A Monster Calls is one of the best films I’ve seen all year, and I need you all to watch it, too.

Why is it that America always has to wait a long time for Patrick Ness’ genius? First it was Class, which debuted this year on The BBC yet doesn’t hit the States until spring 2017, and now it’s A Monster Calls, which doesn’t premiere till January 6.

But speaking as someone who (for once) got to see a movie early: You have something amazing to look forward to.

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The movie is written by Patrick Ness, based on his own novel of the same name, which in turn was inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd. It is directed by J.A. Bayona, who’s also helming the Jurassic World sequel set for 2018.

Ostensibly a dark, horror-ish drama about a child, a monster and death, A Monster Calls is in fact an eclectic blend of various genre elements that come together for a unique, powerful and visceral moviegoing experience.

In the film, the protagonist Conor (played by standout young actor Lewis MacDougall) lives with his dying mother (Felicity Jones), and struggles to come to terms with the harrowing reality of her illness.

As his despair deepens, Conor is suddenly visited by a legitimately terrifying monster (voiced by Liam Neeson), who not so much whisks so much as roughly yanks him away for a series of morally grey, haunting tales beautifully illustrated in a visual style reminiscent of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows‘ “Tale of the Three Brothers” sequence.

Sigourney Weaver plays Conor’s strict grandmother, and Toby Kebbell rounds out the cast as the flighty father. These incredible actors come together for a brutal, raw take on grief and loss.

You almost feel bad laughing at the funny moments, half-wondering all through the film whether you can trust anyone (including the understandably unstable Conor himself), as the crescendo of misery slowly reaches its breaking point.

Loss and death seen through the eyes of a child isn’t a topic often explored in big movies like this one, and for good reason, because most Hollywood films find themselves too constrained by genre or target audience to fully give it the gravitas it deserves.

But A Monster Calls, rated PG-13, is not a film that aims to coddle its audience, or play by any conventional constraints on storytelling. It is a film for anyone who has experienced grief in its purest form, anyone who has felt the same depths of despair and helplessness.

Ness, Bayona and the cast managed to capture those feelings and bring them to life in such a way that you not only understand the characters’ emotions, but feel like your own emotions are also, finally, justified in their intensity and irrationality.

But, at the end of the day, A Monster Calls is not all about grief. It is also about love, art, family, and forgiveness. There’s happiness and beauty here, too, just as in life itself. Truly one of the most powerful movies I’ve ever seen, and I won’t soon forget it.

‘A Monster Calls’ premieres January 6, 2017