Although Christina Ricci has played many very different roles over the course of her acting career spanning more than 30 years: thanks to her performance in “The Addams Family” and “The Addams Family in a Crazy Tradition” she will always be closely associated with horror stories and offbeat characters for countless fans. Projects like Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow, Wes Craven’s werewolf film Cursed, and the psychological thriller After.Life have only reinforced this association since then.
Before Ricci returns to the world of the Addams Family with the Netflix series “Wednesday” directed by Burton, she first faces dark forces in a home theater premiere. Because after a short US theatrical run, her latest film was released directly from us: “Monstrous” is available on DVD and Blu-ray this weekand genre fans can look forward to a brightly colored horror thriller with this title:
» “Monstrous” on DVD and Blu-ray at Amazon*
If you can do without the haptic element: “Monstrous” was also released in 4K – but only as VoD. The ultra-high-resolution stream is available via e.g Amazon Prime*.
Laura (Christina Ricci) is a young mother with a devastating past. In order to finally start anew, she moves with her son Cody (Santino Barnard) to a secluded house on an idyllic and tranquil lake. The peace is of short duration: Already on the first night in the new home, a strange power terrorizes Cody. It doesn’t stop with this one incident, which is why Laura has to go on the offensive…
As stated in the DashFUN review, one of the strengths of “Monstrous” is the production design: Contrary to the rumor, “the horror thriller (initially) relies on an almost irrepressible joy of color and a lot of contemporary color”, to sketch a (supposed) ideal world in the 1950s. The leading actress comes off even stronger: “Through her presence, Christina Ricci once again succeeds in gradually peeling out the dark sides of her character, who was initially nailed to the cliché of the perfect mother.”
This praise may come as a surprise to some film fans, given that “Monstrous” brings together horror icon Ricci with much-discussed horror fright Chris Sivertson. The director earned a grisly reputation with All Cheerleaders Die and the Lindsay Lohan vehicle I Know Who Killed Me. Meanwhile, “Monstrous” shows that Siverston can definitely please in the director’s chair – even if both the CG effects and the resolution of the film led to a point deduction in our film review.
*The links to the Amazon offer are so-called affiliate links. If you make a purchase through these links, we will receive a commission.
