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Stars: Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Meghann Fahy, Kayla Foster | Written and Directed by Caroline Lindy

What happens if you fall in love with the monster under your bed? That’s the question posed by darkly funny fantasy rom-com Your Monster, the debut feature from writer-director Caroline Lindy.

Melissa Barrera stars as Laura Franco, a wannabe actress who’s dumped by her theatre director boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) while she’s recovering from surgery after cancer. Devastated, Laura returns to her childhood home, where she’s shocked to discover that Monster (Tommy Dewey), the creature she once saw under her bed as a child, still lives there.

Things quickly go from bad to worse for Laura – in addition to Monster gruffly giving her two weeks to leave the house, she finds out that Jacob has started production on a Broadway musical they developed together and, worse, has offered the...

The Scream star shows impressive range in this horror-comedy, where the real peril she faces comes from a much more ordinary man

Women falling for monsters of one sort or another is hardly a new concept, whether it’s Buffy swooning over brooding vampires, Belle getting tingly feelings for the Beast, or Oscar-winning woman and fish-man fable The Shape of Water. It doesn’t always work out very well: witness Geena Davis’s journalist in The Fly, pregnant with a human-insect hybrid, with her erstwhile lover imploring her to carry their baby to term. But at the cheerier end of the spectrum we find this indie horror-comedy starring Melissa Barrera as Laura, a young lady who finds herself unexpectedly enamoured of the hairier part of the dating pool.

The monster in question (played with relish by Tommy Dewey) is in fact far less monstrous than the other man in Laura...

Your Monster, starring Melissa Barrera, blends dark humour, romance, and horror in a modern feminist fairytale that reimagines what it means to confront your demons—literally. Directed by Caroline Lindy, this romantic-comedy-horror lands in UK and Ireland cinemas on 29 November, courtesy of Vertigo Releasing.

Barrera stars as Laura Franco, a struggling actress recovering from both a serious illness and a devastating breakup. Returning to her childhood home, she hopes to find solace, but instead discovers a Monster (Tommy Dewey) living in her bedroom closet. Initially terrified, Laura soon realises that the creature is as witty as he is unnerving. As their unlikely relationship develops, the Monster becomes her confidant and ally, helping her to confront her manipulative ex-boyfriend and reclaim her life.

The film explores themes of self-discovery, empowerment, and rage as Laura channels her experiences into a renewed sense of purpose. Supported by standout performances from Meghann Fahy (The...

If you’re more into the idea of staying home than heading out to your local theater, you’re in luck because all of this week’s brand new horror is available from the comfort of home.

Here’s all the new horror that released November 11 – November 17, 2024!

For daily reminders about new horror releases, be sure to follow @HorrorCalendar.

Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, Abigail) is back in Vertical’s new comedy-horror movie Your Monster, and the coming-of-rage horror romcom is now available on VOD at home.

The romantic monster movie puts a new spin on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. In the film, “After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.”

“Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend...

Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, Abigail) is back in Vertical’s new horror-comedy Your Monster, and the coming-of-rage horror romcom is making its way to PVOD platforms tomorrow.

You can preorder Your Monster on PVOD platforms now.

The romantic monster movie looks to be a new spin on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. In the film, “After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.”

Here’s the full official plot synopsis:

“Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop.

“But...

I have a soft spot in my cold dark heart for a well-done romantic comedy. When Harry Met Sally, 10 Things I Hate About You, and 500 Days of Summer all manage to be interesting while presenting a fun love story. Well-made ones are few and far between, mind you, but they scratch a certain itch. So to see Scream‘s Melissa Barrera and Casual‘s Tommy Dewey combine forces for one in the horror space, and you’ve got my interest. Then add in a Monster that looks like Ron Perlman from 90’s TV’s Beauty and the Beast and it feels like Your Monster was made just for me.

I was lucky enough to talk to the cast and director about all things Your Monster. Melissa Barrera and I got into what it’s like to maintain a believable romance when your scene partner looks like a monster...

Your Monster is now playing in theaters worldwide and we were recently able to catch up with director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster to talk about the unique horror romantic comedy that stars Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey in the lead roles. 

Loosely based on a true experience, the film is "the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart and fall in love with her inner rage."

Lindy breaks down the cathartic movie making process, between both writing and directing the movie,...

Your Monster is now playing in theaters worldwide and we were recently able to catch up with director Caroline Lindy and producer Kayla Foster to talk about the unique horror romantic comedy that stars Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey in the lead roles. 

Loosely based on a true experience, the film is "the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart and fall in love with her inner rage."

Lindy breaks down the cathartic movie making process, between both writing and directing the movie,...

Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey After surviving the villains of “Scream VI” and “Abigail,” Melissa Barrera returns to the big screen with the funny, sweet, creepy, and heartfelt “Your Monster.” Barrera stars as young stage actress Laura Franco who, while going through cancer treatment, is dumped by her playwright boyfriend, Edmund Donovan’s Jacob Sullivan. Returning

The post Creating “Your Monster” appeared first on Manny the Movie Guy.

Spoiler Alert: This post contains details from Your Monster.

Your Monster takes audiences on a fun, romantic and spooky ride just in time for Halloween, but some viewers might want clarification on the ending.

Writer and director Caroline Lindy, who makes her feature debut with the film that is now playing in theaters, told Deadline that despite the precarious ending, she imagines Laura (Melissa Barrera) and Monster (Tommy Dewey) “riding off into the sunset together.”

Based on Lindy’s 2019 short, the film follows soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a Monster with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams,...

We sat down with the cast and crew of Your Monster to discuss the romantic-comedy.

Four years after releasing the short film Your Monster, Caroline Lindy is bringing it to the big screen this holiday season. Your Monster is a multi-genre story about a woman attempting to overcome life and love while speaking to a monster in her closet. We sat down with writer/director Caroline Lindy and the film’s stars, Melissa Barerra, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, and Kayla Foster.

Your Monster is a breath of fresh air in the rom-com space that doesn’t follow the same typical tropes we are used to seeing. Lindy’s script is refreshing, and her attention to detail in developing Laura (Barrera) allows audiences to relate to her arc while also rooting for her. Barrera, who acts, sings, and dances her way into our hearts, continues to show she is a bonafide star.

Spoiler Alert! This post contains details from Your Monster.

In Melissa Barrera‘s new fairytail-esque musical horror comedy, she plays a beauty who embraces her inner beast.

Ahead of Your Monster‘s Friday premiere in theaters, the actress told Deadline she was inspired to take the role in writer/director Caroline Lindy‘s feature debut because the character ultimately learns to “not make [herself] small in the eyes of other people” through her romance with the titular beast.

She knows that struggle all too well, having been fired from her starring role as Sam Carpenter in the Scream franchise last year after expressing support for Palestine in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

Barrera remains “very grateful and honored” to be still considered a scream queen by fans of the franchise, as well as her roles in Bed Rest (2022) and this year’s Radio Silence horror comedy Abigail. “I think the horror fandom is...

Indie releases from limited (Memoir of a Snail) to wide (Conclave) are testing an increasingly lively specialty box office heading into awards season with a handful of decorated documentaries this week including Dahomey, Black Box Diaries, My Name Is Alfred Hitchcock and A New Kind of Wilderness and some notable expansions.

Also hitting theaters this weekend, a new documentary showing the soft side of Donald Trump, The Man You Don’t Know, whose producers are crying foul, saying a number of theaters have bailed on opening weekend.

Expansions: Anora, Neon’s Cannes Palme d’Or-winning film by Sean Baker, expands to 35 screens after posting 2024’s top limited opening of $550,000 on six screens. It heads into week 2 with a $752,400 cume. Utopia’s The Line goes from one screen to 55, and High Tide from Strand Releasing expands from NYC to Los Angeles at the Laemmle’s Royal and NoHo 7.

A24’s We Live In Time...

Just as its female lead is letting her inner rage come bubbling to the surface, the movie Your Monster, about this young woman, is also crying out from the inside to become a full-blown Broadway musical and not just the cult midnight movie it inevitably will be.

A sometimes awkward combo of horror/rom-com/musical elements that don’t always mesh perfectly but still blend well enough makes writer-director Caroline Lindy’s own feature-length adaptation of her short film a fun ride, as well as a terrific showcase for its stars Melissa Barrera and Tommy Dewey. In some ways it is also reminiscent of the current Demi Moore-Margaret Qualley horror comedy The Substance from director Coralie Fargeat, which also finds its main character going deep into herself in order to change the trajectory of her life all the way to a desperate and stunning denouement on a theatrical stage (albeit...

Melissa Barrera and Meghann Fahy hit the red carpet for the premiere of their new movie Your Monster on Thursday night (October 24) in New York City.

The 34-year-old Scream alum wowed in a cheetah print dress on the red carpet at Metrograph. She paired it with black heels and a dramatic furry coat. Meanwhile, Meghann opted for a black minidress with sheer cutouts.

Keep reading to find out more…

They were joined at the event by costars, including Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Megan Haley, Kayla Foster and Taylor Trensch. Director and writer Caroline Lindy was also there. We’ve got photos of all of them in the gallery!

Your Monster premiered in theaters on Friday (October 25). Here’s a synopsis of the romantic-comedy-horror: “After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actor Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster living in her closet.”

Have...

While I advocate for nontraditional rom-coms with a bloodthirsty bite, Your Monster struggles to tame mismatching tones. It's a hairy concept — what happens if your childhood boogeyman has a crush on you? Filmmaker Caroline Lindy approaches "Beauty and the Beast" meet-cutes from a horror protagonist's perspective, but bubbly cuteness detrimentally outweighs the script's darker leanings. Date night sweetness and flesh-torn grotesqueries don't play nice together, which is a downer as the film fails to unify its hybridized approach. The best genre romances find harmony between warmed hearts and spilled guts, while examples like Your Monster fail to earn monstrous moments.

Melissa Barrera is a dream romantic lead as Laura Franco, an actress recovering from a cancer-related surgery. Laura's depressed, having been dumped by her playwright ex-boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) while still hooked to hospital machines. She holes away in her childhood New York City apartment, wallowing by her lonesome. Here,...

The trick to genre-mixing within a movie is making sure all the disparate parts are equally great. Shaun Of The Dead, American Werewolf In London, and even Splash get it right when they make major tonal shifts, or blend the seemingly unblendable. Writer-director Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster aspires to that equilibrium,...

In theaters tomorrow is Your Monster, written and directed by Caroline Lindy, and starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, and Edmund Donovan. Just for Daily Dead readers, we have an exclusive "Hallowen Party" preview you can watch right now!

"Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster (Tommy Dewey) with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams, open her heart and fall in love with her inner rage."

Written and Direted By Caroline Lindy Produced By Kayla Foster, Caroline Lindy, Kira Carstensen, Melanie Donkers, Shannon Reilly Executive Produced By Bob Potter,...

Caroline Lindy’s Your Monster has what it takes to be catnip for a genre fan on paper: monsters, music, and Melissa Barrera. Yet, despite a likable lead performance and a premise that seems to be promising, Your Monster ends up being a disappointing film full of half-baked ideas. Although there is certainly an audience for this, it lacks the mainstream appeal that a high-concept indie like this needs to succeed.

Your Monster Review

Adapted from Lindy’s short of the same name, Your Monster follows an actress struggling to put her life together after a break-up as she finds unexpected companionship in the monster who has lived in her closet since childhood. In many ways, the premise seems like it would lend itself to a grown-up, horror-comedy version of Beauty and the Beast, but there’s too much “beauty” and not enough “beast” for it to work.

Related Hysteria!

Right from its opening minutes, Your Monster is walking a tightrope. It somehow manages to keep a light touch through a sequence where aspiring Broadway star Laura (Melissa Barrera) is diagnosed with cancer before her partner Jacob’s (Edmund Donovan) new musical can come to the stage with a role specifically written for her. Jacob, though, doesn’t have the spine or stamina for being a caretaker, and dumps Laura while she’s in the hospital, leaving the poor woman calling after him while attached to her chemo bag.

To writer-director Caroline Lindy’s credit, she pulls it off in the first act, especially with the sequence that follows, with Barrera committing to the comedy in all the drama as Laura eats her feelings. Barrera is Your Monster’s trump card, with Lindy pulling a lively performance out of her while still keeping Laura feeling like a real girl trying...

“Your Monster” is a new live-action comedy-horror feature, written and directed by Caroline Lindy, based on her 2019 short film, starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster and Meghann Fahy, opening October 25, 2024 in theaters:

“…’Laura Franco’ (Barrera), a young actress enduring an upsetting relationship breakup…

“…discovers a terrifying, yet weirdly charming ‘Monster’ (Dewey) living in her closet…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

“Your Monster” is a new live-action comedy-horror feature, written and directed by Caroline Lindy, based on her 2019 short film,1st starring Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Kayla Foster and Meghann Fahy, opening October 25, 2024 in theaters:

“…’Laura Franco’ (Barrera), a young actress enduring an upsetting relationship breakup…

“…discovers a terrifying, yet weirdly charming ‘Monster’ (Dewey) living in her closet…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Adam Driver had the support of some famous friends at his opening night in a new Off-Broadway show!

The Oscar-nominated actor celebrated the opening of the Kenneth Lonergan play Hold on to Me Darling on Wednesday night (October 16) at the Lucille Lortel Theatre in New York City.

Also pictured inside are Adam‘s co-stars Heather Burns and Adelaide Clemons.

Hold on to Me Darling is playing a limited run through December 22. Here’s a synopsis: “On learning of his mother’s death, country music icon Strings McCrane (Driver) finds himself in an existential tailspin. The only way out, he decides, is to abandon superstardom in favor of the simple life, so he moves back to his hometown in Tennessee. The simple life turns out to be anything but simple in this brilliantly observed tragicomedy, as the consequences of Strings’s success and mind-bending effects of his fame prove all but impossible to outrun.

When you purchase through our links, we may earn an affiliate commission.

The most controversial film of 2024 has already been released and is attracting criticism from all sides. Written and directed by the visionary filmmaker Alex Garland (Ex Machina), Civil War has proven to be a massive hit for the A24. Civil War has everything you need including striking visuals, a gripping story, and complex characters. While there are people from both sides of the political aisle criticizing the film for not picking a side, I think that Garland did a wonderful job at showing us a broken America without blaming any political party for it.

Civil War is set in a dystopian future America suffering from a civil war as a team of military-embedded journalists race against time to get to Washington D.C. to interview the President before rebel factions take over the White House and kill the President.

Scream (2022) and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera – who was fired from Scream 7 when comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war didn’t go over well with executives at Spyglass Media – has the lead role in the film Your Monster, a project she had previously described as a “horror rom-com musical.” JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to see the movie at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and wrote a 6/10 review you can read at This Link. A wider audience will be able to see the movie when Vertical gives it a theatrical release on October 25th – and with that date just one month away, a trailer is now online. You can check it out in the embed above.

The feature directorial debut of Caroline Lindy, who wrote the film based on her 2019 short of the same name, Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco,...

Vertical has released the first trailer for a new horror comedy titled Your Monster, which stars Scream and Abigail actress Melissa Barrera in the lead role as a woman who falls for the literal monster in her closet.

Directed, written and produced by Caroline Lindy, this Beauty and the Beast-inspired tale is based on Lindy's short of the same name, and also stars Tommy Dewey, Meghann Fahy, Edmund Donovan and Kayla Foster. Producers include Kayla Foster, Shannon Reilly, Melanie Donkers, and Kira Carstensen.

Barrera was asked about the comparisons to Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve's classic fairytale in a recent interview with Rolling Stone.

"So many people have been asking about the Beauty and the Beast reference, and it didn’t begin as that at all. Originally, in the script, it was more of a banter-y comedy with this monster as a guide. But once we got on set, the...

Melissa Barrera is falling for a monster of a man — literally.

The “Abigail” and former “Scream” star leads the Sundance-selected feature “Your Monster,” which was written and directed by Caroline Lindy and based on her 2020 short film of the same name. Barrera plays Lindy’s stand-in Laura, an actress who is reeling after being dumped. She realizes that her rage actually manifested into a new beau, who just so happens to be a monster creature.

The official synopsis reads: “‘Your Monster’ tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster (Tommy Dewey) with whom she finds a connection,...

"I'm a mess!" "No you're not!" Ahaha listen to the monster! Vertical has unveiled the official trailer for an original horror comedy musical called Your Monster, created by the filmmaker Caroline Lindy. This first premiered at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival earlier this year in the Midnight section, earning some rave reviews (I saw it there - it's a very good time!). After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actor Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming Monster living in her closet. A romantic-comedy-horror film about falling in love with your inner rage. The monster is an actual giant, hairy, big guy kind of like a live-action Beast from Beauty and the Beast. But he's also just a metaphor for her "inner rage" – or maybe he really is real? Watch the film and find out. Your Monster stars Melissa Barrera as Laura, with Tommy Dewey as the beast,...

Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, Abigail) is back in Vertical’s new horror-comedy Your Monster, and the distributor has released the film’s charming official trailer this morning.

Vertical will release Your Monster only in theaters October 25, 2024.

The romantic monster movie looks to be a new spin on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. In the film, “After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.”

Here’s the full official plot synopsis:

“Your Monster tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Edmund Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop.

“But...

Tell Me Lies is back for its second season, meaning Edmund Donovan is also back as Max. 

Tell Me Lies follows the lives of the students attending the fictional Baird College in New York, over the span of eight years. 

In particular, the series focuses on Lucy (Grace Van Patten) and her on-again-off-again relationship with a college junior, Stephen (Jackson White).

Read full article on The Direct.

Head back to school with Hulu! This September, the streamer will help FX usher several new series premieres, including the new comedy “English Teacher,” created by and starring Brian Jordan Alvarez as a high school teacher stuck at the cross-section of the, personal, professional, and political. For the graduating class, Season 2 of the college-set Hulu Original series “Tell Me Lies” will premiere, as well, followed by weekly episodes throughout September and October.

On Friday the 13th, catch thrills with FX’s cat-and-mouse drama “The Old Man,” starring Emmy nominee Jeff Bridges and Jeff Lithgow, which will have its Season 2 streaming premiere. Ryan Murphy’s latest network collaboration, the horror drama “Grotesquerie,” starring Niecy Nash-Betts and Michaela Diamond, will also debut later in the month.

The list doesn’t stop there: find out everything coming to Hulu this September!

30-Day Free Trial $7.99+ / month hulu.com What are the 5 Best Shows, Movies,...

Melissa Barrera has already established herself as a scream queen with her roles in the movies Scream and Scream VI. We can't wait to see her take on a new role in the upcoming romantic comedy horror Your Monster, which is set to be released in theaters on Oct. 25, 2024, by Vertical Entertainment

Your Monster is an indie horror film written and directed by Caroline Lindy. It's based on Lindy's 2019 short film of the same name and centers around a young, soft-spoken actress named Laura Franco, who, after a cancer diagnosis and bad breakup, discovers a weirdly charming monster living in her closet.

Barrera stars in the leading role of Laura Franco. Besides Scream and Scream VI, you might also recognize Barrera from her roles in the movies In the Heights and Abigail. She also starred as Lyn Hernandez in the Starz drama series Vida.

Joining her in the cast...

Scream (2022) and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera – who was fired from Scream 7 when comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war didn’t go over well with executives at Spyglass Media – has the lead role in the film Your Monster, a project she had previously described as a “horror rom-com musical.” JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to see the movie at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and wrote a 6/10 review you can read at This Link. A wider audience will be able to see the movie when Vertical gives it a theatrical release on October 25th – and the marketing for that release has begun with the unveiling of a teaser poster! You can check it out at the bottom of this article.

The feature directorial debut of Caroline Lindy, who wrote the film based on her 2019 short of the same name, Your Monster tells...

Melissa Barrera (Scream VI, Abigail) has taken to Instagram to share the official poster for her next movie Your Monster, which also reveals the horror romance’s release date.

Vertical will release Your Monster only in theaters October 25, 2024.

Love can be a beast, indeed. Check out the official art below and sign up for updates here.

The romantic monster movie looks to be a new spin on the classic tale of Beauty and the Beast. In the film, “After her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.”

Tommy Dewey, Meghann Fahy, Edmund Donovan and Kayla Foster also star. Producers include Kayla Foster, Shannon Reilly, Melanie Donkers, and Kira Carstensen.

The movie is based on Caroline Lindy’s short film from 2019.

Meagan Navarro wrote in her Sundance review for Bloody Disgusting, “A wholesome, whimsical...

Stars: Melissa Barrera, Tommy Dewey, Edmund Donovan, Meghann Fahy, Kayla Foster | Written and Directed by Caroline Lindy

What happens if you fall in love with the monster under your bed? That’s the question posed by darkly funny fantasy romcom Your Monster, the debut feature from writer-director Caroline Lindy.

Melissa Barrera stars as Laura Franco, a wannabe actress who’s dumped by her theatre director boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) while she’s recovering from surgery after cancer. Devastated, Laura returns to her childhood home, where she’s shocked to discover that Monster (Tommy Dewey), the creature she once saw under her bed as a child, still lives there.

Things quickly go from bad to worse for Laura – in addition to Monster gruffly giving her two weeks to leave the house, she finds out that Jacob has started production on a Broadway musical they developed together and, worse, has offered the...

The indie dark comedy Forge, currently shooting in Miami, has set its supporting cast.

Newcomers include Edmund Donovan (Civil War), Eva De Dominici (The Cleaning Lady), Jack Falahee (How to Get Away with Murder), T. R. Knight (The Flight Attendant), Sonya Walger (For All Mankind), Raymond Ma (Always Be My Maybe) and Dawn Ying Yuen (The Harvest).

While we’re told Donovan will play a disgraced millionaire involved with art forgery, all other roles are under wraps. Forge‘s leads are Kelly Marie Tran, Andie Ju and Brandon Soo Hoo, as we were first to report.

Marking the feature directorial debut of Malaysian-born filmmaker Jing Ai Ng, the film is set in the underbelly of the Miami art world, where siblings Raymond (Soo Hoo) and Coco Zhang (Ju) run a profitable forgery ring. When the Zhang siblings cross paths with a disgraced millionaire (Donovan), they are coerced into creating counterfeit...

Nick Offerman plays the Potus in the dystopian action film Civil War, but although some liken his character to Donald Trump, the actor didn’t think about him during filming.

“Honestly, no,” Offerman told Deadline during the film’s premiere. “When you see the movie, it’s so unattached to anything in modern politics, not only in our country but any country. It’s like doing a play where I’m playing a baseball player, and people say, ‘Did you ever think of your favorite team, the Cubs?’ And I say, ‘No, it’s a brilliant piece of fiction.'”

He continued, “From the get-go, it clearly wasn’t based on anything in reality, and so, that’s a distraction, and my job is to immediately say, ‘Who is this guy? And how can I best serve Alex [Garland’s] vision.'”

Donald Trump was not on Nick Offerman's mind as he...

Scream (2022) and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera – who was fired from Scream 7 when comments she made about the Israel-Hamas war didn’t go over well with executives at Spyglass Media – has the lead role in the film Your Monster, a project she had previously described as a “horror rom-com musical.” JoBlo’s own Chris Bumbray had the chance to see the movie at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and wrote a 6/10 review you can read at This Link. We still don’t know when a wider audience is going to have the opportunity to watch the movie, but it has just taken a positive step forward: Deadline reports that Vertical has acquired the North American distribution rights.

The feature directorial debut of Caroline Lindy, who wrote the film based on her 2019 short of the same name, Your Monster centers on soft-spoken actor Laura Franco, who is...

Fresh off the film’s premiere at Sundance earlier this year, Your Monster starring Melissa Barrera (Scream VI) has been acquired for U.S. release by Vertical, Deadline reports.

We don’t yet have a release date but we expect one soon. Stay tuned.

“We were captivated by Caroline Lindy’s film at Sundance and thrilled it has made a home here at Vertical,” Vertical’s Peter Jarowey said in a statement. “Marking her directorial feature debut, she has created a fantastic, fresh, genre-defying film that perfectly balances the mix of comedy, romance, and horror topped off with a dash of musical theater that will captivate and delight audiences later this year.”

Lindy added in her own statement, “I’m beyond thrilled to collaborate with Vertical on the release of Your Monster. Their strategies and commitment to innovative distribution aligns perfectly with our movie, and their passion for the film...

Exclusive: Following its world premiere at Sundance, the horror rom-com Your Monster, starring Melissa Barrera (In the Heights) and Tommy Dewey (The Mindy Project), has landed at Vertical for North American distribution.

Marking the feature directorial debut of Caroline Lindy, who adapted the script from her own short film, Your Monster also stars Edmund Donovan (Gossip Girl), Kayla Foster (Call Jane) and Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus). No word yet on a release date.

The pic tells the story of the soft-spoken actor Laura Franco (Barrera), who is dumped by her longtime boyfriend (Donovan) while recovering from surgery and retreats to her childhood home to recover. With her future looking bleak, insult is added to injury when Laura discovers her ex is staging a musical that she helped him develop. But out of these gut-wrenching life changes emerges a monster (Dewey) with whom she finds a connection, encouraging Laura to follow her dreams,...

Exclusive: Bankside Films has boarded international sales rights to Caroline Lindy’s Sundance Midnight movie Your Monster, starring Melissa Barrera (Scream).

In Your Monster, after her life falls apart, soft-spoken actress Laura Franco (Barrera) finds her voice again when she meets a terrifying, yet weirdly charming, monster living in her closet.

Barrera stars with Tommy Dewey (Perry Mason), Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus), Edmund Donovan (Hightown) and Kayla Foster (The Deuce).

The film is a feature debut for Lindy, who directs and also wrote the screenplay. Lindy’s previous short Aspirational Slut received the 2022 SXSW Narrative Shorts Audience Award.

Bankside Films will be screening the film to buyers at the European Film Market in Berlin following its Park City debut last month. WME Independent is handling domestic.

The Merman Films production was financed by Bombo Sports & Entertainment. Producers are Kayla Foster and Lindy, along with Shannon Reilly of Bombo,...

The words “bold,” “audacious,” and “daring” can be easily tossed around whenever a new-to-us filmmaker makes their feature-length debut, but in writer-director Caroline Lindy’s case, they’re more than applicable. They fall short of accurately describing Lindy’s deliriously entertaining, genre-bending first effort, Your Monster. A smash-up of multiple genres and sub-genres, Your Monster should launch Lindy’s filmmaking career for the next decade or two without reservation, hesitation, or doubt. Based, in part, on Lindy’s personal experiences and expanded from her 2020 proof-of-concept short, Your Monster focuses on Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera), a down-and-out performer facing a series of personal Job-like drawbacks and obstacles, beginning with a surprise cancer diagnosis and continuing with her longtime boyfriend and composer, Jacob (Edmund Donovan), abruptly...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Melissa Barrera seems remarkably composed for someone navigating one of the most trying periods of their personal and professional lives. You’ve probably seen the headlines: The rising star of Vida, In the Heights, and the Scream films was fired from the horror franchise and falsely branded antisemitic for a series of Instagram posts calling attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza that’s claimed the lives of tens of thousands of people.

She subsequently released a statement saying, in part, “I condemn anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. I condemn hate and...

Scream (2022) and Scream VI star Melissa Barrera may have been fired from Scream 7, but she is in Universal Pictures’ upcoming “Dracula’s Daughter” film Abigail, which was directed by her Scream directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett and is set to reach theatres on April 19th. Even beyond that film, Barrera told The Hollywood Reporter that she has no intention of leaving the horror genre behind.

Barrera, who has also starred in a horror movie called Bed Rest, said, “I don’t think I’ll be able to get away from horror, and I also don’t want to. I love the genre so much. It’s so much fun to make. Also, I think a genre that people show up to the theaters for no matter what. No stars have to be in the movie for people to show up. I think that just goes to show how big it is,...

While fans used to play six degrees of Kevin Bacon at the Sundance Film Festival (or anywhere for that matter), in 2024, it’s all about connecting the dots of alumni from Mike White’s The White Lotus. The stars of the Emmy Award-winning vacation anthology series have returned to the mainland and clocked back in on a flurry of independent films. Below is a roundup of all the White Lotus stars making the Park City rounds this year and why they’re here.

Aubrey Plaza

The actress and producer returns to the festival on the heels of a critically acclaimed turn in Emily the Criminal to star in Megan Park’s comedy My Old Ass opposite Maisy Stella, Maddie Ziegler, Kerrice Brooks and Percy Hynes White. The plot follows bright-yet-irreverent Elliott (Stella) as she comes face-to-face with her older self (Plaza) during a mushroom trip. The encounter spurs a funny...

Did Beauty kill the Beast? Or was it the other way around? Or maybe they lived happily ever after? Writer-director Caroline Lindy plays with classical expectations in her enjoyable debut feature Your Monster. Actress Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) is just out of surgery when the film starts. We quickly learn she’s survived some unnamed cancer and, in the tough year of treatments, her theater-director boyfriend of five years Jacob (Edmund Donovan) broke up with her. To make matters worse, he also moved forward with producing a Broadway musical that they developed together, one with a lead role he’d promised to Laura.

Her only friend is fellow actress Mazie, played well by Kayla Foster, who lifts up a thinly written supporting character. Mazie’s unreliability leaves Laura alone in her transient mother’s New York City apartment, crying and eating pies. Until, that is, an upstairs neighbor reveals himself.

Scream heroine Melissa Barrera shines in Caroline Lindy‘s feature debut, Your Monster, an expansion of her short film. A wholesome, whimsical romance befitting of a classic Hollywood musical but with dark underpinnings, Your Monster lets Barrera showcase her range and singing chops, even when it can’t quite decide on a cohesive approach to its monstrous metaphor.

Erstwhile Broadway actress Laura Franco (Barrera) finds her life in shambles when cancer derails her career ambitions and her longtime boyfriend Jacob (Edmund Donovan) unceremoniously dumps her. Abandoned by her mother and ignored by her self-involved best friend Mazie (Kayla Foster), Your Monster introduces its protagonist at her lowest point, all wails and self-pity. Enter Monster (Tommy Dewey), a beast that’s lived in her childhood closet for years and took a liking to having the house to himself. Love eventually blossoms between the pair, exposing Laura’s inner Monster in the process.

IndieWire’s 2024 Sundance lineup of events is officially being revealed.

In addition to IndieWire’s annual Sundance Studio, the publication is partnering with Adobe for three panel discussions taking place at Adobe’s 558 Main Street location in Park City. Sign up to gain access to the space here.

The first, taking place January 20 at 3 p.m. Mt, is titled IndieWire: Creative Collaborations in Filmmaking, presented by Adobe.

Join the guest list here.

IndieWire’s Crafts editor Chris O’Falt will moderate a discussion with Duplass Brothers Productions president Mel Eslyn and producer/director/actor Mark Duplass. The conversation will focus on the longtime partnership behind the production company behind projects such as HBO’s “Room 104,” “Somebody Somewhere,” Hulu’s “Sasquatch,” and new release “Penelope,” which is premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.

The second conversation, at 3:30 p.m. Mt, January 20, will have O’Falt moderate a discussion with the...

You’d have to forgive Laura Franco (Melissa Barrera) for being a little out of sorts these days. In short order, she’s been: diagnosed with cancer, dumped by her douchebag boyfriend, undergone radical treatment, moved back into her childhood home, realized said douchebag boyfriend has also absconded with the musical they wrote together (and given away the part literally made for her!), and discovered that the monster she thought she imagined in her youth is still very much alive and very much living in her closet (and played by the charming Tommy Dewey).

Filmmaker Caroline Lindy makes her feature directorial debut with “Your Monster,” but it’s a story she’s told before, both in life and on the screen.

Lindy’s passion for and connection to the material is obvious (how could it not be?), as is her desire to twist a sad story into something fresh and often funny.

Melissa Barrera is sharing her thoughts on her exit from the Scream franchise and what her current relationship with the cast is like.

It was previously reported that the 33-year-old actress was fired from Scream 7 due to her social media posts on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Melissa talked about her exit while attending the 2024 Sundance Film Festival premiere of her movie Your Monster on Thursday (January 18) in Park City, Utah.

Also joining Melissa at the premiere were her co-stars Tommy Dewey, Meghann Fahy, Edmund Donovan, and Kayla Foster.

Keep reading to find out more…

Melissa was asked about reuniting with nearly all of her co-stars at an Emmys weekend party, including on-screen sister Jenna Ortega.

“We’re family for life. If we’re ever in the vicinity of each other, we always find each other and that’s what happened at that event,” Melissa told Deadline. “When we find each other,...