Bryan Bertino's latest film, "The Monster," is a low-budget scary adventure. Almost all of it takes place on a small dark road in the middle of the night, in the rain, of course. There are some flashbacks shot indoors, but that's about it for spending on location shooting. What makes it entirely worthwhile is that a great deal of the terror is of the psychological variety, which is always a good strategy when you can't afford to dazzle the audience with special effects.
Kathy (Zoe Kazan) is a young, divorced mother who lives with her daughter, Lizzy (Ella Ballentine). Kathy has an obvious problem with alcohol and has had it for quite a while. Naturally, she's not a very good mother, and all of the turmoil of being involved in this volatile situation has played quite a role in the emotional development of Lizzy.
On the way to delivering Lizzy to see her father, Kathy is having trouble seeing the road because of the darkness and the weather. Suddenly there is a thud. Their car hits something and careens out of control. They are both hurt, but capable of getting out of the car to try and figure out what has happened. What they have hit is an animal, but they are unsure what kind of animal.
They call for help and a tow truck and ambulance are dispatched to the scene. Before help arrives, the animal carcass disappears, further frightening the young ladies. This is where Bertino really turns up the heat on the viewing audience. Where did the carcass go? What are the strange noises they are hearing?
From this point on, lots of scary things happen, but Bertino affords us the time to catch our collective breath as the monster is slowly revealed to us. That is what makes "The Monster" worth it. Despite having only a few characters and only one setting, Bertino squeezes the most out of the situation. I admit that it made me jump a couple of times and I never lost interest, so to me, it's a resounding success for this genre. It won't be a monstrous hit, but aficionados of these types of things will leave the theater on edge and satiated, and that's all that matters.
| Movie title | The Monster |
|---|---|
| Release year | 2016 |
| MPAA Rating | R |
| Our rating | |
| Summary | A mother and daughter encounter evil while driving on a lonely road, at night, in the rain. I'm getting scared again just writing this. |
