Monstrously Entertaining: The movie “Your Monster” was an excellent darker comedy and its plot twists were unconventionally amusing

I was looking up a list of best horror movies coming out in 2024 because I was in the mood to see a new scary movie, I was skeptical when “Your Monster” was a part of the list. The trailer didn’t cut it. A girl who falls in love with the monster in her closet, how could this be good? And, is this just a darker “Beauty and the Beast”?

The movie is categorized as a comedy-horror movie with elements of romance, but this was miscategorized if you ask me. 

The general plot follows a woman named Laura Franco played by Melissa Barrera, an actress who’s going through cancer treatment, and her boyfriend Jacob Sullivan played by Edmund Donovan has just broken up with her because of the diagnosis, and he treats her horribly throughout the entire movie. She then discovers a monster in her closet and the storyline goes through the development of Laura and Monster played by Tommy Dewey living together as roommates. 

This movie was definitely more on the romantic genre side with how much of Monster and Laura’s relationship viewers get to see consisting of them acting out scenes from plays and singing together several times during the movie. 

However, it also had plenty of hysterical scenes, such as a montage of Laura constantly ugly crying and a food fight between her and Monster to make Laura feel better about not getting the part she auditioned for in a musical.

The previews had more jump scares than the actual movie, so it was falsely advertised as a horror film. There were some dark plot twists such as one of the main characters being murdered in the end which I didn’t see coming at all because none of the people in the movie seemed capable of killing anyone.

Laura and Monster’s relationship sold this movie for me. I loved how Monster brought Laura out of her shell and helped her realize that she shouldn’t need to forgive people in her life for their wrongdoings. Some scenes had me cringing a bit in my seat like when Laura started yelling at her ex-boyfriend about personal issues from their past relationship in front of the entire cast of a Broadway show she auditioned for. 

But I also felt pride for her because she was standing up for herself even if it was embarrassing because she would always blame herself for problems and let them walk all over her. Throughout the film, she had incredible character development due to how Monster taught her to be unapologetic and speak up for herself and others. 

Even with a few second-hand embarrassing events in the film, I absolutely devoured this movie and the plot was so unconventional with Monster and her living together and forming a deep connection and romance. 

As I initially thought the movie would resemble “Beauty and the Beast,” the only similar element is that he happened to also be a hairy beast and he fell in love with the protagonist, so I felt like this movie completely surpassed my first interpretations. 

If anyone likes a twisty darker comedy movie they would thoroughly enjoy watching “Your Monster.”