This indie updating of the Beauty and the Beast story twists the narrative to emphasise the real monsters in society.
Actor Laura (Melissa Barrera) is recuperating from cancer surgery when unceremoniously dumped by her theatrical director boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan). As she returns to her childhood house to recover from the double blow, she discovers that the monster she used think lived under her bed has now set up home in her closet. If things couldn’t get worse, Monster (Tommy Dewey) has given her a fortnight to leave the house (well, he has settled in nicely in the years she left him) and her former partner is staging a musical she developed with him – with a different starlet, Jackie (Meghann Fahy) in the role she was promised. Taking pity on the despairing Laura, Monster convinces her to audition for the show. Sensing the awkwardness, Jacob gives her the part of understudy to Jackie.
The debut feature for writer/director Caroline Lindy, Your Monster balances the tone of the story perfectly. It moves from romantic screwball comedy to dark psychological drama and horror with ease. With an added large, hairy monster. The genuine chemistry between Barrera and Dewey is what carries the film. Dewey’s Monster portrays his sinister and sensitive sides beautifully, a cross between Disney’s Beast and a curmudgeonly roommate. Barrera’s softening and affection for what she initially thinks of as a horrid creature is handled perfectly. The film takes the traditional ‘opposites who realise their commonality’ trope and runs with it. The backdrop of the staging of the musical adds the bitchy drama and Donovan’s Jacob is the villain of the piece being suitably obnoxious and self-centred.
Lindy’s script and natural dialogue allows Laura to confront her inner demons. Illness, trauma, bad relationships, and duplicity all come to a head with a spectacular on-stage song. As a conventional story wrapped in an unconventional manner, Your Monster hits all the marks.
