Writer: Anna Shields (Screenplay)
Starring: Anna Shields, Rachel Finninger, Grant Schumacher, Hannah McKechnie, Catharine Daddario
Plot: A young woman goes searching for answers after her friend mysteriously vanishes in Whitehall, NY, an Adirondack town known for its Bigfoot sightings. She quickly learns that hiding in the woods is an evil more sinister than she could ever imagine.
Runtime: 1 Hour 26 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Verdict: Spins the Bigfoot Myth on it’s Head
Story: Monstrous starts as we learn about the small town of Whitehall, a location that has declared Bigfoot the town’s animal, which has also seen a string of disappearances of young women, with people searching for answer behind the mystery.
When Sylvia (Shields) and Jamie (Schumacher) are searching for their friend, they make a connection with Alex (Finninger) they look to head to Whitehall, knowing Alex knows something about mysterious disappearances in the area, as they look to solve the mystery.
Thoughts on Monstrous
Characters – Sylvia has lost a friend in the bigfoot area, she has always wondered what happened, with her best friend Jamie helping her with the investigation, she agrees to go on a road trip to the area in search of answers, while looking to tackle her own demons from the past. Alex is the mysterious person found on the internet who is looking for a ride back to Whitehall, while the friends think she is will a guy, Sylvia is relived to see it being a woman and goes on the journey with her back to her home. She expects honesty knowing she is taking just as big of a risk traveling with a stranger across the country, but the two connect. Jamie is Sylvia’s friend that has done more research on the disappearances, connecting them to bigfoot in the area, arrange the meeting between the two, but bails last minute.
Performances – Anna Shields does give us a strong leading character, she brings the vulnerable side of the personal demons, while the reluctant curiosity required to learn the truth. Rachel Finninger brings us a confident performance that shows the freedom of her character, while being in control of each interaction between the characters. The rest of the cast don’t get as many scenes to shine, while filling the supporting roles well.
Story – The story here follows a woman that joins a stranger on a cross country journey to investigate a string of disappearances surrounding the mystery of bigfoot. Here we have another look into a bigfoot story, we know the mystery about bigfoot, so we need to learn something around it, which is where we go with the disappearances that could involve it. We do get a slow moving road trip movie, that follows the two strangers learning about each other, while everything do get turned on its head with what we are expecting.
Horror – The horror does come from different moments of injury, with the bigfoot presences looking the most menacing we have seen in a long time.
Settings – Being a road trip movie, we do see our characters traveling a lot, until we get to the cabin in the bigfoot area, we get the isolated away from the world feeling required for extra horror.
Special Effects – The effects are used well, we see a lot more of the aftermath of injuries, which all look brutal along the way.
Scene of the Movie – The first look at Bigfoot.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – The road trip side isn’t as engaging as the cabin part of the film.
Final Thoughts – This is a bigfoot film with a twist that does feel fresh, it doesn’t hold back on the violence and gives the bigfoot a strong image that continues to add the mystery about the creature.
Overall: Nice Bigfoot Twist.