Women falling for monsters of one sort or another is hardly a new concept, whether it’s Buffy swooning over brooding vampires, Belle getting tingly feelings for the Beast, or Oscar-winning woman and fish-man fable The Shape of Water. It doesn’t always work out very well: witness Geena Davis’s journalist in The Fly, pregnant with a human-insect hybrid, with her erstwhile lover imploring her to carry their baby to term. But at the cheerier end of the spectrum we find this indie horror-comedy starring Melissa Barrera as Laura, a young lady who finds herself unexpectedly enamoured of the hairier part of the dating pool.
The monster in question (played with relish by Tommy Dewey) is in fact far less monstrous than the other man in Laura’s life; this is Jacob (a highly plausible Edmund Donovan), who dumps her while she’s undergoing treatment for cancer – and then gives to another actor the role in his play that he not only promised to Laura, but developed with her collaboration. Like many onscreen bad guys, he sees the world through such a relentlessly self-centred lens that he doesn’t actually realise that he’s a villain. Which is of course part of what makes him so villainous.
But as fun as the boys are, this is Barrera’s show. She is tremendous, and seemingly having a tremendous amount of fun. The scene where she first meets the monster contains a nice comic bit where she screams, and screams again, because there’s a monster there … but the monster isn’t attacking her, and there comes a point where the screaming must stop and that transition is played beautifully. It’s just one moment in a film that offers Barrera a rich array of juicy moments to knock out of the park, ranging all over the dramatic spectrum from heartbreak to rage to love. On this evidence, Barrera ought to have a longer career ahead of her than many a flash in the pan scream-queen.
• Your Monster is in Australian cinemas from 28 November and UK and Irish cinemas from 29 November.
