A Monster Calls

A Monster Calls (2016) is J. A. Bayona's fantasy drama, and you can watch it online on iFILM. Thirteen-year-old Conor is quietly bracing for the worst: his mother is dying. Then a monster shows up at his window.

It pulls itself out of the ancient yew tree on the hill, towering and old as stone, speaking in the voice of Liam Neeson. The creature will tell Conor three tales, and in return the boy must tell a fourth — the truth he keeps buried, the one that terrifies him most. By day his world keeps cracking apart: a sick mother (Felicity Jones), a stern grandmother played by Sigourney Weaver, a bully at school, a father long gone.

Adapted from Patrick Ness's novel, the film slips into watercolour animation for its fables, setting their warmth against a cold, grey reality. It is a story about a child learning to name his own grief. Stream A Monster Calls (2016) online on iFILM.