Your Monster has been on my must-watch 2024 movie list for a while. I love an unusual premise, especially with a bit of whimsy and debauchery. Overall, the film satisfied my need for an unconventional romance that's a little weird but engulfs you in the story. I was ready to mark it down as one of my favorite films of 2024 until I got to the Your Monster ending.
The film has many strong elements, from the concept to the charming performances by leads Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey. Your Monster is such a delight overall with profound messages. However, the Your Monster ending didn’t surprise me, but made me step back and say, “Do I like this ending?”
I didn’t hate or love the Your Monster ending but it changed how I felt about the film.
Warning Your Monster spoilers are ahead. Proceed with caution.
I Predicted The Ending But That’s Not A Good Thing
Your Monster falls into the category of movies with wild endings, but many would argue that the entire film’s premise is a bit out there. However, that’s what makes the film enjoyable and cute. It’s about loving something as dark as the monster hiding in your closet. The ending doesn’t necessarily change that idea, but adds depth and complicates the concept.
While watching Your Monster, I started to suspect that this may be a case of the main character imagining everything. I was disappointed to learn my suspicions were true, because while watching the movie, I kept hoping that my prediction was wrong. We would see a beautiful love story between a woman and her monster. It is still a love story between a woman and a monster but not how I wanted it.
Laura’s (Melissa Barrera) monster doesn’t really exist. The film suddenly becomes a movie like Fight Club where you must reexamine every moment between Monster (Tommy Dewey) and her. She invents him as a way to cope with her breakup and illness (and other anxiety-inducing things). This isn’t a bad twist, and if you take the film literally, it makes sense because real monsters usually don’t wear the same face as movie monsters.
They look more like Jacob (Edmund Donovan) than Monster. However, I thought I had signed on for a fantasy or magical realism movie where this monster did exist and he was a swoon-worthy love interest. I wanted a romantic fantasy film like Edward Scissorhands or Beauty and the Beast, not a romantic horror film.
This isn’t a marketing problem but a me-making assumptions issue.
To Me, The Your Monster Ending Strips Away The Film’s Whimsy
Your Monster has a lot of whimsical elements. It definitely implements some elements from some of the best romantic comedies of all time. Monster and Laura have so many kicking-your-feet-and-twirling-your-hair moments. He becomes a dream partner.
Now, I assume that he’s such a great love interest to show that the perfect partner is selfless and loves unconditionally, and the person who loves Laura the best should be her. That’s a great message but the murder ending just kills the vibe.
You can’t even cheer when Laura gives her best performance because now her life is over. Her future (that she just got back because she’s now cancer-free) is gone. Because she murdered Jacob, she’s about to go to prison for life. Jacob is dead but now he will probably be immortalized as the victim of a psycho ex-girlfriend. He’ll be treated as a bright young man who, just when his career was taking off, lost his life.
The ending doesn’t feel empowering as much as devastating because once again Laura will only be seen as this crazy chick, instead of a talented woman who was treated terribly by those around her.
I hope Your Monster has an alternative ending, and it could become like those films with drastically different alternative endings from the original. I need to see another ending. I would have preferred a conclusion where Laura just ruins Jacob’s career.
She would still get revenge but not ruin her life as well. The current ending kind of takes away any sense of victory.
I Understand Why Your Monster Ends That Way But I Just Wanted A Different Ending
Your Monster is about female rage. It’s about women who silence themselves, take abuse, or dim their light for a man. Monster has always represented Laura’s rage but turned into a physical being, hence the title. He’s her monster, her inner demon, her hidden rage. The idea of “Your Monster,” is also that women have a monster inside of them that they shut behind a closet because society won’t allow them to let it out.
I fully understand, respect, and admire the Your Monster messages. I love a good female rage movie, but I think this film’s messages could still work without Jacob’s death. Many are conflicted about the Promising Young Woman ending because of its extreme nature.
Without spoiling that ending, I felt a similar conflict with Your Monster’s ending. Why does Laura need to destroy her life just to get justice against a man?
Did The Ending Even Really Happen?
Viewers cannot trust Laura. She invents a monster to help her cope with her pain and sadness. We don’t know what is real or fiction in her life. Throughout Your Monster, she could have been talking to herself, imagining Monster talking back, or she could be fully aware that Monster is in her imagination. We don’t know.
Now that we know Laura invents Monster, how can we trust that she kills Jacob? The whole final performance seems like a dream until the audience begins screaming. This action makes me assume that Laura isn’t fantasizing about killing Jacob and performing, she really did both. Because in a fantasy, you’d imagine she would dream about applauses and not screams.
However, maybe Laura is creating this fantasy in her head and never killed Jacob -- despite probably wanting to do it. She only imagines the screams because she has fully embraced Monster and he would have enjoyed seeing everyone run in horror.
The ending could have also just been a figment of Laura’s imagination. Maybe she didn’t even go to Jacob’s show. If I had the choice to suppress reality, I would believe that Laura lies to the audience again. She never kills Jacob. That helps me sleep at night.
Your Monster is still a film that I very much enjoyed and will tell others to watch. However, I would have loved it more with a different ending.
