“ A love letter to romantic comedies, musical theatre, and female rage”

On the surface, Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster can easily be seen as a modern take on Beauty & the Beast. Winner of the Audience Favourite Award at this year’s Sundance London Film Festival, the new horror rom-com is based on Lindy’s 2019 short film of the same name, which she also wrote and directed. While both stories follow a similar concept—girl meets monster, girl is forced to live with monster, girl falls in love with monster—this tale isn’t a carbon copy of the one as old as time.

Opening with a humorous opening card that reads “based on a trueish story,” the film introduces Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) as she is discharged from hospital, staring ahead with a stony expression while a nurse wheels her out. Flashbacks reveal that Laura has cancer and has been undergoing treatment for the past year, and her boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) walked out on her since he could no longer cope. It’s both a personal and professional heartbreak for Laura, as the aspiring actress had been promised the role Jacob crafted for her in his new musical— a part she learns she wasn’t even invited to audition for, despite helping workshop it. 

After being ghosted by her ex and forced to move back home to her mom’s house, and her only friend flighty fellow thespian Mazie (Kayla Foster), it seems as though Laura’s life has truly hit rock bottom. Things take a turn one stormy night, however, when she gets a wake-up call courtesy of Monster (Tommy Dewey), a creature who has lived in Laura’s closet for years after she shut him in there as a young girl. Monster gives a terrified Laura an ultimatum, telling her she only has two weeks left before he kicks her out of the house. What begins as a nightmarish living situation for both parties involved soon becomes something unexpected and transformative, as it challenges Laura to allow herself to tap into the uncomfortable emotions she has repressed for so long in order to take control of her life again.

Much of the film’s charm comes from the dynamic between Laura and Monster as it evolves over the course of their interactions with one another. Barrera and Dewey have a natural chemistry and the unexpected bond that develops between their characters feels genuine and sweet, whether having a playful food fight or sharing a moment on the dance floor. While the human-creature romance may be unconventional in nature, the two share a genuine emotional and physical connection, making it easy to forget that Monster is, well, a monster. This is largely due to Dewey’s portrayal, as Monster is a loveable character who brings levity and real heart to the film, delivering humorous one-liners one second and a moving Shakespearean monologue the next. The rest of the cast also deliver strong performances, with Donovan succeeding in making narcissistic playwright Jacob utterly unredeemable and Meghann Fahy quite likeable by contrast as famous actress Jackie Dennon. The biggest standout though is undeniably Barrera, who makes Laura an endearing protagonist audiences can’t help but root for rather than an unlikeable doormat.

A former telenovela star well-versed in the various genres Your Monster draws its influence from, Barrera’s Hollywood career launched in 2021 when she played Vanessa in the film adaptation of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s joyous musical In The Heights. She went on to make her mark on the Scream franchise as new generation final girl Sam Carpenter before reteaming with directing duo Radio Silence for heist-turned-horror Abigail, standing out amidst a talented ensemble cast. And while Your Monster’s starring role may not have been specifically written for her, as is the case with the role her character Laura is vying for, it might as well be. Barrera is at the top of her game in a film that feels uniquely designed to showcase her talent, with a performance that stuns on multiple levels. Not only is she able to play both the film’s comedy and drama with an effortless charm, she also gets to show off her impressive singing voice, lending credibility to self-professed “musical theatre dork” Laura’s Broadway ambitions.

While there are glimpses of the fictional—and seemingly misogynistic—musical within Your Monster, which is crudely described as “finishing school for girls written by a dude,” it would have been nice to have a more clear idea of its overall plot seeing as it is so central to the film. There’s also a cruel irony in how Laura eagerly accepts a part in the show’s ensemble after being passed over for the role of the show’s not-at-all-subtly-named lead, “Laurie Frances”. Since she has willingly been a supporting player in her own life for so long, watching this lack of self-assertion extend into her career while knowing she has far bigger dreams is tragic. But as she comes to embrace Monster, Laura also begins to embrace the darker, messier parts of herself she had repressed out of fear that they make her more difficult and harder to love. 

In an incredibly powerful scene, Laura repeats the same three words, over and over: “it’s not okay.” Barrera has talked about how doing so was an improvised choice on her behalf, saying that she processed the words in real time while they shot it. It’s a revelatory catharsis very much apparent on-screen as the weight of this phrase sinks in, Laura’s voice at first a quiet question before becoming a full-on scream in response to the emotional trauma she has allowed herself to put up with for so long. This moment is a pivotal one for her and influences her actions going forward as she stops holding back and lets herself fully express her anger. “This is me,” Laura emphatically asserts later on after Mazie’s surprise at her sudden change in behaviour, and it admittedly feels good to see her starting to stand up for herself rather than continuing to let people walk all over her.

The film’s final moments feature a showstopping final sequence that sees Laura belting out the film’s big number “My Stranger,” a toe-tapping showtune penned by The Lazours that is introduced early on and performed several times throughout. It’s a scene that’s both shocking and satisfying at the same time, and while somewhat ambiguous, viewers can fill in the gaps thanks to the montage cleverly constructed around it. While the horror aspect is overall handled in a fairly lighthearted way, including a beautifully costumed homage to the Bride of Frankenstein, it’s safe to say that the memorable—and blood-spattered—ending won’t leave fans of the genre disappointed when it comes to the more visceral element of things.

“They really don’t make films like this anymore,” Laura muses at one point while watching Royal Wedding on TV, blissfully enraptured by the old Hollywood classic. While Your Monster is decidedly more contemporary, there is still something familiar and comforting about it— the kind of film just as easily enjoyed on the big screen as on the couch with blankets and Chinese food. It’s a love letter to romantic comedies, musical theatre, and female rage, with a powerful message about not settling for anything less than your worth. And in the tender moment that arrives near the end of the film when its title is finally spoken aloud, it also just might make audiences wish that they had a Monster of their own.

Your Monster is in UK and Ireland cinemas 29 November from Vertigo Releasing

Dir: Caroline Lindy

Prod: Kayla Foster, Caroline Lindy, Shannon Reilly, Kira Carstensen, Melanie Donkers

Cast: Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Kayla Foster, Edmund Donovan, Meghann Fahy

Trailer: