Monstrous is a curious film. It’s one of those horror movies that seems to be a horror movie by financial obligation. It feels like it really wants to be a personal drama, a character study, that they felt had to have a creepy monster thrown in to sell tickets (aka get digital rentals). Similar to Umma from earlier this year.

The flick stars Christina Ricci as a single mother in the 1950s who relocates to a old house in the country. She spends a lot of her days dodging calls from her ex while her son dodges visitations from the creepy slime monsters that lives in the lake.

And, hey, it’s a pretty gnarly looking slime monster that lives in that lake. I like the creature design for this movie that often doesn’t really seem to be about a creepy slime monster that lives in a lake.

No, this movie really wants to be a character study of a single mother in the ’50s, trying to deal with raising a kid by herself, dealing with her terrible job, worrying about her ex finding her, and, yeah, dealing with a creepy slime monster who lives in a lake.

But the focus is often squarely on Ricci and she puts in a killer performance. You can really feel her stress and her love for her kid. You can see her put on her chipper ’50s housewife mask when she needs to put on her performative face. She uses those amazing eyes to really sell the ’50s dayglow lie.

In fact, for a horror movie especially, there’s a weird, almost unnaturally popping color palette to the flick. It’s like an idealized depiction of the 50s turned up to 11 on the color wheel. And don’t forget a host of fun ’40s and ’50s pop tunes. It’s so bright… which makes the dark, horror moments themselves pop more. And, as much as I’ve talked down the horror vibes, what they do put on screen is pretty good and makes for a nice contrast with the daytime scenes.

This isn’t a perfect movie and it sometimes moves at a slow pace. And I suspect the resolution isn’t going to satisfy people who were fooled into watching it because of the poster and the promise of a creepy slime monster who lives in a lake. Shame on them for tricking us and shame on the industry for not just being able to make a movie about a woman struggling to raise her kid without having to add in a creepy slime monster who lives in a lake.

But I came away respecting the movie, liking it, feeling it’s a little uneven, and adoring Christina Ricci’s performance. It’s a good watch as long as you go in with reasonable expectations.

Score: 81