The true-life story of Aileen Wuornos, a prostitute executed in 2002 in Florida after being convicted of murdering six men. While Wuornos confessed to the six murders, including a policeman, she claimed to have killed only in self-defense, resisting violent assaults while working as a prostitute. In 1989-90, a love story unfolds in the midst of the horrors and pathologies of two misfits: Wuornos (Charlize Theron), a drifter prostitute and Selby Wall (Christina Ricci), sent by her parents to live with an aunt in Florida in order to "cure her homosexuality". Nearing suicidal despair, Aileen wanders into a bar, where she meets Selby and falls in love. To keep her and Selby's relationship alive, she continues hooking, only to fuel an increasingly escalating deadly rage, a fury vented with a lurid string of killings and the media's sordid designation of her as the first female serial killer--a monster.

***

I confess that I walked into the screening not knowing who the star was, and that I did not recognize Charlize Theron until I read her name in the closing credits. Not many others will have that surprise; she was just honored as best actress of the year by the National Society of Film Critics. I didn't recognize her -- but more to the point, I hardly tried, because the performance is so focused and intense that it becomes a fact of life. Observe the way Theron controls her eyes in the film; there is not a flicker of inattention, as she urgently communicates what she is feeling and thinking. There's the uncanny sensation that Theron has forgotten the camera and the script and is directly channeling her ideas about Aileen Wuornos. She has made herself the instrument of this character.

I have already learned more than I wanted to about the techniques of disguise used by makeup artist Toni G. to transform an attractive 28-year-old into an ungainly street prostitute, snapping her cigarette butt into the shadows before stepping forward to talk with a faceless man who has found her in the shadows of a barren Florida highway. Watching the film, I had no sense of makeup technique; I was simply watching one of the most real people I had ever seen on the screen. Jenkins, the writer-director, has made the best film of the year. Movies like this are perfect when they get made, before they're ground down by analysis. There is a certain tone in the voices of some critics that I detest -- that superior way of explaining technique in order to destroy it. They imply that because they can explain how Theron did it, she didn't do it. But she does it.

Excerpt from Roger Ebert's review at the Chicago Sun Times located HERE

First Look Pictures

Second Sight

Disc Size: 24,029,180,772 bytes

Feature: 22,005,626,880 bytes

Video Bitrate: 22.784 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-2 Video

Disc Size: 46,351,317,179 bytes

Feature: 31,219,805,568 bytes

Video Bitrate: 31.84 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC

Edition Details:
• The Making of a Monster (14:42)
• Mixing Demo (Music, Effects, Dialogue)
• Interviews with Patty Jenkins and BT 'Evolution of a Score' (15:43)
• Trailer (2:15)

• Previews

Blu-ray Release Date: September 1st, 2009
Standard Blu-ray Case

Edition Details:
• Archive audio Commentary with Writer / Director Parry Jenkins, Actor / Producer Charlize Theron and Producer Clark Peterson
• Making a Murderer: a new interview with Director Patty Jenkins (47:41)
• Producing a Monster: a new interview with Producer Brad Wyman (20:17)
• Light From Within: a new interview with DoP Steven Bernstein (44:05)
• Monster: The Vision and Journey (25:28)
• Based on a True Story: The Making of Monster (14:42)
vDeleted and Extended Scenes with Director Commentary (17:19)
• Monster: Evolution of the Score (15:45)
• Original Trailer (2:15)

Limited Edition Contents:
Rigid slipcase with new artwork by Daniel Benneworth-Gray
Soft cover book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Hannah Strong & Shelagh Rowan-Legg
6 collectors' art cards

Blu-ray Release Date: August 15th, 2022
Custom Blu-ray Case (see below)

ADDITION: Second Sight Films Blu-ray (August 2022): Second Sight Films have transferred Patty Jenkins' Monster to Blu-ray. Unlike the First Look Blu-ray from 13-years before this has an AVC encode and, hence, the image looks far smoother in-motion than First Look's sloppy MPEG-2. It has almost a 50% higher bitrate. Contrast seems more pure - cooler skin tones - and the overall 1080P is an improvement.

NOTE: We have added 50 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Second Sight Films use a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (16-bit) or a 24-bit linear PCM stereo option - both in the original English language. There are some separations although nothing particularly head-turning and there is some healthy bass in shocking gunfire etc. Mostly it is fairly passive - dialogue building characters - with a score by "BT" (Brian Wayne Transeau) (The Fast and the Furious) including pieces "Childhood Montage", "Girls Kiss", "The Bus Stop", "Turning Tricks", "First Kill", "Job Hunt", "Bad Cop" and others. There is a lot of popular music representing the time period including memorable songs by Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Peaches & Herb, Blondie, INXS, Journey, Molly Hatchet, REO Speedwagon, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, Humble Pie etc. It sounds strong if not overwhelmingly dynamic. Second Sight include optional English (SDH) subtitles and their Blu-ray is Region 'B'-locked. 

In terms of extras - Second Sight have stacked the package. We get the older audio commentary with writer / director Parry Jenkins, actor / producer Charlize Theron and producer Clark Peterson as found on the 2004 Metrodome DVD. Also repeated is the 1/4 hour Based on a True Story: The Making of Monster, 20-minutes of Deleted and Extended Scenes with director commentary (on the DVD), the 15-minute Monster: Evolution of the Score with BT explaining how he got involved and specifics plus the 25-minute Monster: The Vision and Journey - as C.P. described below; "Jenkins, Theron and Ricci talk about the feeling of the film and of course about Aileen Wuornos." New are Making a Murderer: a new 45-minute revealing interview with director Patty Jenkins, Producing a Monster: a new 20-minute interview with producer Brad Wyman and Light From Within: a new 3/4 hour interview with DoP Steven Bernstein which I found particularly interesting. There is also an original trailer and the package has limited edition contents including a handsome rigid slipcase with new artwork by Daniel Benneworth-Gray, and a soft cover book with new essays by Anton Bitel, Hannah Strong & Shelagh Rowan-Legg plus 6 collectors' art cards.

2003's Monster is a biographical crime-drama film, based on serial killer Aileen Wuornos (executed by lethal injection in 2002), written and directed by Patty Jenkins in her feature directorial debut. It is always referenced by many for Charlize Theron's (who also produced Monster) award-winning performance advanced extensively by her remarkable make-up, clothing, body language and her eye control. She is a stunningly attractive women who made an incredible big-screen metamorphosis to become Wuornos. She walked away with many 'Best Actress' awards including a Silver Bear, a Golden Globe and an Oscar. Roger Ebert cited Theron's role as "one of the greatest performances in the history of the cinema." The Wuornos character, history and circumstances are so ugly with such a strong vérité expression (there are moments of, post-criticized, sympathy) - that it is a hard film for some to watch. There is a voyeuristic quality to the viewing of Monster. I really enjoyed watching it again on this superior Second Sight a/v Blu-ray, revisiting the commentary and indulging in the new, 1 3/4 hours, supplements that revealed much of the impressive filmmaking process. Monster is a very unique and memorable film experience. This justifiable extensive package is strongly recommended! Second Sight are really advancing their UK-based label with these fabulous Blu-rays. 

***

ADDITION: First Look - Region 'A' Blu-ray - August 09': The image improvement is definitely there but being an MPEG-2 encode (same as the DVD - as opposed to, standard for hi-def, MPEG-4 AVC or VC-1) it is no where near the strength that the format can go to. Detail is better, colors tighten up and the 1080P visuals even show a shade of depth. The DVD looks to have a shade of green beside the single-layered Blu-ray. The First Look disc runs in the theatrical running time (as opposed to the 4% PAL speed-up of the Metrodome DVD).

The Blu-ray offers TrueHD audio but it's not a barn-burner at less than 1500 Kbps. The film has a few aggressive moments and some, disheartening, gunplay and the track supports it with some lean separations. The US disc offers optional English or Spanish subtitles and my Momitsu tells me this Blu-ray is Region 'A'-locked.

We seem to get the same supplements, that Stan discusses below) minus the commentary, one of the featurettes and the deleted /extended scenes. Kind of funny about the package - you know a digital production is stretching things when it advertises 'Scene Selection' as a bonus feature - but there is actually only one chapter stop - so they can't even toot their horn over that!

First Look have created some decent-to-strong Blu-ray offerings in the past - but I don't feel this is one of them. This may be the best Monster looks for your home theater so far - but it's a far cry from the definitive package. First Look seem to know this as the best thing about it is the price - less than $13 at the writing of this review. If you haven't seen it - go for it... but it's not worthy of a double dip in my opinion.