Monstrous

Monstrous

Laura, traumatized by an abusive relationship, runs away from her former husband with her seven-year-old son Cody. But in their new, idyllic and remote sanctuary, they find they have another, bigger and more terrifying monster to deal with…

  • Released: 2022-05-13
  • Runtime: 89 minutes
  • Genre: Horror, Mystery, Thrillers
  • Stars: Christina Ricci, Santino Barnard, Don Baldaramos, Colleen Camp, Lew Temple, Carol Anne Watts, Peter Hodge, Nick Vallelonga, Sally Elbert, Rachael Edlow, Philip V. Bruenn
  • Director: Chris Sivertson
 Comments
  • djburnham - 30 June 2023
    Slow
    I found this film so slow that it was hard to follow, and the film just could not capture my undivided attention. I think the only reason I stayed with it to the end was my fondness for Christina Ricci. I was dissapointed in the film. Eventhough the film has a clever twist near the end, the twist did not make up for it's very slow pace. The story had a lot of potential, but that potential was squandered by the director's lack of talent, ability, skill, or all three. The special effects are petty good. The film was so humdrum that I am finding it hard to come up with enough to write to fulfill the minimum character requirements.
  • fedor8 - 26 February 2023
    May be predictable, but that doesn't mean it deserves a lower average than junk such as "It".
    This is the kind of theme I like in horror films. Not exactly what fans of sadistic slasher films and Stephen King nonsense can get into easily (or ever) - but that in itself can be construed as a recommendation.

    However, while the conclusion largely makes sense and is quite effective - despite being mostly predictable - a lot of the stuff in the first hour isn't as interesting as this kind of premise demands to be.

    The soundtrack is slick and well timed to create mood. The photography is smooth, and refreshingly full of actual colour (a rarity in modern cinema), though that's only because the events are set in the 50s "when there was colour". The acting is decent.

    Despite these positives, the story kinda gets stuck in a rut, seems a bit random and too repetitious. This "randomness" and repetitiveness may serve the plot well in terms of how it later concludes, but they don't make things better in terms of entertainment, the pace being too slow.

    I am quite sure the fairly low average is a result of people being unable to cope with intelligent, meaningful endings - but preferring instead for the monster in the lake to be REAL. Give 'em bread and circuses and daft plots and they're perfectly happy, but give them something more substantial and they cry like babies... There's just no hope for the horror-film crowd. They expected the lake monster to tear a bunch of people (preferably cops, because most film-goers are reds these days) into tiny pieces, with rivers of blood pouring into the calm lake, so when that failed to occur all those King fans got angry and downvoted the film, to punish it for daring to be intelligent rather than cretinous...
  • SnoopyStyle - 24 October 2022
    twist and stakes
    It's seemingly 1950's. Laura (Christina Ricci) and her son Cody are moving into a remote Californian house. She is renting from the Langtrees (Don Durrell, Colleen Camp). She is troubled by unknown mental issues and an abusive ex-husband. She is also facing a monster from the waters.

    I'm revealing spoilers since I have to talk about the twist. It's a big part of my review. I do like an aspect of the twist. I like the present-day revelation. It's unexpected and fun. The bigger problem with the twist is that it has no stakes. There is no real danger involved. What's going happen if the monster gets her? Cody can't get any more dead. Laura's life needs to be in danger. Better still, she could put another person's life in danger. Somebody needs to be in danger. This movie has Ricci and that's pretty good by itself. With more care, this could be better.
  • Missdapoint - 20 August 2022
    Give it a go
    I don't know why such the bad reviews. It's a perfectly decent film and I have definitely seen worse. It's not a horror and yes the story has been told before. If you have a spare Sunday afternoon it's worth a watch. I gave it 10 as I think it's been definitely given too lower rating by some.
  • angrymeatbagel - 12 June 2022
    Christina Ricci is amazing, the movie sucks
    I am so sick of getting hooked into watching "horror" movies for the resolution to only be, "oh, she's just crazy". I really wanted to watch a scary movie, but this is not it. Ricci is awesome and deserves SO much better than this.