The Christina Ricci Resurgence continues as Ricci adds to her hot streak, following Yellowjackets and news of her reunion with Tim Burton and the Addams family with a new horror movie called Monstrous. The trailer dropped yesterday, and while I dig the retro aesthetic, man does this trailer give away a LOT. Kinda feels like they could have played a little more with the “is there a monster or is she being stalked” idea, but no, the trailer shows us a full-on monster. At least it looks cool, I guess, but between this trailer and the day-and-date release, seems like no one has faith that Monstrous can deliver.
That’s too bad because Ricci is riding a wave of renewed popularity and public visibility, and genre films are having a moment at the theater, what with Everything Everywhere All At Once stirring up audiences. Once upon a time, a film like Monstrous would have been a no-brainer sell, the kind of movie guaranteed to wrangle $40-50 million against a likely low budget. But it’s a different game now, and while horror can still draw audiences to theaters (see also: Scream), it also does well on VOD. Thus, the hybrid release. Still! No excuse for spoiling the whole movie in the trailer! And if you think it could be a fake out, I looked up the log line, which reads in part, “In their new, remote sanctuary, they find they have a bigger, more terrifying monster to deal with.” So yeah, there’s an actual monster, which is fully shown in the trailer. Monstrous, indeed.
Attached - Christina at a Burberry & Riccardo Tisci event in LA the other night.