This was very good. It's incredibly atmospheric and creepy, and Bryan Bertino develops a similar sense of dread that he did with the terrifying The Strangers from a few years ago. I actually loved the human element to it as well and the mother-daughter relationship at the center. Zoe Kazan was absolutely fantastic and heartbreaking, if this wasn't a genre film I would almost expect her to be getting awards attention. A part of me wishes the titular monster was never shown because I feel like the movie loses a bit of its effect once it does show up, but this is still well worth your time. B+

I found this to be more of dark drama than a monster movie which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it does take up a bit too much of the movie. That being said the acting from Zoe Kazan and her daughter is really solid and while it's very atmospheric the monster becomes less scary the more you see it, especially towards the end.

*** / ***** (C)

It's not scary or tense. I agree with Dil that it's more of a dark drama with some horror elements. If it was edited differently it could be viewed as a The Babadook ripoff as you could easily view the monster as mother's inner demons. But the very lite story and the setting don't offer many options for ambiguity as a couple of redshirts are introduced every now and then so there can be some actual action on screen.

I liked it. Very good atmosphere and acting.

7/10 ( B )

The Monster

This is one of the worst films I've had the displeasure of sitting through. Just so boring. It's 90 minutes but feels like 4 hours. It thinks it is clever and suspenseful but it's just tedious. And that monster, lol. It's just a guy in a badly made Godzilla suit. Zoe Kazan gives a terrible performance but isn't helped by a shoddy script.

D