A Monster Calls

2016 Directed by J. A. Bayona

Stories are wild creatures.

A boy imagines a monster that helps him deal with his difficult life and see the world in a different way.

Lewis MacDougall Sigourney Weaver Felicity Jones Toby Kebbell Liam Neeson Ben Moor Frida Palsson Wanda Opalinska James Melville Oliver Steer Dominic Boyle Jennifer Lim Max Gabbay Joe Curtis Morgan Symes Max Golds Patrick Taggart Lily-Rose Aslandogdu Geraldine Chaplin Jake Talbot Lee Bolton Garry Marriott

Alternative Titles

Un monstruo viene a verme, Часът на чудовището, Sete Minutos Depois da Meia-Noite, 7 דקות אחרי חצות, Monster Calls, 7 Minuti dopo la Mezzanotte, 怪物召唤, Váratlan jóbarát, 恶魔呼唤, Sieben Minuten nach Mitternacht

fantasy drama

108 mins More details at IMDb TMDb Report this film

Popular reviews

Review by matt lynch ★★★ 2

This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

Weird GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY prequel about how the tree man helps young Star Lord deal with his mom dying.
Review by davidehrlich ★★½ 12

Pan's Labyrinth for kids dealing with cancer. dark, dull, and didactic, but could be helpful to those in need. do yourself a favor and see KUBO instead.
and now, the unfairness: my dad died of cancer a few months ago. this film gets a lot of the inner turmoil right (and crucially so), but if your cancer-related tearjerker does nothing for me at this point... that's on you.
Review by Evan ★★★½ 4

TIFF 2016 Film #13
A Monster Calls touched the depths of my soul. Visually stunning, well acted, and filled with emotion this film had me fully engaged. I was pretty much in tears the entirety of the final 20 minutes and so was everyone else. You could hear the sniffling echoing through out the theater. I won't spoil it, but this one line absolutely wrecked me to my core. While most of the emotion is earned, I will say that it is somewhat manipulative.
Review by Travis Lytle ★★★★½ 4

A fantasy about the all-too real ways humans deal with loss, Juan Antonio Bayona's "A Monster Calls" offers a cinematic heart that beats with anger, sadness, and inspiring vigor. Based on Patrick Ness's novel, the film the tells the story of a young boy whose struggle with life and loss reflect the universal education that is human existence.
Revolving around young Conor O'Malley, "A Monster Calls" finds the boy dealing with school bullies, a cantankerous grandmother, and, most importantly, a dying mother. Conor spends his days caring, as best he can, for his mother, drawing, and recoiling from both literal and figurative nightmares. When a monstrous, lumbering tree with fiery eyes appears at his window, Conor begins a journey that…
Review by Steve G 🐝 ★★★★ 4

My 9 year old daughter's enthusiasm for seeing A Monster Calls after being rather excited by the trailers for it we had seen wasn't quite treated to the tale about a friendly talking tree that saves a boy from being bullied that she hoped it would be.
"That wasn't quite what I expected," she commented as we exited the cinema. "But it was really, really good!"
The fact that she spent practically the whole film perched on the edge of her seat was clue enough to me that she really enjoyed it, and understandably so. It's not quite like any film she had watched before or that we had watched together (we watch one together every Saturday, at the cinema…
Review by Eli Hayes ★★★★ 4

guess I always should've assumed that one of those Ents was Liam Neeson.
Review by DirkH ★★½ 4

Taken 4: Ent Game
Review by indi ★★★★ 2

wow groot really punched a hole right through my fucking chest thanks for that
Review by CJ Probst ★★★★ 7

All those years ago I remember sitting in the theater watching The Lord of the Rings, looking around and thinking, "Man, I really don't love these as much as everyone else in here." I recognized them as a spectacular achievement but was rather bored through them, just not for me. My least favorite parts of those films were the talking tree scenes. Every time one of those tedious bastards showed up that was my cue to shuffle my way out of the auditorium for a piss.
Sooooooo, A Monster Calls felt a little bit like an Ent trying his goddamned hardest to make me cry for just under two hours. As I was at a bit of a disadvantage due…
Review by kyle97 ★★★★ 3

Wow I had very high expectations for this movie after reading Patrick Ness's novel and I was really impressed by how the movie turned out.
I’ve been a fan of J.A. Bayona since I saw The Orphanage, which is a great horror film. In A Monster Calls, Bayona’s creative vision complements the imaginations of Patrick Ness, who also wrote the screenplay for the movie, very well. This is a very compelling drama with fantastical elements that work on a metaphorical level. As a film about terminal illness, bullying, and anger, A Monster Calls never came off to me as emotionally manipulative or overwrought. Some parts of the movie are told through stunning water-colored animation, which genuinely makes for some stunning…
Review by Dawson Joyce ★★★★★

Tackling dark and mature themes with brutal honesty, intelligence, heart, stunningly beautiful visuals, and wonderful performances across the board, A Monster Calls is a heart-shattering and emotionally exhausting fantasy drama from writer Patrick Ness and director J.A. Bayona.
Review by Austin Gorski ★★★★½ 3

The first film I've genuinely cried while watching in a very long time.
How is this not getting awards buzz?

Recent reviews

Review by BestMoviesForLf ★★★½

78/100
Interesting.
Review by minah101 ★★★½

Beautiful film but I wish we didn’t “see” the monster. I wanted it to be a little more mysterious, but it’s a satisfying and emotional story.
Review by royland ★★½

A pesar de una dirección bien intencionada, me parece una película pasable. Demasiada lágrima fácil.
Review by Kero_Ashraf ★★★½

" الإيمان هو نصف الشفاء "
فيلم قد ايه يثبتلك ان الحياة صعبة جداً من غير الأم وقد ايه لو بايدك تقدر تشفيها ❤ "
تمثيل الطفل "كونور" كان عظيم عظيم والأم برده والجدة كان تمثيلهم رائع
Review by TJ Myers ★★ 2

i saw the trailer for this so many times in theaters the fall/winter of 2016 that finally watching it made me nostalgic for that specific time. take me back, i miss it. i want to be hungover watching Rogue One with my friends for the second time in as many nights.
Review by jockpassing ★★★½

Endearing children-oriented drama. If you liked "Bridge to Terabithia", you'll also like this. It deals with grief and the concept of letting go, learning how to overcome life's difficulties at a young age. A bit dull, but it's worth a watch.
Review by léo ★★★★

lindo filme
Review by serafim🕷🌓🎷🏴‍☠️ Zisis 🕹📸🎎🏺 ★★★★

My dad died from cancer at 2014 so I m so connected with this movie. Like the movie I found the bravery inside me to say goodbye to him and that I loved him and I would missed him.A beautiful fairytale that wants to soften our life at our darkest times. A fairytale that wants to make us strong enough to face the cruel truth that comes sometimes to our life. Well done acting from all the roles and a monster that I connected with. I added this little life diamond to my heart collection. I never forget that like the kiddo here everyday I had in my mind a new hope that my dad would been better and eventually healed from all this. I will remember this playing for a time.
Review by callum ★★★★

obsessed with the animation during the three tale scenes
Review by heatwaevs ★★

i don’t remember much about this film but the book was better
Review by Hannah ★★★★★

*showing my roomie the trailer to see if he’s down*
david 30secs in: okay i’m down
*gets to shut off the trailer early*: 💕💕😘🤌🏻😛😛😍
uhhhh yeah, i’ve said this before and i’ll say it again, this movie makes me cry more than any other (this and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015) really kicked off my morbid/nostalgic streak lol) i was a fcking mess at the end, and once i exited out of the app i had to tell katy and david (through my sobs) that if i’m there on their deathbed, i will not be strong and i will look exactly how i looked at the end of this movie. then to distract from our emotions we laughed and played our top 3 youtube vids:
youtu.be/4o_IQavlMDA
youtu.be/lZHA8hyrTUQ
(we’re learning the choreo)
youtu.be/Fw1w7CU3L8k
Review by katycamp2 ★★★★½

every liam neeson spoke this was all that was in my head
youtu.be/awX20bnDfTk