Monsters

"After six years, they're no longer aliens. They're residents."

2010 1h 34m EN

😐

6.2

MID

🍅

75%

FRESH

👌

METACRITIC

⭐

6.3

IMDB

★6.2TMDB · 1,851🍅75%Rotten Tomatoes●63Metacritic★6.3IMDB · 101,537

DramaThrillerScience Fiction

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life forms began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an infected zone. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures," while a journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the U.S. border.

“After six years, they're no longer aliens. They're residents.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Scoot McNairy
Andrew Kaulder
Whitney Able
Samantha Wynden
Mario Zuniga Benavides
Ticket Seller
Annalee Jefferies
Homeless Woman
Justin Hall
Marine
Ricky Catter
Marine
Paul Archer
Marine
Kerry Valderrama
Marine

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Gareth Edwards
Writers: Gareth Edwards
Languages: Spanish, English
Countries: United Kingdom

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Grossed $6M — a 11.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 16 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

CINEMA

Did you know

Part of the "Monsters Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Gareth Edwards, shot by Gareth Edwards. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Jon Hopkins. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Col Goudie shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Gareth Edwards directs. Gareth Edwards behind the camera. Jon Hopkins scores. Col Goudie cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United Kingdom. Dialogue in Spanish, English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Shot for just $0.5M — micro-budget by Hollywood standards.
2Grossed $6M — a 11.3× return. The kind of profit studios chase for a decade.
3Released 16 years ago.
4Dialogue crosses 2 languages: Spanish, English.
5Part of the "Monsters Collection" — so the characters or world continue elsewhere.
6Directed by Gareth Edwards, shot by Gareth Edwards. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
7Original score by Jon Hopkins. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
8Editor Col Goudie shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
9Scoot McNairy and Whitney Able and Mario Zuniga Benavides carry the top of the cast.
10Marketing tagline: "After six years, they're no longer aliens. They're residents.".
11IMDB entry: tt1470827 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
12Classified under 20 themes, including "mexico", "monster", "dystopia", "pyramid".

The technical file

Cinematography: Gareth Edwards
Original score: Jon Hopkins
Editing: Col Goudie
Production design: Gareth Edwards
Makeup / hair: Diana Byrne
Sound: Matthias Schwab
Runtime: 94 min · 1h 34m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $500,000
Box office: $5,639,730
Return: 1128% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: Monsters (2010)
Rotten Tomatoes: 75% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 63/100
IMDB rating: 6.3/10 · 101,537 votes
MPAA: R

Awards

Nominated for 1 BAFTA Award14 wins & 15 nominations total

Sitges Film Festival best special effects award
Saturn Award for Best International Film

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Part of

Monsters Collection

After a NASA deep-space probe crash lands in Mexico, extraterrestrial life forms spread throughout the World

Also by

Gareth Edwards

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

Community reviews

What people are saying

Andres Gomez2014-03-06
★ 6/10
Story that is so down to earth in spite of talking about alien creatures that you think it could really happen ... only, it is not thrilling and gets boring at some point. The two main characters, though, are very well played by McNairy and Able.
Peter McGinn2020-04-05
★ 8/10
I enjoyed this film. There, I said it. I have watched it twice and will again at a future time. I see it more as suspense rather than as an action thriller, the difference Hitchcock explained between a bomb going off and the tension of wondering if it is going to go off. A bulging muscled hero or a bulging cleavaged heroine wouldn't have improved it in my eyes. This is a different sort of alien invasion movie. In fact, it almost feels to me like the invaders dropped in on the planet like drunken tourists and now find they aren't able to fit in or leave but are instead stuck in one bar fight after another. Hmm, okay, that metaphor doesn't quite work, but it feels to me that they aren't here to conquer but rather to try to live their lives. I liked how the connection between the two leads gradually grew stronger after what appeared to be dislike, or at least disinterest. And I have to wonder if the title of the film shares its obvious meaning with a shadow allusion to the monsters within us. I read somewhere that there is no way monsters built like these could walk upright as they are shown doing. But - they are. I can overlook a lapse in science when the movie is good. I am not sure I believe multiple universes Are possible, but a lot of renown physicists do, so there is a fine line between speculative friction and unrealistic plots. What I am saying is that science isn’t my first priority in science fiction. I really enjoy time travel stories, even though most of them don’t bother with making time travel seem feasible. So yes, I liked this film, and you can too if you let yourself
CinemaSerf2025-02-15
★ 7/10
The more sci-fi I watch the more I pray that it isn’t the Americans who discover the potential for extraterrestrial life! This time, NASA sends a probe to collect data from something they think might bear fruit in outer space but they manage to cock up the re-entry of their spacecraft and reduce great swathes of Mexico to the status of a quarantine zone. On the wrong side of this restricted area is hardened photo-journalist “Kaulder” (Scoot McNairy) who instead of getting some snaps of the reason for this new ultra-high security, ends up saddled with “Sam” (Whitney Able) who just happens to be the stranded daughter of his US paymaster. With the infrastructure in tatters and the locals in survival mode, it’s not going to be easy to get them home - especially as the prices are going through the roof and he has a penchant for hookers and getting robbed. It’s this last activity that condemns them both into the hands of the people smugglers and the local, somewhat superstitious at times, tribespeople - but can they make it? Now, first things first, there are virtually no monsters here and it’s a very slowly paced affair - so if you are looking for a sort of alien version of “Jurassic Park” then this won’t be for you. What it does manage, though, on what’s obviously not much more of a budget than these characters had to escape, is take us through a series of effectively photographed and perilous scenarios using the jungle, the rivers, some unscrupulous characters and a solid effort from the audio department to create quite an accumulative sense of menace. There’s a decent degree of chemistry between Able and McNairy, especially as if I’d been her character I’d probably have just thrown “Kaulder” to the crocodiles on more than one occasion! There’s no denying that it does sort of peter out, and the last twenty minutes are not anything to write home about, but if you let your own imagination work alongside that of auteur Gareth Edwards and ignore some of the banal dialogue, then it’s not an half bad thriller that merits a watch.