the monster

The flaw inherent in most monster movies is that of underdeveloped characters stalked by a much more interesting central menace. We rarely need (or want) to know more about the hapless victims, who, depending on the type of creature they're up against, serve no greater purpose than keeping up a body count. But in The Monster (2016), the roles are reversed: a pair of strongly written heroines fight for survival against a rather anonymous "thing" that, despite all its sound and fury, is most memorable in its irrelevance.

Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) is a self-sufficient pre-teen who grew up too fast thanks to her irresponsible, alcoholic mother, Kathy (Zoe Kazan). But there's light at the end of the tunnel for their antagonistic and abusive relationship when Kathy agrees to drive her daughter to her father's house for an "extended" visit. On the way, a car accident leaves them stranded on the side of the road during a late-night rainstorm...and leaves them at the mercy of an unidentified creature that cuts off every chance of escape.

It's amazing writer/director Bryan Bertino has only three films to his credit considering 2008's The Strangers was a financially successful, ingeniously restrained bit of modern-horror. Regardless, The Monster shows he still has a light-touch with the camera and a skillful way with actors, particularly young Ella Ballentine, who garners our sympathy without resorting to child actor clichés. Both she and Kazan deliver grown-up performances straight out of a Sundance-style emotional drama, never surrendering to the horror genre their characters happen to have stumbled upon.

And therein lies the problem with The Monster, a film that explores a tragic mother-daughter relationship with an affecting amount of honesty and skill...only to be rudely interrupted by an Alien knock-off hungry for human flesh. The two halves simply don't fit. Bertino does his best, injecting the first act with an impressive sense of impending doom and long, menacing takes. But that script is writing checks his third act can't cash, saddling the audience with a makeshift monster (part H.R. Giger, part werewolf) that's in desperate need of a backstory.

Of course, the film has its sights set higher than delivering uncomplicated genre thrills. Bertino's dramatic aspirations and metaphors are obvious but never insulting. Still, his approach threatens to bore casual fans and alienate others. The Monster proves, once again, that horror may very well be the most adaptable genre in the history of cinema. But you have to be willing to put up with a few creative dead-ends on the evolutionary road.

Lionsgate's Blu-ray is a real visual stunner. The "look" Bertino crafts for the film can't be complimented enough and the hi-def image pulls some incredible details out of the pitch-black photography. Extras are limited to a single Eyes in the Darkness featurette.