The Monster is a 2016 horror film written and directed by Brian Bertino (The Strangers). The plot concerns a mother (Zoe Kazan) and her estranged daughter who encounter a monster on a secluded road.
Tropes:
- The Alcoholic: Kathy is a relapsed alcoholic.
- The Atoner: Kathy sacrifices herself both so Lizzy can live and so she can make up for her attitude towards her.
- Aerosol Flamethrower: Lizzy makes one with her mother's lighter and some antiseptic spray. She uses it to set the monster on fire, grievously wounding it.
- Bittersweet Ending: Lizzy manages to kill the monster and get to safety, but her mother is dead and she will no doubt be haunted by the events of the night for the rest of her life.
- Book Ends: The film begins and ends with a narration by Lizzy regarding monsters.
- Character Development: In the beginning, Kathy and Lizzy's relationship is strained due in no small part to the former's abusive/negligent parenting. Their relationship improves over the course of the film and Kathy ultimately sacrifices herself to give Lizzy a chance to escape and live the rest of her life.
- Chekhov's Gun: Kathy's lighter is introduced in the first act and becomes critical in the finale.
- Dark Is Evil: The monster is black and lurks in darkness. Light hurts its eyes.
- Diabolus ex Nihilo: The titular monster. Neither the characters in the films nor the audience receive any insight into what it is, where it came from or why it does what it does. It’s just kind of there.
- Flashback: Much of the relationship between Kathy and Lizzy is revealed through flashbacks during the crisis.
- Foregone Conclusion: Lizzy provides narration looking back on the events of the film, so you can count on her having Plot Armor.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Kathy uses herself as bait in an attempt to give Lizzy a chance to escape.
- Hollywood Torches: Kathy starts to fashion a torch out of some spare fabric, a rod and some rubbing alcohol. In the next scene, it's a perfectly professional-looking torch.
- Hope Spot: When Kathy and Lizzy are driving away in the ambulance, they seem to be in the clear.
- Kick the Dog: A flashback reveals that Kathy was not only negligent as a mother but at least at one point physically abusive. It also reveals that Kathy's boyfriend at that time was also abusive.
- Kill It with Fire: How Lizzy manages to defeat the monster; she uses an aerosol can and a lighter to set the creature ablaze. It writhes in agony before falling down. This isn’t quite enough to finish it off as it tries to lunge at Lizzy a final time but she picks up a nearby stick and frantically beats it to death.
- Mama Bear: Kathy finally atones for her terrible motherhood by luring the monster to her in an attempt to help Lizzy escape.
- Meaningful Echo: In the second act, a flashback reveals that Lizzy held a knife to her sleeping mother's face and told her that she wishes she would go away. In the end, a tearful Lizzy tells her dead mother to please stay.
- Not Quite Dead: After collapsing from being burned alive, the monster rears up one final time, prompting Lizzy to pummel it to death.
- Redemption Equals Death: The whole point of the trip was for Kathy to reconnect with Lizzy and make amends for being so negligent and/or abusive during her daughter's childhood before letting Lizzy's father have permanent custody of her. She ends up sacrificing herself to the monster to give Lizzy a chance to escape and live a decent life.
- Sacrificial Lamb: The tow truck driver and the EMTs are just there to give the monster more people to kill.
- Senseless Sacrifice: Having been mortally wounded by the monster, Kathy volunteers to stay behind and let the monster finish her so that Lizzy can hopefully escape to safety. However, Lizzy returns as the monster is killing her mother and drives it away briefly before Kathy succumbs to her wounds. Shortly thereafter, the monster returns but Lizzy is able to kill it without too much trouble. Kathy was going to die regardless of the outcome of the story, but there was no point in her staying behind because Lizzy just came back to try and help anyway. It’s possible that if she had remained with Lizzy, they could have defeated the monster together and Kathy could have died more peacefully than she did.
- Super-Persistent Predator: The titular monster goes to ridiculous lengths to try and kill our main characters. For starters, it kills and eats a grown man early on yet attacks Kathy when it is alerted to her presence. It then kills two paramedics before Kathy and Lizzy drive away in the ambulance to try and get to safety. The monster gives chase and slams itself into the ambulance (no doubt injuring itself in the process), knocking it off the road and preventing the main characters’ escape. This thing doesn’t behave as any real world animal would. It’s almost as if it does what it does because it enjoys it, though it is possible the creature ate the bodies offscreen.
- Tattoo as Character Type: Kathy's various body tattoos are highlighted throughout the film, which establishes her as not traditional mom material.
- Too Dumb to Live: Upon finding Kathy and Lizzy and being told they've been attacked by a monster lurking in the woods, the paramedics decide to search the area instead of flooring it to the nearest hospital.
- Trapped-with-Monster Plot: The plot concerns a mother and daughter trapped on a secluded road next to a forest with a monster. The monster menaces them throughout the film.
- Weakened by the Light: The monster hates bright light.
- Would Hurt a Child: Apart form the monster that's trying its damnedest to kill her, it's revealed in a flashback that Kathy slapped Lizzy out of spite.
- You Are Already Dead: Kathy realizes that she has internal bleeding that will kill her before she can get to help, so she opts for a heroic sacrifice to give her daughter a chance.
