Monsters

Review by Anthony Morris

As the latest example of what can be done on a low budget, Monsters impresses from first frame to last : as an actual movie, the impression it leaves is a little less enduring. 

The set-up's simple yet intriguing : six years ago a US space probe crashed into the desert on the US-Mexico border, and whatever it was carrying got out. 

Now a huge stretch of northern Mexico is "The Infected Zone", which is shut down during the summer months as giant floating octopus-looking aliens stomp around trashing everything underfoot. 

Our hero is a photojournalist working in San Jose trying to get images of monster attacks when he gets the call to get the bosses' daughter out of hospital and on a boat back to the US before the Infected Zone is sealed off. 

It's no real surprise that things don't go their way, and eventually they're hiring people smugglers to get them though the zone, which proves to not be the smartest idea either of them has ever had. 

For a very low budget (but extremely convincing-looking) film Monsters has a lot of amazing images; the appeal of the monster / post-holocaust genre often lies in seeing civilisation get wrecked, and this covers that territory in spades with plenty of vine covered ruined hotels and tower blocks, not to mentions loads of trashed equipment throughout the Infected Zone. 

The monster's life-cycle also makes sense, even if the design of the big monsters is a little disappointing (they're just floating octopus).

Where Monsters falls apart is on the human side, as gradually we discover that we're watching a love story, and a not particularly moving one at that. 

It's all totally plausible that they'd fall for each other - they're just not interesting enough (even with their faltering relationships and estranged children) for us to care. 

The result is certainly worth checking out, but DVD might be your format of choice here.

3 out of 5

Monsters
Australian release: October 2010
Official Site: Monsters
Cast: Whitney Able, Scoot McNairy
Director: Gareth Edwards