Review of The Monster

Just watched this and loved it. Another smart addition to the encouragingly robust genre of smart and allegorically innovative horror movies.

My take? The monster is simply Kathy's addiction, as experienced by daughter Lizzy.

• it attacks when she's vulnerable

• it removes people who are there to protect her (Lizzy's father (the actual addiction)/ the tow truck guy and the paramedics (the metaphorical monster))

• shining a light on it/ acknowledging it weakens it

• once you've acknowledged it, you're in a better place, but you still have to go through withdrawal and might be too damaged to pull through (Kathy vomiting blood in the woods due to her internal injuries)

• despite your best intentions, innocents will still suffer because of it. (Lizzy undergoes her mother's "overdose" and death, and then still has to grapple with the monster on her own.)

• Finally, the ultimate version of "shining a light on something", i.e. setting it on fire, is what allows her to be free, albeit with a forever altered view of her own safety, and the security of the world in general. [ Fun add on-- she had to sacrifice her childhood/ innocence, i.e. her singing teddy bear, in order to finally overcome the monster. ]

A lot of people are commenting on the weird/ unbelievable choices made by the characters in the third act. If you're looking at it as a straight up horror movie, I could understand that. But seeing it through the lens of the pretty obvious analogy that was being made about addiction, they all felt totally spot on to me.

Definitely recommend!