Movie Review
Scream queen returns for Halloween in horror dramedy Your Monster
Your Monster
Actor Melissa Berrera has been on an upward trajectory in the past few years, starring in the rebooted Screamfranchise and as one of the leads in the movie version of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s In the Heights. Given its title - Your Monster - and release date, her latest film would seem to be poised to take advantage of the thirst for Halloween horror content.
Instead, it plays more like a dramedy, with Barrera starring as Laura, who as the film begins endures a string of unfortunate events: She’s in the hospital for unknown reasons, her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan), breaks up with her, and the breakup forces her to move back to her childhood home, with only her friend Mazie (Kayla Foster) for company as her family is otherwise out of the picture.
Just her luck, the monster (Tommy Dewey) who freaked her out as a child is still living there, although now he acts like a normal person instead of some scary creature. While they initially butt heads over sharing the same space, they gradually start to bond, with the monster encouraging Laura - an aspiring Broadway actor - to pursue a role in Jacob’s new musical despite their recent split. Her antagonistic relationship with Jacob and her growing one with the monster each start to color the way she acts.
Written and directed by Caroline Lindy, a first-time feature filmmaker who made a short film version of the story in 2020, the film never seems to settle on the right tone. Laura is initially presented as an over-the-top character, a trait that keeps her at arm’s length when it comes to emotional connection. Slowly, drama, horror, and romance start to be introduced, each to little success because of Laura’s personality and the presence of a monster who’s rarely very monstrous.
It seems like Lindy wants the movie to be kind of a twist on the Beauty & the Beast story, this time with the monster the more level-headed of the two. There are moments when it feels like the film is headed down the right path, but it never quite gets to the intended destination. It’s also hampered by a side plot involving Jackie (Meghann Fahy), the actor chosen to be the lead in Jacob’s musical, creating a rivalry with Laura that fails to inspire.
Another (perhaps unintended) reference is the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie Teen Wolf, whose title character this movie’s monster resembles in both looks and demeanor. The goofiness of having the monster act like a regular human being works well in the introductory phase, but it doesn’t make as much sense as the film goes along. The twists that the story takes don’t really match up what has come before.
Barrera has shown promise in other recent roles, but the choices she makes in this role don’t serve her or the character well. Dewey, who was a stand-out performer in the recent Saturday Night, is fun as the monster, but it’s ultimately a one-note role that doesn’t give him much to do. Donovan also has little nuance in his character or performance, resulting in him being uninteresting.
The premise of Your Monster is one that could have been taken in many different directions, but the one chosen by Lindy turned out to be the least successful. She never gets a handle on exactly what story she wanted to tell, and in the end it’s a muddled, mostly boring affair.
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Your Monster is now playing in theaters.
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