THE MONSTER Blu-ray Review

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Kathy is an alcoholic and has a daughter named Lizzy.  There are times when her mom gets extremely drunk and Lizzy has to care for her.  Between that and the verbal abuse, it has been decided that her dad takes full custody over the child.  On their way to Lizzy dad’s house, they hit something in the car and Kathy is injured.  They call an ambulance and a tow truck for help.  When the tow truck arrives and the driver assess the damage, something grabs him and he disappears.
 
THE MONSTER is a horror that is movie written and directed by Bryan Bertino. If you didn’t figure it out, the “something” that grabs the tow truck driver is a monster.  It does a lot of lurking so you see plenty of shadows and silhouettes until the big reveal.  The beast is sort of shiny like an oil slick with large fangs.  Zoe Kazan plays Kathy and she is an actress who has the range to play any role.  She does a lot of indy film and hasn’t really taken off yet but I feel like someone will acknowledge her talents.  In this, you feel her terror and that she wants to protect her daughter.  She also says one of the smartest things that you rarely hear from a character in a horror movie and that’s to get out of this area quickly.  The director also makes sure to use the idea that what you can’t see is terrifying.  
 
Cast
Zoe Kazan – Kathy
Scott Speedman – Roy
Ella Ballentine – Lizzy
Aaron Douglas – Jesse
Christine Ebadi – Leslie
Chris Webb – Monster
 
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VIDEO QUALITY:

The video is a 1080p AVC transfer that has a lot of deep blacks.  There are a few scenes that happen during the day but the majority is in the rainy night.  The daytime scenes have some bright colors washed in a muted tone.  The other lit “set” is in the ambulance towards the end of the movie.  There are a few moments of crushing around the lights in the darkness.  However, the contrasting looks really nice with solid distinction in the images.

AUDIO QUALITY:

The audio is a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix that does the job that the movie needs it to do.  There is a lot of good ambient sound when they’re driving in the car and, of course, during the rainstorm in the woods.  There are some panning effects from the growling monster when he’s in the shadows.  The dialogue is also clear and leveled properly.
 
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SUPPLEMENTS & PACKAGING

-Eyes in the Darkness: This featurette is a behind the scenes with a really good look at the creature.
 
Disc Details
1 Blu-ray Disc
Digital copy
 
Running Time
91 mins
 
Edition Ratings
Rated R
 
Region Coding
Region A
 
Video Resolution
1080p AVC MPEG-4
Aspect ratio: 2.40:1
 
Audio Mixes
English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
 
Subtitles
English SDH
Spanish

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THE BOTTOM LINE:

There are a few jump scares and a little bit of suspense when waiting for the creature to do its next attack but this movie wasn’t as scary as I was expecting.  To see the monster devour and stalk the characters just didn’t have the success that I’ve seen with audiences with similar types of films.  The audio and video are very good in helping deliver the feel of the film.  As for the extra, it is your run of the mill featurette and that’s all that’s on there on the release.  I would say give this one a rent before you buy it.

Order your copy of THE MONSTER on Blu-ra from Amazon

About the author

MEDIA JOURNALIST | Michael is a fanatic about all both cinema old and new. He collects anything from 1:6 Scale, 1:12 Scale, and vinyl Collectibles plus Slipcovers and Steelbooks. He loves pop culture, writing, reviewing films & collectibles, and journalism. An avid Batman, The Joker and anything comics junkie, he will also chat it up about pretty much anything. Go ahead and ask...