The Monster

The faint mist, the eerie silence, the saturated blacks - so much of this film is reminiscent of the classic monster movies of the '30s and '40s.

A fully realized depiction of elemental fear and desperation, The Monster's modest scale should attract discerning genre fans while establishing a firm basis for potential cult status.

A film like Bryan Bertino's The Monster, featuring a fantastic and fearless performance from Zoe Kazan, feels oddly timely.

An admirably lean-and-mean execution of an elemental horror story.

Mr. Bertino, who also wrote the undercooked script, sets the scene effectively, using his leads to give the story a sense of normalcy that he dismantles trick by genre trick.

The Monster offers solid performances and a real-world subtext. But those virtues aren't enough to keep the movie from getting stalled in some big bad woods, miles short of profundity.

A creature feature is only as good as its monster and Bertino's film delivers on that.

An exceptional lead performance from Zoe Kazan makes the film stand out from the crowd.

Strong acting, ambitious themes and a limp final act make for one frustrating horror film experience.

It fails to generate anything resembling scares or suspense here, and the fault rests almost entirely with the script.

We're coming up to the end of a year full of great horror movies. "The Monster" may have more modest goals than some of the others, but it deserves a place on that list.

The Monster feels like a film reaching desperately for profundity and missing by a country mile. The Witch this is not. It's just another arthouse horror film broken down on the side of the road.