60
Bertino is just concerned with making you feel for his characters — and that he manages to do competently, despite their deep flaws. Well, that and spill some popcorn along the way.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
58
With The Monster, writer-director Bryan Bertino plants a prickly mother-daughter drama at the center of a violent creature feature. It’s an intriguing combination in theory, but the individual elements both feel a little half-baked, and stirring them up into one doesn’t help. They’re two mediocre tastes that taste mediocre together.
83
It’s what we don’t see, at least not in full, that makes the film scare so effectively. Bertino holds his monster in reserve, conceding its presence through brief and mostly obscured glimpses of its shape.
75
RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico
The reason that The Monster works is because of how much Kazan’s performance captures the truth of the moment in which Kathy struggles.
75
Entertainment Weekly by Clark Collis
Like "The Strangers," the result is a simple but skillfully told shocker.
58
The Film Stage by Jared Mobarak
The end result isn’t bad; its potential merely creates disappointment.
80
Los Angeles Times by Justin Chang
Not least of the surprises here is that even when The Monster is trying to scare you witless, its every scene insistently reaffirms its characters’ humanity.
70
The New York Times by Manohla Dargis
Part of the ticklish enjoyment in The Monster is how the director, Bryan Bertino (“The Strangers”), plays with genre registers and how, after opening with disquieting stillness and an isolated child, he slowly yet surely turns up the shrieks.
70
We Got This Covered by Matt Donato
In the end, The Monster does more by way of thrilling tension and heartfelt admissions than it does through any scares, but that doesn’t make it a bad horror film. Bryan Bertino reveals a gushy soft side, only to tear out his heart and hoist it for all to see.
38
The Monster is as dull and predictable as its title, a creature feature in which the melodramatic flashbacks are the only bits with bite.