copying my tags and the article link from this post, since I'm having this conversation with myself and don't wanna torment the OP lmao. once again SPOILERS for your monster (2024), good movie, don't recommend spoiling it before watching.
#major your monster spoilers :///#i watched this movie nearly a year ago have not stopped thinking about it since#but i don't think i posted abt it at all bc it was so good to go in blind!!#but ive been dying for other ppls thoughts on it so here we are#and im partly relieved to see this creator quote but also completely baffled#what do you mean you think she gets away w it???#part of the reason this movie stuck w me was bc i found the ending profoundly tragic#like cathartic and triumphant and like yes kill that bitch. but also she's on stage w ppl all around who heard her and some who probably sa#there's the sound of police sirens at the end... the audience growing uneasy..... what do you mean she gets away w it?#like. scratch what i said before im not relieved. i don't think the movie works half so well if she gets to ride off into sunset#and i don't think there's any indication in the movie that that's what happens after the credits roll!#to me the horror came from the tragedy in the ending and all the contradictions#and the trap she found herself in and made for herself.... like all in breaking out of the trap she was in before#so confused by this... ive been meaning to rewatch anyway but now i definitely need to lol. what did i miss???#was i too thrown by going in expecting/hoping for something more straightforwardly romcom?? lol
okay i rewatched the movie and apparently had inserted the police sirens mentioned above in my mind lmao. no police sirens in the actual movie, just the audience growing uneasy and starting to loudly freak out. it's interesting, i understand better what the creator was saying about it not being the type of movie where laura would go to jail. she describes the movie as a "comfy, cozy and campy fairytale" and i can see where that tone comes in now, after rewatching.
my experience watching the movie the first time was definitely heavily impacted by 1) not knowing what was going to happen, and 2) hoping the only horror element would be the monster itself and that it would otherwise be like your run-of-the-mill romcom (since that's the type of movie i was looking for and had failed to find before clicking on this one).
it was very interesting to rewatch it.... i was so disturbed, the first time, by the building hints that the monster is a manifestation of her own anger. a lot of my feelings of horror and dread came from the unrelenting reveal that laura was the one committing these acts of violence, in a movie i had wanted to be uncomplicated. also that the monster was not actually another being, that she was still alone at the end. (clearly he's real to her so that's still nice i guess.... but not really the same....) it's interesting. i wonder how i would have felt during and after watching it if i had primed myself more appropriately beforehand.
on the other hand, the movie is very much playing in a romcom space. the creator was explicitly inspired by romcoms. the slow bait-and-switch must have been intentional. to some degree, i must have had the intended experience.
i'm still a bit uncertain/lost on the creator's assertion that she doesn't see laura going to jail. the story ended where it did for a reason so i don't want to try to make it answer for things it purposely didn't speak on. at the same time, the audience and her colleagues gasping and reacting is there.
also, upon 1st watch that whole scene of her performing the song - her ex had said that the song was about the character "recounting the genesis of a relationship that nearly destroyed her. she's about to break." in the movie, she's clearly singing about her monster, joyfully. she's made it about her connecting with "someone" who liberated her and empowered her. upon first watch, i had felt that the tragedy arose from them both being right... the ex is clearly a tool so i don't think we're supposed to fully trust his interpretation of the song. (i imagine the musical is supposed to be satire? melissa barrera says of it here: "this musical, thatās kind of ridiculous because itās a musical thatās meant to be like you roll your eyes at this guy thatās thinking heās solving the world and heās a feminist and like writing a story about the issues that women deal with in society, and itās so cringe.") but she's also just killed someone on stage in front of a bunch of people.
im being unclear lol basically i had felt that the meaning of the song in his musical was supposed to clash with what she was making of it in the moment. i thought the overall effect for the movie was that she was singing about a relationship that liberated her and empowered her AND ruined her life. since she very publicly killed someone, that someone being her awful hypocritical ex notwithstanding, she would not get to achieve her dreams of going on broadway, her talents would never get recognised and applauded, etc. so like, it's great that she learned to stand up for herself and stop taking shit and letting people treat her badly, but. society would still come crashing down on her.
i guess i'm just not sure what i'm supposed to be making of the end of this movie in light of the creator's comments. also just in general, the movie felt so defanged now that i knew what was going to happen. lol to be expected but still always a shame when something doesn't hit the same. ultimately i had really enjoyed how unsettled the movie had made me feel, despite those feelings themselves being unpleasant. it's nice when something has an impact. wish i couldve felt it a second time but not everything works that way, such is life. anyway idk. still a fun movie but idk.
