Monstrous Parent Guide

On the run from her abusive ex-husband, Laura (Christina Ricci) and her young son Cody (Santino Barnard) have found their way to an out-of-the way house in small-town California. Although Laura is excited at the prospect of a fresh start, Cody struggles to adjust to a new house and a new school. He’s so distressed by the move he’s even started talking about this mysterious monster who comes out of the pond behind the house. While Laura is obviously concerned about her child’s wellbeing, she’s more concerned about the calls she’s been getting from her ex-husband…

More a 50’s mood board than horror film, Monstrous spends a lot of time lost in its own fantasies and not nearly enough actually trying to scare anyone. There are maybe three attempts to be frightening, none of succeed. The rest of the runtime is spent doing, mostly, nothing at all. An interesting story and a strong aesthetic focus do not a horror movie make – you actually have to be scary. While the story is intriguing, it’s also unfortunately predictable. The film might have been able to get away with fewer scares if the mystery hadn’t been so easily solved in the first half hour. After you figure it out, the rest of the runtime is spent idly waiting for the characters to catch up with you.

On the other hand, the film is PG-13, and mild at that. There’s hardly any violence or profanity, no sexual content, and some candid depictions of substance abuse. You don’t often find spooky movies with so little content – typically, horror means you’re going to see a couple of bodies at least. But since Monstrous couldn’t quite find the frightening elements of its own story, you end up without much of anything to put parents off the film.

So while Monstrous will be a flop for genre fans who will have no trouble predicting the major plot twist and spend the rest of the film asleep, it might be a good choice for younger teen viewers looking for something a little darker than your average kids action flick. For that demographic, the lack of anything actually scary is a definite bonus. For the rest of us, though, this is a 50’s scrapbook with a retro soundtrack.