Movies
Horror RomCom ‘Your Monster’ Heads to Max Later This Month
Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, Abigail) stars in the horror romcom Your Monster, and it’s making its way to streaming just ahead of the most romantic holiday of the year: Valentine’s Day.
Look for Your Monster to arrive exclusively on Max on January 24. The film will debut on HBO linear on January 25 at 8:00 p.m. ET.
Kayla Foster, Meghann Fahy, Brandon Victor Dixon, Ike Ufomadu, and Lana Young also star in the film from writer and director Caroline Lindy.
Here’s the full official plot synopsis:
“Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop.
“But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster (Tommy Dewey) with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart, and fall in love with her inner rage.”
The horror comedy movie is based on Caroline Lindy’s short film from 2019.
I wrote in my Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “A wholesome, whimsical romance befitting of a classic Hollywood musical but with dark underpinnings, Your Monster lets Melissa Barrera showcase her range and singing chops, even when it can’t quite decide on a cohesive approach to its monstrous metaphor.”
Producers on the Beauty and the Beast riff include Kayla Foster, Shannon Reilly, Melanie Donkers, and Kira Carstensen. Bob Potter, Tommy Dewey, Sharon Horgan, and Clelia Mountford executive produce.
Your Monster was initially released in October and is currently available on VOD. In just over a week, you can begin streaming it at home on Max.
In the wake of Backrooms and Obsession, everyone is prowling YouTube for horror shorts to adapt and horror filmmakers to scoop up, so don’t be surprised to see a whole bunch of upcoming articles about YouTube success stories crossing over into theaters. One horror short that’s already been picked up for expansion is Dolly director Rod Blackhurst’s Alone Time.
The 12-minute short was uploaded in 2014 and has amassed nearly 2 million views at the time of this article being written, and Deadline reports that it’s getting a feature adaptation.
Witchcraft Motion Picture Company & Fever Dream will turn the viral short into a feature film.
Alone Time follows Ann Saunders, a young NY professional whose carefully constructed life begins to unravel following a devastating personal loss. “Seeking refuge from a collapsing relationship, a deteriorating family situation, and mounting emotional trauma, Ann reluctantly joins her closest friend on a remote camping trip deep in the Adirondack wilderness.”
The synopsis continues, “When her friend mysteriously disappears, Ann becomes convinced that an unseen figure is stalking her through the forest. What begins as a survival nightmare slowly transforms into something far more disturbing as fractured memories, conflicting realities, and hidden truths force Ann to confront the possibility that the greatest threat may not be lurking in the woods at all, but buried deep within her own psych.”
“Alone Time has quietly followed me for over a decade,” director Rod Blackhurst said in a statement. “What began as a short film about isolation and the weight of life now feels more relevant than ever. The original short found its audience organically online long before that was considered a legitimate path for filmmakers. Bringing it to life as a feature allows us to explore those themes on a much larger and more psychologically unsettling canvas.”
Blackhurst is directing the feature length expansion.
You can watch the original Alone Time short film below.
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