Monsters (movie)

Synopsis

Six years after the fall of a probe of the NASA in Mexico , with on board a form of alien life coming from Io , the photographer Andrew Kaulder is sent to retrieve Wynden Samantha, the daughter of his boss. It is south of a quarantinearea south of the United States-Mexico border .

To return to the United States , they travel by train as close as possible to the quarantine area. The railway line being cut, the train turns around. They then get off the train before it starts again, and hitchhike to a town on the edge of the quarantine area. They buy a ticket for the next morning in the last ferry leaving before the connection is closed by the military authorities for a very long time.

The next morning, Samantha’s passport is stolen so she can no longer board the ferry. They then choose to move illegally. They then board a small boat along the quarantine area to land in the area, near the US border. On the ground, they are retrieved by an armed band responsible for leading them to the border. But the convoy is attacked by an alien of several tens of meters and Samantha and Andrew are the only survivors. They continue on foot and eventually arrive at an empty border post. The first city they cross is abandoned and bears marks of bombing. Road signs indicate an evacuation route: extraterrestrials have come out of their area. The only human presence that they meet is an old woman who seems crazy. They continue their journey to a gas station that is still connected to the electricity grid. They warn the helpers and contact their relatives. At night, they see two extraterrestrials meeting near the station.

The next day, Samantha decides not to go home. They kiss, then a military patrol retrieves them.

Technical sheet

• Original title: Monsters
• Director: Gareth Edwards
• Scenario: Gareth Edwards
• Sets: Gareth Edwards
• Photography: Gareth Edwards
• Editing: Colin Goudie
• Music: Jon Hopkins
• Production: Allan Niblo and James Richardson
• Production company: Vertigo Films
• Distribution Companies: Vertigo Films and SND
• Budget: ~ $ 500,000 ¹
• Original languages: English , Spanish
• Country of origin: United Kingdom
• Format: Color – 2.35: 1 – Dolby Digital – 35 mm
• Genre: science fiction
• Duration: 94 minutes
• Release dates ² :
  •  United Kingdom : December 3 , 2010
  •  France :1 ^st December 2010

Distribution

• Whitney Able : Samantha Wynden
• Scoot McNairy : Andrew Kaulder

Production

Development

Gareth Edwards imagined history in the Maldives when he saw a fisherman struggling with his fishing rod . He then thinks of a huge monster rising from the water: “I saw the other fishermen who did not care about their unhappy comrade who was fighting with his catch, and I thought it would be great if it could be ‘a creature with tentacles’ ³ . The original script provided for three independent stories that would come together in the end, the director-writer explains that”One was about a backpacker backpacker, the other a starting soldier fighting the aliens, and the third a person looking for a relative. But it has become too difficult to manage […]. The producers therefore suggested that I refocus everything on the guy and the girl because it was potentially more commercial ” ³ .

Gareth Edwards himself created the monster design: “It took me almost a year to solve this question, and I made hundreds of drawings and sketches to develop my monsters! I finally chose the idea of the flickering light so that the visual style of the creatures is more interesting and that they emit a certain beauty. […] I took a look at the organisms living in the deep sea, which are crustaceans or cephalopods of the octopus type. So I combined their anatomy to get something original, to which I added the bioluminescence ” ³ .

Distribution of roles

Lead actor Scoot McNairy was chosen due to his role in In Search of a Midnight Kiss . For the female role, Gareth Edwards asked Scoot McNairy if his girlfriend could do that same role on screen. Also being actress, Whitney Ablehas been committed ³ .

The rest of the auditions are mainly composed of amateurs recruited at the shooting locations ³ .

Shooting

“The fact that a team of five people and a director were able to shoot a monster movie that was bought almost everywhere in the world is amazing. It’s both a love story, a horror movie and a road movie. All with a budget that barely covers the canteen costs of a day shooting an average Hollywood production. It’s a real liberation from conventional filming conditions, and a revolution that, in my opinion, will inspire film students who are constantly wondering how to compete with Hollywood. This is a big step in this direction ³ . ”

– Allan Niblo, the producer

In addition to being a director and screenwriter, Gareth Edwards was also director of photography and creator of the sets for film ³ .

Due to the very low budget of the film, some outdoor scenes were filmed without authorization ³ .

The shooting was originally scheduled to take place in Cambodia or Thailand after Gareth Edwards stayed there. But the scenario was then changed and the characters became American and he immediately opted for Mexico ³ . Other scenes will also be shot in Texas , Guatemala , Costa Rica , Belize ⁴ .

Whitney Able tells a rather hectic and exotic filming: “We had to be careful about mosquitoes, alligators and snakes, as well as the stifling heat and the risk of dehydration. At one point, we had to cross the jungle in complete darkness, after sunset, because that was the only way possible and I was sure we would all be devoured by a panther ” ³ .

Home

Critic

Box office

•  Worldwide : ~ $ 4,188,738 ⁵
•  United States :~ US $ 237,301 ⁶
•  United Kingdom :~ £ 847,442 ⁷
•  France : ~ 67 514 entries ⁸

Distinctions

Source: Internet Movie Database ⁹

Awards

• 2010: Austin Film Critics Association : best first film
• 2010: National Board of Review : Best Independent Film
• 2010: British Independent Film Awards : Best Director

Nominations and selections

• 2010: British Academy of Film and Television Arts : Carl Foreman Award for Gareth Edwards
• 2010: London Film Critics Circle Awards
  • Best British film
  • Best hope for Gareth Edwards
• 2010: film selected at the Los Angeles Film Festival
• 2010: National Board of Review : Best Independent Film

Next

Surprise success at the box office and this with a very small budget, Monsters has attracted much interest from the studios. A sequel is then started and titled Monsters: Dark Continent . The story takes place seven years after the plot of Monsters . Busy on the set of Godzilla , Gareth Edwards officiates only as a producer, the film being directed by Tom Green ¹⁰ . Filming begins in March 2013.

Eight years after its release, the Channel 4 Channel is commissioning a series from Monsters , with screenwriter Ronan Bennet as showrunner ¹¹ .

Notes and references