Reviews

The story of a mother's descent into madness. Watching it is depressing and the metaphor of depression being the monster would have been ok but it just doesnt work here.

SPOILERS: the movie takes the time to set up the depression/monster premise with the father's tale of a tall thin monster when he was young, and that his sister one night was asking for his help and when he doesn't come, his sister jumps out a high window to her death. That leaves the father living with guilt, tho it appears he did later try to love his wife in the beginning even making her a beautiful gown. But otherwise he's a sad lonely man who stares off in the wasteland and builds scarecrows at the perimeter of his property to keep the monster away.

The father finds a man in a boat and that man subsequently killing himself gives the father just the reason he needs to leave his unaffectionate wife who only cuddles and coos and sings and bathes creepily with her son.

The mom knows he probably won't be back when he leaves to return the dead man to his family. He can barely look at his son as he rides away telling his son to take care of your mother.

How the father's horse and packs return to the house is unexplained, tho they do look bloody so I'd guess the Mom killed him before he got far or killed him if he did indeed return(?)

The Mom then descends quickly into madness. The young boy has it tough trying to keep her (and himself) alive. He succeeds for awhile but the last scene with the tall thin man within his eye would seem to mean he's scarred and the depression monster and/or madness will find him sooner or later.