The Monster (2016 film)

Plot

10-year-old Lizzy (Ella Ballentine) waits for her mother, Kathy (Zoe Kazan), to wake up and drive her to her father's house as it's his turn for custody. Due to Kathy's alcoholism, Lizzy is often required to take care of her mother. Flashbacks reveal Kathy to be verbally and physically abusive when drinking. Lizzy makes it clear she wants to live with her father permanently.

Once Kathy awakens she and Lizzy hit the road. On the drive, Kathy gives Lizzy a watch that belonged to her grandmother, implying that Lizzy will stay with her father from now on, as she is better off with him. As night falls, Kathy hits something with her car, injuring herself. She has Lizzy call a tow truck and ambulance. They exit the car and approach the crumpled figure, discovering it's the body of a wolf. However, its injuries look like they were sustained by an animal attack rather than their car.

The tow truck arrives and its driver, Jesse, begins working underneath the car. Lizzy notices that wolf's body is missing and becomes frightened. She later finds the remains of the wolf, now chewed apart, as a large, dark figure moves behind her. Jesse hears a strange noise, and disappears. Kathy ventures out of the car, much to the dismay of Lizzy, and calls out for him but to no avail. Suddenly, Jesse's severed arm lands on the hood of the car, and shaken, Kathy tries to comfort her distraught daughter. Moments later, an armless Jesse crawls out of the woods and right before Kathy tries to get out to help him, Lizzy freezes and says she sees it. Jesse unsucessfully attempts to get into his car but the monster, hiding underneath the car, drags him under, killing him.

Kathy and Lizzy lie flat on the car's front seats, hoping the monster will leave. Suddenly, Lizzy's teddy bear breaks into song, alerting the monster. It drags Kathy out. An ambulance appears and the monster runs back into the woods. An EMT team gather Lizzy and Kathy into the ambulance while they urge them to hurry. However, the EMT team are killed by the monster. She tries to drive away but the monster appears and she swerves into the woods, crashing and knocking herself out. Kathy shines the flashlight into the monster's eyes and it flees. She realizes it doesn't like the light.

When she comes to, she finds Lizzy safe, and attempts to use the CB radio, but it's broken. Kathy begins vomiting up blood and realizes she has internal bleeding that will likely kill her soon. She uses her lighter to make a torch and tells Lizzy her plan. She's going to run into the woods so the monster will chase her and Lizzy will run to the road to get help. Lizzy realizes her mom will die and tells her she won't leave her. Kathy says she needs Lizzy to live because she is the best thing in her life.

Kathy takes the torch into the woods and tells Lizzy to run. She extinguishes the torch, and the monster quickly attacks her. Lizzy bursts in front of the monster with the flashlight and it flees again. Kathy dies as Lizzy tells her she's going to find help. Lizzy grabs a spray can and Kathy's lighter from the ambulance and draws the monster to her. When it gets close enough, Lizzy opens the lighter and sprays the monster with the flammable spray, setting it on fire. The monster falls and Lizzy beats it to death with a large stick.

The scene flashes back to Kathy apologizing to a crying Lizzy, who has huddled in her makeshift tent at home after a particularly bad night when Kathy slapped her and told her she hated her. Kathy tells Lizzy that she will grow up to be much better than her. Lizzy cries as she tells Kathy that all she wants is her. Lizzy and Kathy embrace. The scene cuts back to Lizzy emerging from the woods into an open field as the sun rises.

Cast

Production

In May 2014, Elisabeth Moss was announced to star in the film, while Bryan Bertino would direct the film from a screenplay he also wrote while William Green, Aaron Ginsburg, and Adriene Biddle will serve as producers under their Atlas Entertainment and Unbroken Pictures banner respectively, while Richard Suckle and Sonny Mallhi will serve as executive producers. In May 2015, Zoe Kazan joined the cast. In August 2015, it was announced that Scott Speedman, Aaron Douglas and Ella Ballentine all joined the cast of the film.

Filming

Principal photography concluded on August 21, 2015.

Release

In May 2015, A24 acquired U.S distribution rights to the film. In April 2016, the first image of Kazan was released. The film was released on DirecTV Cinema on October 6, 2016, before being released in a limited release and through video on demand on November 11, 2016.

The film screened at the Beyond Fest on October 6, 2016, Tacoma Film Festival on October 7, 2016, and the Sitges Film Festival on October 15, 2016.

Critical reception

The Monster received positive reviews from film critics. It holds an 78% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 40 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "The Monster uses its effectively simple setup and a powerful lead performance from Zoe Kazan to deliver a traditional yet subtly subversive -- and thoroughly entertaining -- horror story." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 69 out of 100, based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".