After her first role in the 2012 drama At Any Price, Maika Monroe has been acting steadily and has become known for her memorable and riveting horror characters. Before her breakout part in It Follows in 2014, she appeared in The Bling Ring in a minor capacity as Beach Girl and Mandy Chambers in the 2013 adaptation of the Joyce Maynard novel Labor Day written and directed by Jason Reitman. While Monroe has explored other genres, from science-fiction like The 5th Wave to the crime film Brothers by Blood, her horror performances stand out the most.
Monroe has starred in movies that are as quirky and unique as they are unsettling, from a psychological thriller from director Chloe Okuno to a playful and strangely delightful horror comedy. Since none of these films are traditional slashers, this proves her ability to stand out among other actors who are staples of the genre.
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Julia In Tau (2018)
Tau is different from Monroe’s other projects, and she played Julia, a young adult who Alex (Ed Skrein) kidnaps from a club to perform an artificial intelligence experiment on her. Julia and a drone named Tau (Gary Oldman) develop an important relationship, as Tau wants to help free Julia. She decides to trust him and their interactions are compelling. While the story is frightening, Tau doesn’t stand out from other movies about AI or from the best thrillers released in 2018. Julia also isn’t as well-written as she could be, with her backstory left mostly unexplored, and her personality traits a question mark.
While Tau could be a clever character study, it’s a bit lackluster, and it didn’t prove very popular, only earning a 25% rating on the Rotten Tomato Tomatometer. However, Monroe played the demanding role of Julia with ease, and when compared to her other horror performances, the actor’s talents are just as evident. She captures the character’s fear and also her determination that she will be able to survive and makes the film more watchable than it might be otherwise.
Anna Peterson In The Guest (2014)
Monroe played Anna Peterson in The Guest, a character who is crucial to the film’s plot twist about David’s identity. When David Collins (Dan Stevens) comes home after fighting in Afghanistan and tells the Peterson family that he is their late son Caleb’s best friend, Anna can tell that he’s lying. Monroe delivered a typically strong performance, particularly in the scene where her character calls the base David left and finds out he passed away, which convinces her that something sinister is happening. Anna is a key player in every major scene, including when Major Richard Carver (Lance Reddick) shares that David was experimented on to become a trained killer.
With a 92% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, The Guest is one of Monroe’s most acclaimed horror movies, and the actor crafted an excellent character who listens to her gut and investigates so she can attempt to save herself and her family. However, although her turn was well-received, this isn’t one of the characters that she is most known for playing.
Jules In Villains (2019)
Bill Skarsgard’s best movie roles include his turn as Mickey in Villains, and Monroe played his love interest and partner in crime, Jules. This is a different type of character than who Monroe typically plays, as instead of a final girl trying to find out the truth or an innocent person who finds themselves facing danger, Jules is the one committing crimes. While robbing a house in Florida, the couple is captured by George (Jeffrey Donovan) and Gloria (Kyra Sedgwick), who stole a girl who they refer to as Sweetiepie (Blake Baumgartner).
The twist that the robbers are the ones in trouble is a clever one, and Monroe stands out once again, giving a powerful performance and never looking afraid once. The fact that Villains is a horror comedy makes it one of Monroe’s more riveting films, as she doesn’t usually appear in humorous stories. Similar to how Mickey is a memorable horror role for Skarsgard, Jules proves that Monroe is a versatile actor who can appear in different genres.
Erica Penn in Greta (2018)
Monroe played Erica Penn, Frances McCullen’s (Chloë Grace Moretz) best friend, in the thriller Greta, who helps her win against the villain Greta Hideg (Isabelle Huppert). Erica lives with Frances and comes up with a clever plan to foil Greta, who follows a pattern of finding new people to spy on, obsess over, and eventually kill. At the end of the movie, Monroe’s character is at the heart of a smart and compelling twist, posing as someone else on the subway and then revealing her identity to Greta. When the friends put Greta’s body into a chest, Monroe’s confident performance emphasizes the terror of what they have been through.
Although Greta focuses on Chloë Grace Moretz’s character, both she and Monroe were praised as young adults in a life-threatening scenario. The film is one of Monroe’s more gripping horror projects because sometimes, the best friend character can be forgettable and fade into the background. That isn’t the case here, as she ensures that she is memorable, ensuring that Erica is a loyal friend who is determined to fight back.
Julia In Watcher (2022)
Monroe carries all of Watcher as Julia, the main character who is new to Bucharest and realizes that she is being stalked. While her husband Francis (Karl Glusman) is busy at work, former actress Julia is bored at home, and she notices a man named Daniel Weber (Burn Gorman) looking at her from across the street. While Monroe is riveting throughout the entire runtime, she does her best work in the final scene when Daniel kills her neighbor Irina (Mădălina Anea) and she is able to save herself.
Maika Monroe’s performance in Watcher is one reason why the well-received film has an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and the movie wouldn’t work as well without her powerful acting. With a less talented actor, Watcher might feel dull, as Julia spends her time walking around her new city and wondering if she really does have a stalker or if she’s afraid for no reason. However, the movie’s slow pace works, allowing Monroe to dig deep into her character. Watcher is about feeling lonely in a new place and searching for contentment, and Julia is a memorable character because she doesn’t give up.
Jay Height In It Follows (2014)
Monroe’s most acclaimed horror performance is Jay Height in the popular film It Follows, which has a 95% Rotten Tomatoes rating and is acclaimed for its supernatural story. As a teenager who sleeps with her boyfriend Hugh (Jake Weary) and finds out that he transferred to her an entity that changes forms, the actor proved her staying power in the horror genre. Since much of the movie involves Jay being followed by this figure, who looks different each time, Monroe’s acting abilities stand out even more, as she is able to infuse her character with necessary fear.
Maika Monroe’s It Follows performance is her strongest and most notable, and while the story might feel corny or hard to believe if someone else had starred in the film, she has a relatable and believable quality that makes the movie feel more realistic. While each role that she plays is memorable, there is something special about Jay that showed the actor’s star power and made it easy to become interested in her future projects.