappings of the genre in order to tell a deeply human and personal relationship story.

It deals with some pretty classic ideas about family dysfunction, but goes about it in a way that feels fairly fresh, especially for what is essentially a creature feature. The two central performances are etched in real ways, with a raw, unsparing quality that wouldn't at all be out of place in a straight drama; additionally, the two roles are strongly defined without becoming arch or cliched.

Zoe Kazan very admirably allows herself to go to some brutally honest and unflattering places, while Ella Ballentine is flat-out excellent opposite her. Ballentine achieves a subtlety you don't normally expect to get with a child performance, but she's pulls it off and really sells the biggest emotional moments of the movie.

Bertino stages the tension and scares quite well, making the most of the fairly contained setup, and his handling of the titular monster wisely leaves the creature mostly in shadow and silhouette. The pacing's occasionally a bit sluggish between encounters with the monster, but the human drama is enough to keep us invested.

THE MONSTER is a very solid return to form for the filmmaker that brought us THE STRANGERS, and the emphasized human element is a welcome addition to his bag of tricks.