12-year-old Conor O’Malley (Lewis MacDougall) is close to his seriously ill mother (Felicity Jones) and takes care of the house during her chemotherapy. His grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) visits and suggests he come and live with her when his mother dies. But she seems cold to him and he never warms to her. At school, he is tormented by his schoolmate Harry (James Melville) and at night he has nightmares about the old church nearby collapsing into a hole and sucking down someone he needs to hold onto. He has inherited artistic talent from his mother and he draws a lot.
One night, at seven minutes past midnight, he sees the yew tree next to the church transform into a terrifying monster (Liam Neeson’s voice and motion capture) that comes toward his home. It says it will tell him three stories and he must then tell a fourth to the monster. In the first story, a prince escapes from his step-grandmother, the Evil Queen, then kills his sleeping bride under a yew tree and blames the Evil Queen. She is driven away and the prince becomes King.
Conor’s mother becomes worse and he moves in with his grandmother. That night, he forces the clock hands to show 12:07 and the monster appears. In the second story, a hard-hearted parson forbids an apothecary to obtain medicine from an old yew tree but changes his mind when his own children fall ill. The apothecary refuses to help the parson and the monster destroys the parson’s house as punishment. Conor joins in and finds that he has destroyed his grandmother’s sitting room and her precious grandfather clock. His grandmother, for some reason, does not punish him.
The doctors try a final treatment with yew wood. Conor asks the monster to heal his mother, but the monster says that’s not his responsibility. At school, Harry says he will not bother Conor anymore because he no longer sees him. The monster’s third story is about an invisible man. With the monster’s support, Conor attacks Harry and demands to be seen, but the headmistress (Geraldine Chaplin) will not punish him. When it is clear that his mother will die, Conor turns to the yew tree, where the monster forces him to look at his nightmare. Conor realizes that it is his mother dangling over the precipice, holding Conor’s hand. She slips from his grasp. The monster demands that Conor tell the fourth story.
Eventually, he does, and admits that he knew his mother would die. In his nightmare, he let go of his mother’s hand to stop her pain but he feels guilty. The monster commends his bravery. His grandmother finds him sleeping under the yew tree and they bond during the drive to the hospital. He embraces his mother as she dies at seven minutes past midnight, and as she passes, she glances up at the monster. Conor returns to his grandmother’s house. He finds his mother’s sketchbook containing the stories the monster told him and a drawing of his mother as a child, riding on the monster’s shoulder.
This touching film was directed by J. A. Bayona and written by Patrick Ness based on his 2011 novel, in turn based on an idea by Siobhan Dowd. It premiered at the Toronto International Film festival in 2016. It received positive reviews but did not make a lot of money. It’s certainly not the usual monster movie, but it is what all monster movies should be—terrifying and beautiful. The film has much to offer, including great performances by brilliant actors, and of course Liam Neeson’s hypnotic voice. The novel was begun by Siobhan Dowd, who died before finishing it, and then it was completed by Patrick Ness. One of the pictures of Grandmother (Sigourney Weaver) as a younger woman was from Ghostbusters. Her own mother was British and her British accent in the movie was perfect. A picture of Conor’s grandfather is actually that of Liam Neeson.