Theo Robertson AS the title character in DOCTOR WHO once stated " The most frightening place in a universe is a childs bedroom " . True even if it may be stating the obvious . Living on an island as a child I was sometimes worried about an incursion of Sea Devils and worried they could squeeze up the U bend of the loo and come crashing in to my bedroom before I knew what was going on . This short film by Jennifer Kent plays on that fear The film is somewhat minimalist taking place entirely in one house featuring a mother , her young son and the protagonist of the title . I notice IMDb legend Bob The Moo has reviewed it. . Let me reveal a closely guarded secret about The Moo - he doesn't like horror movies and as he's stated he had hoped for a bit more space and development and looks forward to seeing the feature length film this short started off as . As for myself I can take each and every horror film on its own merit but often lament how difficult it is to do something new with a tired and staid genre . That said yesterday I saw a sci-fi horror called EXTRATERRISTIAL featuring a bunch of horny teens in a remote cabin which had nothing new to say to the audience and yet managed to compel and creep out this audience member . Kent does something similar here . Okay it's down to the obvious cheap tricks of using fast movement and silence followed by sudden loud noise which caused me to jump out of my seat . If I was watching this in the dark late at night I'd be running to switch the lights on and having difficulty sleeping . Compared to the monster in this film the Sea Devils are small fry

bob the moo I have not seen The Babadook, but it was hearing positive reviews for that film that made me interested to see the short film that reportedly was the roots for the bigger project. The plot here is condensed as it seems a woman struggling alone with her unruly young son, in particular his constant running, yelling, and battling of monsters – making nothing but a mess in the progress. Worn down and frustrated by the constant energy and chaos of the boy, the woman may be forced to confront more than her own offspring.This is an interesting and reasonably effective short film – and in particular it makes me more interested to see the full feature because to be honest one of the main weaknesses here is that the film is a short and has fewer than 10 minutes to deliver. Given the short running time, the film really does compress what it is doing, and it is a shame because what we have that works well here is stuff that needs more room to breathe and be realized. In terms of just being a horror, the film starts with a good creepy atmosphere and some nicely unsettling imagery. This leads to a jump scare that had me recoiling from the screen. The confrontation in the room remains creepy, but to be honest too much of the figure is seen, and it does feel like a moody teenage goth is being deliberately difficult; this does rather rob the fear factor a bitThat feeling may be partly deliberate though, since one of the things that appears to be here but not with enough time to run with it, is the idea that the monster is the son himself – or at least a metaphor for the mother's fear of her son's wild side and her inability to cope with it. We see this in the maternal way she confronts him, and the way she continues to care for him. We also see it in the exhaustion she feels in dealing with the son in the early stages of the film – and to be honest even watching him endlessly banging everything made me feel tired.It is a shame for the short that the best parts of the film are those which really could have used more time and space to flesh out and be fully realized. The connection of the monster to the mother/son relationship is interesting but rushed; while the monster himself is too present too quickly and I would have preferred remain a feeling rather than an actual form. Worth a look and, on the basis of this, I am looking forward to see what Kent does with the substance of this when she has more time to do it.

MartinHafer I must point out up front that horror isn't my favorite genre, so this could account for the high scores by some for MONSTER and my closer to average score. However, my disappointment also is because apart from evoking an excellent scary mood and one pretty funny scene where the mother takes on the monster, there isn't a lot of substance to this film. It seems to almost all be mood--music, cinematography and action--but not a whole lot of depth. In part, this must be because it's a short film but my one complaint about the genre in general is that so many films try to scare you but don't really have a lot more to them than just fright.Now these complaints still bode pretty well for the film makers--they did achieve the right mood and the film was competently made--I just want to see a bit more plot next time.

Mike Hathaway We saw this at SXSW 2006. Easily the favorite short of the festival! Excellent job all around. The story of "Monster" is my favorite kind of scare - based on unrealistic childhood fears come to life. I wasn't really expecting much when the grainy black and white spooled up, but man - was a I surprised! I also think some of the imagery may be lost on American audiences. There were a couple of "huh?" moments in the setup, but nothing distracting.It could also just be my editor brain ;-)All in all, this creepy, genuinely scary short is worth the search. I just wish it was available somewhere for purchase or online viewing.