This Scream Star’s Critically Acclaimed Horror Romance Is Perfect for Valentine’s Day

If you’re looking to add a beastly twist to your Valentine’s Day, now is the time to revisit the 2024 horror rom-com Your Monster, starring former Scream star Melissa Barrera. The movie was a critical success at the Sundance Film Festival, and it got a wider theatrical release in October . If you missed it, Your Monster became available to stream on Max starting on Friday, January 24th, and the streamer went out of its way to highlight this acquisition. It’s worth the hype — this modern take on Beauty and the Beast has a dark set-up, but it’s balanced with humor, heart, and genuine chemistry.

Your Monster was written and directed by Caroline Lindy, and based on a short film she made in 2019 with the same premise. It was the first lead role Barrera was cast in after her controversial firing from Scream 7, proving that she could still carry a film as a certified scream queen. Barrera plays aspiring actress Laura Franco while Edmund Donovan plays her recent ex-boyfriend, Jacob Sullivan. Tommy Dewey plays the monster living in Laura’s closet.

The movie starts with Laura being diagnosed with cancer, then quickly being dumped by her boyfriend, who says he can’t be there for her during this struggle. Laura moves back into her childhood home where she discovers a monster living in her closet. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and begin to cohabitate peacefully. The monster convinces Laura to audition for an upcoming play that Jacob will be working on, not letting his presence hurt her chance at a great part.

[RELATED: Your Monster Filmmaker Caroline Lindy Talks the Long Road to the Big Screen]

The movie takes a bold approach to its more fantastical elements, sometimes downplaying the existence of a real-life “monster in the closet,” and other times emphasizing the terror. It’s unique, but it works well — many critics used words like “surreal” and “irreverent” to try and describe the tone, but it doesn’t match other movies with those same descriptors. The trailer above captures its essence better than any review.

Still, the 78-percent Fresh score on Rotten Tomatoes should help assure you that this will go over well on Valentine’s Day — depending on your date. The movie blends horror with rom-com tropes and even musical numbers, which means that it sort of has something for everyone. On the other hand, it has its fair share of gore and violence, which may be a dealbreaker for some, especially on date night.

Barrera the Scream Queen

For many fans, this movie was a major vindication for Barrera, so any fans of hers are likely to find something to love here. Barrera was on the rise in the horror genre as the new lead in Scream 5 and Scream VI, and was meant to star in the upcoming Scream 7 as well until November of 2023. At that time, she posted about the war in Palestine on social media, criticizing Israel. Barrera was fired from the Scream franchise, but many fans and colleagues were outraged on her behalf since other A-listers were condemning the war without such consequences.

Barrera bounced back quickly. By then, she had already filmed the vampire horror-comedy Abigail, which was released in April of 2024 to critical acclaim. With the release of Your Monster a few months later, fans were confident that Barrera could continue finding work in the horror genre if she wanted it, even without the Scream franchise behind her.

After Barrera was fired, her co-star Jenna Ortega left Scream 7 followed by director Christopher Landon. The plans for the movie were overhauled after that, with previous stars Neve Campbell and Patrick Dempsey signing on to return. The movie is filming now and is scheduled to debut next year. Barrera has three upcoming movies on her IMDb page, including the horror movie The One which is in pre-production.

Your Monster is streaming now on Max. It’s rated R for moderate violence and gore, but it may fit into some Valentine’s Day plans this year.