A Monster Calls is coming to Netflix tonight

The 2016 film adaptation of A Monster Calls drops on Netflix tonight

“The monster showed up just after midnight. As they do.” Tonight, Netflix is adding the 2016 film A Monster Calls to their rotating collection of non-original films.

The fantasy movie is directed by J.A. Bayona and stars Lewis MacDougall, Felicity Jones, Sigourney Weaver, and the voice and motion-capture talents of Liam Neeson. You can watch A Monster Calls on Netflix at 12:01 a.m. PT on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021 (six minutes before it should have been scheduled to drop).

A Monster Calls is based on the 2011 novel of the same name by Patrick Ness, who wrote his book based on an idea by late British author Siobhan Dowd.

The book and movie tell the story of a 13-year-old boy who is routinely visited by a monster in the shape of the yew tree in his backyard. The monster promises to tell him three stories, and through his recounted tales, the boy comes to understand how to deal with his mother’s illness.

The movie is a pretty faithful adaptation of the book, which employs tall tale and impressionistic illustration to depict the hardships of growing up, parent-child relationships, and the consequences surrounding terminal illness. It is intensely grounded in the ideology of personal trauma and delicately handles both the wonder and darkness of imaginative minds stuck in distressing circumstances.

A Monster Calls is one of my favorite books of all time, and this movie’s arrival on Netflix couldn’t please me more. I have such a deep connection to the plot and characters of A Monster Calls, and I felt like the film’s initial release in theaters in 2016 was no less than required viewing. A Monster Calls is beautifully moving, and its Netflix premiere should be one of your viewing highlights for this week.

Will you be watching A Monster Calls when it comes to Netflix tonight (maybe even at 12:07am)? Let us know your thoughts about the movie in the comments!