Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 26 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 77 Ratings

  • Starring: Scoot McNairy, Whitney Able
  • Summary: 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 there and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures"... Our story begins when a US journalist agrees to escort a shaken American tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border. (Magnolia Pictures) Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 26
  2. Negative: 2 out of 26
  1. Reviewed by: Dan Jolin
    Dec 13, 2010
    100
    An amazing achievement for a 'first-time' filmmaker, which measures up to the finest indies for performance and character-work, and the biggest blockbusters for jaw-dropping effects. And it has the year's best sex scene, too.
  2. Reviewed by: Andrew O'Hehir
    Dec 13, 2010
    80
    However you slice it, Monsters is a dynamite little film, loaded with atmosphere, intelligence, beauty and courage.
  3. Reviewed by: Keith Uhlich
    Oct 26, 2010
    60
    There's so much right with Gareth Edwards's low-budget alien invasion tale that you almost want to brush aside everything that's not up to snuff.
  4. Reviewed by: Michael O'Sullivan
    Dec 13, 2010
    38
    No ordinary horror film. If it were, it might be a bit better than it is. As the movie stands, it's a less-than-compelling relationship drama, with aliens.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 22 out of 35
  2. Negative: 8 out of 35
  1. 10
    Great little film, but to truly understand what an astonishing achievement it was you really need to watch the 2 hr making of doc that comes on the blu-ray. A 4 man crew, no script, all shot on the fly and improvised by (real life couple) Scoot and Whitney, no other paid actors and just making use of whatever or whoever came into view, then edited down from over 100 hours of footage, with over 250 cgi shots done by 1 man using essentially shop bought software. Gareth Edwards is a man going places. If he can make a film like this with less money than Michael Bay spends on a haircut imagine what he could do with a proper budget and full freedom to create what he wants with it!! Expand
  2. 8
    I and my be-loving wife liked the film from the start. It is a unusual love-story about humans and about alien. The feeling in this low budged production is and locks more worthy than his 900.000 bucks. Only two starlets improvised the film at the nicest locations in the world. You can feel through the characters. Only the ending is a bit strange... but I licked it; my wife does not ;-). Expand
  3. I really had high hopes for this film, and watched it with an open mind, but unfortunately the decent cinematography is outweighed by the negatives:
    Boring, pretentious, emotionally shallow, predictable.
    Expand
  4. 1
    I'm a huge fan of good sci-fi (which doesn't necessarily mean action based sci-fi); first thing needed is a good plot, period! Well, need I say more about this movie? It's like watching paint drying... One doesn't even slightly care for the characters, the sight of some mega flying octopus howling like a cow in labour pains is hilarious (Skyline was bad too, but at least the special effects were decent); waste of time and patience.. Collapse

See all 35 User Reviews

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