The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.

Conor was awake when it came. He’d had a nightmare. Well, not a nightmare. The nightmare.

It was the nightmare that Conor (Lewis MacDougall) refused to acknowledge. The one he dared not think about. The one that summoned the monster and the one the monster called ‘his truth‘.

Everything changed when his mother (Felicity Jones) got sick. For so long it was just the two of them. His father lived in America with his new family. The once frequent calls were now few and far between. It wasn’t just his home life that changed when his mother got sick.  Conor’s school life changed too.  First there were whispers. Then there was bullying. Worst off all there was silence and feeling invisible.

Now there was the monster too. He appeared just after midnight outside Conor’s window. His booming voice (Liam Neeson) shaking the house. He has come to tell Conor three stories.  Stories which at first seem silly, but actually help him make sense of the world in turmoil around him.  The fourth story will be his. The story of the nightmare which terrorises him nightly.

A Monster Calls will have you whimpering like a child in your seat. Its tragic and heart wrenching and wrapped in sadness. It doesn’t shy away from putting the devastating effects illness have on a family front and centre throughout.  The performances are strong and the monster just as I imagined.

Felicity Jones & Lewis MacDougall

I’m giving A Monster Calls 4.5 out of 5.  I loved the book.  When I heard there was going to be a movie I crossed my fingers that it would live up to my expectations.  It has. It’s a complete triumph.  It’s superbly acted. Touching, tender and heartbreaking all at once. A proper roller-coaster of emotions.  A Monster Calls is in cinemas from January 1st.  Check out the trailer below for a teaser of what to expect.

Directed by J.A. Bayona and written by Patrick Ness (based on an original idea by Siobhan Dowd)