After The Strangers in 2008 writer/director Bryan Bertino seemingly disappeared for a while, only to reappear with a low-budget found footage flick called Mockingbird in 2014 (which I still haven't seen). With a couple other upcoming producing credits on his slate, it seems like he may be back and if The Monster is any indication of that, he's well off to a solid return to the genre.

Previously titled There Are Monsters, the pic starts off with a troubled young single mother who's driving to her ex's house to drop off her daughter, presumably for good. It's a long drive that leads them well into a dark rainy night and through some secluded rural roads. And it's on one of these roads that they almost hit a wolf, nearly causing a major accident. The girls luckily only got a few minor cuts, but the car got damaged enough that they're now stranded in the middle of nowhere. Thankfully help is on the way, but they may not have much time left, as something large and sinister is lurking within the nearby woods.

I dug this flick, especially since it's a slightly more cerebral take on the standard creature feature. It's essentially more of a layered character study involving a dysfunctional mother-daughter relationship, where the metaphorical monster becomes quite a literal one in the second half of the flick. It's an interesting dynamic that's not really explored much in horror and it's also the more engaging parts of the movie. Told in flashbacks, we grow to learn just how damaged the young daughter is due to her abusive mother, making you question who's really the monster in this story. Though we get a pretty good idea in the last half of the movie...



The monster itself isn't shown much for the first hour, but there are enough scenes of it making strange sounds and lurking around to get the creep factor going. And while this doesn't quite suffer the same fate as many other creature flicks (showing way too much of the monster), we do get some lingering shots of the beast towards the end that kind of ruined the mystique and menacing aspect to it. It's not bad looking, in fact it's all well done practical effects, but the face of the creature just looked kind of goofy to me.

Aside from some questionable character decisions, another complaint would be the film's somewhat inconclusive ending, where things were resolved for the most part, but we're still left with some questions. Fortunately it does shine more in other aspects, specifically with the mother-daughter characters, who were performed greatly by Zoe Kazan and Ella Ballentine. You really learn to feel for these people, primarily the daughter who's forced to put up with such a terrible parent. The tension and atmosphere is also masterfully done throughout the pic, which seemed to work perfect with its simple premise.

A24 will release THE MONSTER In Theaters and On Demand on November 11. The film is available now exclusively on DirecTV.

The Monster is more of a layered character study than a straight forward monster flick, which may not please some, but I enjoyed its somewhat uncommon take on a very common subgenre. While a majority of the movie is atmospheric and character driven, it goes into more familiar territory towards the end, which isn't necessarily a bad thing despite seeing a little more of the creature than we should have. Next to some minor issues here and there, it's an overall solid creature feature.