Monsters (2010 Film)
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''Monsters'' is a 2010 British
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written and directed by Gareth Edwards (in his feature directorial debut). Edwards also served as the cinematographer, production designer, and a visual effects artist. The film takes place years after a
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
probe crashed in Mexico, which leads to the sudden appearance of giant tentacled monsters. It follows Andrew Kaulder ( Scoot McNairy), an American photojournalist tasked with escorting his employer's daughter Samantha Wynden ( Whitney Able) back to the United States by crossing through Mexico's "Infected Zone", where the creatures reside. Edwards conceived the idea for the film after seeing fishermen attempt to bring a creature in with a net, and imagining a monster inside. He pitched the idea to Vertigo Films, who suggested he watch '' In Search of a Midnight Kiss'', a low-budget film starring McNairy. Edwards cast McNairy and Able in the lead roles.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
lasted three weeks and had a production crew of six people. Filming took place in five countries, and many locations were used without permission. Most of the extras were people who were at these locations during filming and were persuaded to act in it; all of their dialogue was improvised, and Edwards provided outlines of the primary plot points. ''Monsters'' premiered at
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
on 13 March 2010. Hours later, Magnet Releasing acquired the rights to distribute it in North America. It had a
limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
there, beginning on 29 October 2010, followed by a theatrical release in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2010. The film received generally positive reviews and was a box office success, grossing 4.2 million against a budget of less than $500,000. '' Monsters: Dark Continent'', a sequel, was released in the UK on 1 May 2015.


Plot

After a
NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...
space probe (sent to verify the existence of extraterrestrial life in the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Sola ...
) crash-lands in Mexico, extraterrestrial life forms spread throughout the
Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...
region, leading to the quarantine of the northern portion of Mexico. US and Mexican troops battle to contain the creatures, and a huge wall stretching along the border ostensibly keeps the US protected. American
photojournalist Photojournalism is journalism that uses images to tell a news story. It usually only refers to still images, but can also refer to video used in broadcast journalism. Photojournalism is distinguished from other close branches of photography (suc ...
Andrew Kaulder receives a call from his employer, who tells Andrew to find his daughter, Samantha Wynden, and escort her back to the US. Andrew locates Samantha in a Central American hospital and the pair board a train, until learning the tracks ahead have been damaged. They discover that if they do not leave the country within a few days, sea and air travel will be blocked for six months. Andrew and Samantha decide to hitchhike their way to the coast. Andrew buys Samantha an expensive ferry ticket for the next morning. After enjoying the local nightlife together, Andrew sleeps with a local woman who steals their passports. Unable to board the ferry, Samantha is forced to
barter In trade, barter (derived from ''bareter'') is a system of exchange (economics), exchange in which participants in a financial transaction, transaction directly exchange good (economics), goods or service (economics), services for other goods ...
her engagement ring for passage through the quarantine zone. They travel by riverboat until being transferred to a group of armed escorts who are to lead them overland toward the Mexico–U.S. border. The convoy is attacked by the creatures. Andrew and Samantha escape, but none of the guards survive. Pressing on, they discover the bodies of dead travelers and bond at the top of a
pyramid A pyramid () is a structure whose visible surfaces are triangular in broad outline and converge toward the top, making the appearance roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be of any polygon shape, such as trian ...
ruin in sight of the US border wall. By the time they reach the border, the creatures have crossed into the United States. Andrew and Samantha travel through a severely damaged, evacuated town in Texas, and find an abandoned gas station with power where they call the army for help. While waiting for help to arrive, they make phone calls to their families. A lone creature silently approaches the gas station. Hiding, Samantha observes several tentacles exploring the inside of the store, seemingly soaking up a television's light. Samantha quickly unplugs the television and the creature loses interest. Another creature appears and they communicate with one another and possibly mate via light impulses. The creatures leave as the military arrives. Samantha and Andrew kiss before they are rushed into different vehicles. The chronological ending takes place at the beginning of the film, filmed in green night vision sight, when the military rescue team is attacked by a creature on the way back to base. Andrew is last seen carrying Samantha's lifeless body, as an airstrike is launched at the creature.


Cast

* Scoot McNairy as Andrew Kaulder * Whitney Able as Samantha Wynden


Production


Development

While studying at university in 1996, Edwards made a short
monster movie A monster movie, monster film, creature feature or giant monster film is a film that focuses on one or more characters struggling to survive attacks by one or more antagonistic monsters, often abnormally megafauna, large ones. The film may also ...
set in
suburbia A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...
. He initially wanted to expand the idea but after the release of '' War of the Worlds'', he believed it was "not going to be special any more". Considering that the film would have to be low-budget, Edwards decided to embrace the found footage style of '' The Blair Witch Project'' and mix that element with his original concept. After learning about '' Cloverfield'' similar premise, he abandoned this idea and moved on to a concept where a "war sgoing on somewhere on the other side of the world and no one cares". Edwards conceived the film while watching some fishermen struggling to haul in their net and imagining a monster inside of it. He had the idea to make a monster movie set "years after most other monster movies end, when people aren't running and screaming but life is going on" and "where a giant, dead sea monster is considered completely normal".


Pre-production

Edwards pitched his idea to Vertigo Films, where producer James Richardson asked him to watch '' In Search of a Midnight Kiss'' for an example of low-budget film making. It starred Scoot McNairy and had been made for $15,000. Edwards was impressed by McNairy but wanted a real couple to portray the lead characters. McNairy sent Edwards a picture of his girlfriend, actress Whitney Able, who Edwards initially thought was "too good-looking". He changed his mind after meeting them and cast them both.


Filming

The film was written and directed by Gareth Edwards, while Allan Niblo and James Richardson of Vertigo Films served as producers. Edwards did not storyboard or script the film but wrote a treatment of the story and outlines that detailed points that needed to be hit in dialogue. The filming equipment cost approximately $15,000 and the production budget came in "way under" $500,000. The film was able to be made on such a low budget largely due to the production using consumer grade
prosumer A prosumer is an individual who both consumes and produces. The term is a portmanteau of the words '' producer'' and ''consumer''. Research has identified six types of prosumers: DIY prosumers, self-service prosumers, customizing prosumers, co ...
level equipment instead of professional paraphernalia. The film was shot using digital video cameras rather than the more expensive 35 mm film and was edited on a laptop computer. Many of the locations in the film were used without permission and most of the extras were people who were already at the locations. As the extras were non-actors who were persuaded to be in the film, their actions were improvised. The film was shot in Belize, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, and the United States over three weeks. For about 90 per cent of the
principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...
, the crew consisted of seven people transported in one van: Edwards, Able, McNairy, sound operator Ian Maclagan, line producer Jim Spencer, Mexican fixer Verity Oswin and a driver.


Editing and effects

Every night after shooting, editor Colin Goudie and his assistant Justin Hall would download the footage so the memory sticks could be cleared and be ready for the next day. While new footage was being shot, the filmed footage was edited at the production team's hotel. After filming concluded, the crew had over 100 hours of footage. The original cut was over four hours long but was trimmed to 94 minutes after eight months of editing. Edwards originally had the ending of the film both at the beginning and the end. He and the producers disagreed about the placement, so he decided to put the chronological ending of the film at the beginning and end the film immediately after Andrew and Samantha kiss. Edwards created the visual effects using off-the-shelf
Adobe Adobe (from arabic: الطوب Attub ; ) is a building material made from earth and organic materials. is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is use ...
software, ZBrush and Autodesk 3ds Max. He had five months to create all 250 visual effects shots, a process he undertook in his bedroom. He produced two shots a day until he reached the first creature shot, when "suddenly two months went by and estill hadn't finished a single creature shot"; Edwards stated that the creatures' visual effects were the most challenging element of production. Due to time constraints, the sound effects had to be produced before the visual effects.


Release


Theatrical

''Monsters'' premiered at the
South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...
Film Festival on 13 March 2010. In May, the film was screened at the Cannes Film Market. It also screened as part of the 64th
Edinburgh International Film Festival The Edinburgh International Film Festival (EIFF), established in 1947, is the world's oldest continually running film festival. EIFF presents both UK and international films (all titles are World, international, European or UK Premieres), in al ...
on 18 June 2010, and screened twice at the Los Angeles Film Festival on 23 and 26 June. The film was first released in Russia on 30 September 2010. ''Monsters'' was later released in the United States on 29 October, in Canada on 5 November, and the United Kingdom on 3 December. In the weeks leading up to the UK release, a marketing campaign using social network Foursquare was announced. Vue Entertainment and Cineworld Cinemas set up 'infected locations' which gave users access to exclusive ''Monsters'' content and the chance to win random on-the-spot prizes.


Home media

''Monsters'' was released on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on 11 April 2011 by Vertigo Films, in Australia on 13 April 2011 by
Madman Entertainment Madman Entertainment Pty. Ltd., also known as Madman Films, stylized as MADMAN, is an Australian film and television production, distribution, entertainment, and rights management company headquartered in East Melbourne, Victoria, specialising ...
, and in North America on 1 February 2011 by Magnolia Pictures.


Reception


Box office

Hours after the film's screening at South by Southwest, Magnet Releasing acquired the distribution rights in the United States. Tom Quinn, an executive at Magnet, stated that they "were blown away by ''Monsters''" and were "thrilled to bring dwards'vision to American audiences." Shortly after, D Films acquired the rights to distribute the film in Canada. ''Monsters'' was released in 19 countries between September 2010 and December 2011. It grossed $4.2 million from worldwide ticket sales, earning over $1 million in the United Kingdom and Russia and over $100,000 in Mexico, France, the United States, Australia, Germany, Spain, Poland, and Turkey. The film was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 2010. On its opening weekend, ''Monsters'' grossed $550,110 in 164 cinemas, averaging $3,354 per cinema. The following weekend, the film dropped to 153 and grossed $244,607, a 55.5% decrease, averaging $1,599. Over its three subsequent weekends, the film grossed $99,891. The film concluded its five-week run on 2 January 2011; the gross was $1,442,633. The film was released in North America on 29 October 2010. On its opening weekend, ''Monsters'' grossed $20,508 in three theatres, for an average of $6,836 per theatre. The following weekend, the film screened in 13 theatres and grossed an additional $28,590. In its third weekend, the film expanded to 25 theatres and grossed $48,680, averaging $1,947 per theatre. Over its six subsequent weekends, the film grossed an additional $60,141. On 26 December 2010, the film concluded its nine-week run with a gross of $237,301.


Critical response

''Monsters'' received generally positive reviews from critics. The
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website
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reported that 73% of critics have given the film a positive review based on 159 reviews, with an average rating of 6.61/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "It doesn't quite live up to its intriguing premise, but ''Monsters'' is a surprising blend of alien-invasion tropes, political themes, and relationship drama." On
Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, the film has a score of 63 based on 26 reviews, which is considered to be "generally favorable reviews".
Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...
awarded the film three and a half out of four stars, praising its focus on "characters, relationships, fear and mostly unseen menace" rather than its visual effects, as well as the acting. He also commended Edwards for "evoking ... awe and beauty" and for the creature designs. Peter Bradshaw, writing for ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'', gave it four stars out of five, described the film as a "terrifically exciting sci-fi movie" and concluded that Edwards "channels the upriver nightmares of ernerHerzog and rancis FordCoppola, with a strong streak of Spielbergian wonder at the sight of two aliens apparently dancing". Michael Phillips of the ''
Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...
'' was critical of the performances but praised the film's "considerable, crafty virtues", its premise, and its ending. Jeanette Catsoulis of ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
'' called the film "wondrously atmospheric" and "effortlessly compel
ing Ing, ING or ing may refer to: Art and media * '' ...ing'', a 2003 Korean film * i.n.g, a Taiwanese girl group * The Ing, a race of dark creatures in the 2004 video game '' Metroid Prime 2: Echoes'' * "Ing", the first song on The Roches' 199 ...
, and praised Edwards' "beautiful, otherworldly" visual effects. Dan Jolin of ''
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'' echoed the comparison to Herzog, opining that the film "exhibits the lyrical surrealism of isjungle excursions". He also praised the visual effects, Edwards' cinematography, and the "simmering" chemistry between McNairy and Able, concluding that the film was "both shoestring and sci-fi filmmaking at its best". Michael Rechtshaffen of the
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praised Edwards for "add ngoriginal touches to the genre" and for his production design. He criticised the "tentative" and "alienating" performances of McNairy and Able, but stated that "the overall picture still impresses". Jennie Punter of ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...
'' disagreed, comparing the lead actors' chemistry to
Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...
and Julie Delpy in ''
Before Sunrise ''Before Sunrise'' is a 1995 Romance film, romantic drama film directed by Richard Linklater and co-written by Linklater and Kim Krizan, and is the first installment in the Before trilogy, ''Before'' trilogy. In the film, Jesse (Ethan Hawke) an ...
'' and praising the pacing. Clark Collis of ''
Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' gave the film a B+, also praising the performances of McNairy and Able and commending Edwards' work. Conversely, Ty Burr of the ''
Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe,'' also known locally as ''the Globe'', is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Boston Globe'' is the oldest and largest daily new ...
'' gave the film a mixed review, granting it two and a half stars out of five. Though he praised the score, he stated that it is "more fascinating for its ambitions than for what it accomplishes" and criticised the main characters for being "too shallow" and unengaging. Robert Abele of the ''
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'' criticised the "weak plot, forgettable dialogue and sloppy politics" and called the lead characters "empty-headed blanks". Amy Biancolli of the ''
San Francisco Chronicle The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. ...
'' called McNairy and Able a "semi-interesting" pair, but disliked the lack of monsters in the film, the dialogue, and the familiarity of the story. Michael O'Sullivan of ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...
'' called the film "a less-than-compelling relationship drama", criticising it for being unoriginal and predictable, and that hiding the monsters made them less frightening.


Accolades

At the 13th British Independent Film Awards, ''Monsters'' was nominated in six categories including Best Picture, Best Director for Edwards, and Best Actor for McNairy. The film won for Best Director, Best Technical Achievement, and Best Achievement in Production. At the 64th British Academy Film Awards, Edwards was nominated for Outstanding Debut by a British Director, but lost to Chris Morris for '' Four Lions''. It won Best Independent Movie at the 2011 Scream Awards, and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Movie. The film also won Best International Film at the 37th Saturn Awards. The National Board of Review named the film one of the top ten independent films of 2010, and it placed third on
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's Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of 2010 list.


Sequel

A sequel, '' Monsters: Dark Continent'', started filming in March 2013 in Jordan and Detroit, with Tom Green directing and Jay Basu writing. Gareth Edwards and Scoot McNairy served as executive producers. Johnny Harris, Sam Keeley and Joe Dempsie starred in the film. Originally scheduled to be released on 28 November 2014, the film's release date was then moved to 27 February 2015, and was eventually released by Vertigo on 1 May 2015. In contrast to ''Monsters'', ''Monsters: Dark Continent'' was not well received by critics, with an 18% score on review aggregator
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...
based on 34 reviews.


TV series

As of January 2018,
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...
is developing a TV series based on the movie. It is unknown whether Gareth Edwards, the original director of the film, is serving as executive producer for the TV series.


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Monsters 2010 films 2010 independent films 2010s monster movies 2010 science fiction horror films Films about alien invasions Alien monster movies British independent films British monster movies British science fiction horror films Films directed by Gareth Edwards Films set in Mexico Films set in Texas Films shot in Belize Films shot in Costa Rica Films shot in Guatemala Films shot in Mexico Films shot in the United States Giant monster films Vertigo Films films 2010 directorial debut films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films English-language science fiction horror films English-language independent films Saturn Award–winning films