MovieChat Forums > The Monster (2016) Discussion > Really under-rated.

Really under-rated.

posted 8 years ago by vegicat
8 replies | jump to latest

Most of the "monster" movies I've seen are not really good movies. They focus entirely on special effects, gratuitous gore, and then toss in crappy acting, unbelievable storylines and action, and end up with no substance at all. Cookie-cutter monster flicks.

This one is different. i suppose if you're just looking for straight-up blood, flesh and constant graphic overload, this film isn't for you.

I thought it was extremely well-done. The cinematography was really on, and set an emotional mood. It had the ominous feel of Door in the Floor, or, as someone else mentioned, the sadness of "Let the Right One In".

It's really all about childhood loss, maturing, and facing your fears. While some may grumble because there wasn't a top-notch, massively-detailed "monster" (which may have been due to budget, but that's probably a good thing), that really would have distracted from the real theme.

It seemed very clear to me that the real monster in the movie was the mother. The girl says her mother told her there was no such thing as monsters, and she says, "No, there are". Her mother was abusive, destructive and narcissistic, which is pretty much as close as a parent can get to being a monster. The stuffed animal that plays nursery rhymes at key terror moments drives that home, as does the plot line about the father not coming to save her. She's not a little girl any more, and she has to face her monster. In the end, she tells the monster she's not afraid of them, and then tells her mother she doesn't hate her

I thought it was really a good little movie. I usually rate most "monster" movies at 6 or lower; I gave this an 8.

[–] JJett131313 8 years ago

i thought this movie was pretty good/decent. the acting was VERY good from all (especially the mother/Zoe). the cinematography is beautiful and atmospheric. the creature design/fx IMO were good as well. it was great to see they had the creature be 100% practical fx (or most of it practical fx) rather than crappy CGI.

there were some odd editing choices towards the end that i didn't understand though. when the ambulance has been knocked over/attacked by the creature and the mom is talking her to daughter about what their plan would be, it then abruptly cuts to the mom OUTSIDE/in front of the ambulance (while her voice narration about said plan is still heard to the audience) sort of crawling and looking around but then it once again abruptly cuts back to the inside of the ambulance where both the mom & daughter are talking (about their plan). there were a couple more instances around that scene where that abrupt/confusing editing happened.

but overall a pretty good, low key creature feature!

[–] vegicat 8 years ago

I agree. Something went wrong with that editing. I didn't understand why the mother was suddenly outside, vomiting, and then back inside. Not sure what that was about.

[–] JJett131313 8 years ago

yes! i forgot to mention the mom was vomiting! at first i thought maybe the daughter had been killed and the mom (vomiting) was a reaction to that. it's definitely like a scene/portion of the film was removed or something.

[–] umjetnik_david-1 8 years ago

Actually the whole movie was jumping back and forth same as that scene, it was before they were talking about that plan where mom gets out and Lizzy runs. It was to set the line where she said something like "i'm gonna die anyway". She had internal injuries and that explains the scene. Same as 3 mins later when they talk about the plan you can see mom outside with a torch while they are talking about it.

[–] dazzaler44 8 years ago

I really enjoyed it.
It's a slow burner of drama/ horror (fans of jump scare/gore films, sorry this ain't for you).
It felt a modern dark fairytale.
How about you?

[–] kmags84 8 years ago

It was... A Fairytale about Addiction and the Loss it Causes to Loved Ones. In this case, a very personal version. The complete breakdown of a Relationship. There are different interpretations so I'm not gonna go too deep or say my thoughts are correct but I agree with the Modern Fairytale comment. It felt like that, mixed with the old 40-50s Creature Feature. The darkness and overall Cinematography made it feel like a Black and White film in Color.

[–] kas0262 8 years ago

I agree with you. I think there's a lot of subtext to the movie, but at the same time, it isn't trying to be overly complicated or pretentious. The monster is simply the scary thing in the woods.

It also reminded me a little bit of the cinematic style of The Descent.

[–] Larry-115 8 years ago

I agree -- I think some of the decisions in the end let the movie down but overall it was pretty taut and effectively slow-burn.