Your Monster is billed as a horror-fantasy, with notes of a rom-com, featuring a Broadway hopeful (Melissa Barrera) discovering a hunky beast (Tommy Dewey) in her closet. Sounds wild, right? What if I told you writer/director Caroline Lindy plays everything “straight”? What if I told you that the film is so quiet, you can hear the emptiness between lines of dialogue? Granted, this is a deliberate choice to play up the film’s quirkier qualities, but it also translates as low energy for Lindy’s feature debut.

Barrera, last seen as the commanding breakout in Scream (2022) and then as the most reliable crutch in Scream 6, is great in Your Monster. Finding her footing in a different type of horror movie, she uses the same leading magnetism that worked so well in the Scream franchise and adapts it within the vacuumed life of Laura, a struggling actress who is losing grip of her identity. She discovers the titular mystical creature as she recovers from surgery after receiving a discouraging medical diagnosis and being dumped by her playwright boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan). Referred to only as “Monster”, the beast (sounding like an off-brand Ryan Reynolds) helps her find her independence which, in turn, will help Laura confront her fears and regain her confidence.

My Monster is at its best when Laura and Monster have an amusing dynamic that could only exist in a sitcom. Watching the relationship spark between them is really special, and I wish it had stopped as a mentorship or even a juvenile friendship. However, Laura and Monster start developing romantic feelings. While the chemistry between Barrera and Dewey is undeniably cute, the rules start to change for Lindy’s screenplay and start hurting the film’s integrity. The personal lesson driving Laura’s arc, as well as what Monster represents, becomes muddled when Laura’s growth becomes more ambiguous; suggesting that her need for self-love may be detrimental if not handled correctly. This would be a more interesting point had Your Monster made a bigger deal about it.

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