For “The Monster,” director Bryan Bertino who debuted with the excellent “The Strangers,” channels “Cujo,” exploring a family in disarray and what happens when they’re tested by a force of nature that’s unstoppable and deadly. “The Monster” is two parts a family drama and one part horror movie. The film’s monster serves as something of a metaphor for family dysfunction and the potential for character Lizzy to end up the victim of her rage-aholic father. Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine work beautifully together as a mom and daughter Kathy and Lizzy who spend more time arguing with one another than working for a goal. When Lizzy decides she wants to move with her father, Kathy begrudgingly takes her. After hitting a wolf on the road, they’re left stranded, and stuck in a rain storm. Sadly the wolf has managed to lure a monstrous beast from within the heart of the woods, leaving Kathy and Lizzy vulnerable and incapable of diving to safety.
Lizzy is a head strong young girl who has spent most of her time and acting as a parent for her alcoholic mom Kathy who’s experienced a very bitter divorce. Scott Speedman appears in a very effective walk on role as Lizzy’s father. We get the full brunt of the relationship between Zoe Kazan’s character Kathy and Ella Ballentine’s character Lizzy through flashbacks where we see the horrific marriage fall to pieces, and the mother and daughter living together in the aftermath involving resentment and pain. In one scene Lizzy holds a knife to her sleeping mother’s neck, and an argument ends in the pair screaming harsh obscenities to one another endlessly. “The Monster” is a very effective horror and monster movie, but it’s also a very emotional tale of a mother working to make hard decisions for her daughter.
Though the monster is the backdrop of the movie, the mother and daughter relationship is the crux, with director-writer Bertino unfolding layers for both characters as they struggle to survive the monster attacks. Bertino implies that perhaps Kathy wasn’t always as selfish and mean as she always thought, and maybe she was working toward protecting her daughter. In the end they’re both victims, but Kathy works toward saving Lizzy by making the difficult decisions. It’s something she likely did a lot of when she and her husband we arguing as Lizzy hid in the attic listening to them bark at each other. Often times parents have to make tough choices that seem terrible but help their children in the long run, and “The Monster” serves as a means of exploring how hard parenting can be.
The monster serves as a metaphor for challenging the mother and daughter’s bond, and Lizzy’s own father who might not be the exact change in life she needed. Director-Writer Bryan Bertino mixes horror and drama very well with “The Monster,” offering up a very heart felt, compelling, and tense monster movie complimented by the absolutely dynamite performances by Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine.
Available Now Exclusively on DirecTV. In Theaters & On Demand November 11th
As per the review, the film looks quite engaging and worthy watch. In fact, ‘Zoe Kazan’ has delivered a powerhouse performance in this horror film.
I find the review on the same pattern as the film goes. This is why I prefer reading a review here before going to a theatre.