If Little Monsters is for the boys, MissUnderstood Monster is definitely for the girls! Sure, men can watch the new short film from Mass Grave Pictures and maybe find a little bit of humor in it, but no one can begin to understand the featured horror quite like women! Written and directed by Lindsay Serrano, MissUnderstood Monster finds a young woman named Laura as she’s visited by an unwanted, unrelenting fiend that haunts her every month. I’m talking about the Menstruation Demon, of course. Think of a more humanoid and obnoxious version of Connie the Hormone Monstress from Netflix’s “Big Mouth.” The short film follows Laura as she tries to tackle every day situations while the devilish curiosity breathes down her throat and threatens to lead her down the path of destruction. Co-produced by Lindsay Serrano and Manny Serrano, MissUnderstood Monster stars Heather Drew, Heather Buckley, Christian Moran, Deana Demko and Nicole Franz.
As only Lindsay Serrano could produce, MissUnderstood Monster is an 1980’s/1990’s rock and roll narrative with seizure inducing visuals. It’s relate-able and nostalgic at the same time, with a recipe of whimsical dismay and remnants of childhood horror. It’s currently playing the film festival circuit and there’s no surprise to me that a few venues have picked it up for screening. It’s perfectly stylized and tells a story that’s aggravating and frustrating to billions of women around the world while also being fun and humorous. Laura’s period is literally embodied in the Menstruation Demon, and the viewer will want to punch the creature in the face just as much as Laura wants to, and just as women in general want to. It’s not lost on me that MissUnderstood Monster was released during Women in Horror Month this year, as it will continue to be a talking point as the year rolls on. And as much as I hated Ms. Monster, I have to say that I loved the special effects job on her as applied by Beatrice Sniper.
MissUnderstood Monster features cinematography by Philip Kral and editing by Manny Serrano. I continue to be impressed with Mass Grave Studios over the years, and how they always manage to step their game up as an independent studio. The picture quality in MissUnderstood Monster is absolutely fantastic and the lighting is perfect. I’ve already mentioned the expert special effects, and I also enjoyed some of the angles used when showcasing the eye-roll antics of the monster. I can’t spot a single flaw in the entire short film. Except that the audio dips a bit during a restaurant scene. A daring and daunting narrative highlighted by great on-screen talent and the flair of a generation gone by, MissUnderstood Monster is both a blessing and a curse, a family-friendly life-based conflict and a spontaneous cluster-fuck. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and for that reason, I can definitely recommend this short film to its intended target audience. Well done!
Final Score: 7 out of 10.
