Slapface (2021)

This feature length retelling of the incredible 2017 short film of the same name from Jeremiah Kipp , Slapface (2021) is a little more than a literal monster movie.  We follow two brothers, Tom (Mike Manning) and Lucas (August Maturo), who lose their mother young and the younger Lucas is dependent on his much older and rage filled brother to survive.  Tom doesn't want the responsibility of raising a literal child and Lucas is prone to bullying and acting up in school, as well as disappearing into the woods for days at a time to practice bizarre rituals to try and reconnect with his dead mother in some way.  So Tom comes up with the "solution" of Slapface, where both brothers hit each other in the face with an open hand time and time again, as a sort of self flagellation/punishment to one another everyday.  The psychological trauma this causes on the younger Lucas means that he is now looking for escape in any form, so he wants to find a friend.  The only problem in that the only friend he can find in the woods is that of a shadowy and lurking shrouded figure in an abandoned house. Suddenly this lonely boy has a new best friend and that best friend is a literal monster creeping around the woods of his house!  As Tom begins to grow closer to his new girlfriend, Anna (Libe Barer), Lucas begins to grow closer the his new friend and who knows what will happen with a young abused child who needs a hug and the only hug he gets is from a monster?