Melissa Barrera Dazzles in Caroline Lindy’s Heartwarming Horror Rom-Com.

What if the beauty from ‘Beauty and the Beast’ was named ‘Pearl’ instead of ‘Belle’? Caroline Lindy’s heartwarming yet unhinged feature debut ‘Your Monster’ has the answer, in a fairy tale about a woman finding the strength to stand up for herself following a series of mistreatments.

Played by Melissa Barrera, Laura Franco is this fragile actress who has recently been diagnosed with cancer, undergone radical treatment and dumped by her terrible boyfriend, Jacob (Edmund Donovan, who nails the pretentions of theatre life). Lindy does her best to build Laura’s miserable and lonely world. She moves back to her childhood home, where the only person who bothers to check up on her is her quirked-up and stylish best friend Maisie (Kayla Foster), who can’t really be counted on. Laura has no choice but to reconnect with the monster (Tommy Dewey) under her bed, whom she has avoided for the entirety of her childhood.

As if being dumped by her boyfriend while she’s in the hospital isn’t brutal enough, Laura also learns that the self-centered and pseudo feminist Jacob is moving forward with the musical she helped develop, replacing her with a more famous actress (Meghann Fahy) in the lead role of “Laurie Francis” (Sounds familiar?). At first she’s scared of and resented by ‘Monster’, but as the days go by, he offers her the courage and love that’s missing in her life.

It feels like Tommy Dewey was born for the role of ‘Monster’. It’s no surprise Lindy brought him back after casting him as the creature in the short this film is based on. He has the charm and charisma necessary, not only to make Laura fall for him, but also to make us root for their unlikely romance, even with David LeRoy Anderson’s fantastic prosthetic makeup on. As for Melissa Barrera, she’s already cemented her status as a scream queen with films like the last ‘Scream’ sequels, ‘Abigail’ & ‘Bed Rest’, but ‘Your Monster’ is the perfect movie to showcase her versatility as an actress. She equally impresses in the emotional and comedic moments.

Lindy deserves props for the ambitious mash-up of horror and rom-com alone, but what specially stands out is her ability to make it work, without one genre cancelling the other out, and appeal to the fans of both. However, the metaphor of ‘Monster’ being a manifestation of Laura’s repressed anger, is a little too obvious for her own good. Lucky for her, the chemistry between Dewey and Barrera, is strong enough for the revelation to still feels effective. This is followed by a shocking third act that includes another twist and is especially cathartic when you know how much of the film is autobiographical (Well, the intro says it’s a “true-ish” story); The filmmaker herself went through the cancer diagnosis and treatment and the douchebag boyfriend who dumped her during the ordeal.