Creating "Monsters" on a Shoe-string

We live in a remarkable modern time when it comes to movies. The amount of software a filmmaker can simply download for free to help them create a film is amazing. The relatively inexpensive cost of a digital movie camera makes it even more likely that filmmakers can create works of art for almost no money. Gareth Edwards' movie Monsters is an example of that and it manages to do something remarkable.
Just about a year ago we saw the movie District 9 create science fiction creatures and for a low budget. Now, Edwards has created a movie on the same level as that one, on a budget that's even smaller.

The movie does what it does by being creative rather than by spending a fortune on fancy special effects. Edwards was smart when it came to making this movie. For example, his aliens mostly come out at night, thus limiting the need to create aliens for every scene that can be seen clearly in the daylight. He also used areas that had been devastated by hurricanes to film in, thus creating cities that appear wrecked by aliens without having to build sets.

He then crafted a story from over 100 hours of mostly improvised scenery. In doing so he not only created a tense, exciting sci-fi adventure, but a touching story of two people slowly falling in love and an allegory for the way the United States is trying to deal with immigrants from Mexico. Somehow he managed to do all of this with a movie that cost less than a million dollars and was mostly put together on Edwards' laptop.

The movie stars Scoot McNairy as a photographer named Andrew Kaulder. He is in Mexico to get a photograph of The Creatures. You see, six years before a satellite crashed to earth containing traces of alien creatures. The satellite crashed near the U.S./Mexico border. The aliens turn out to be gigantic, 100+ foot squid-like creatures that glow in the dark.

Now a huge portion of the space between northern Mexico and the southern United States is known as the Infected Zone. Transportation between Mexico and the States is primarily through ferries that travel into the Gulf of Mexico. The United States military, meanwhile, launches frequent air strikes into the infected area to try and destroy the aliens. At the same time the United States is building a gigantic wall between itself and Mexico to try and keep the aliens out.

Do you need a map to see the parallels between the Creatures and the current state of affairs for the United States government and its handling of illegal immigrants? If you do, then you haven't been paying much attention to the recent news.

Kaulder is asked by his boss, the man who owns the publication he takes photos for, the escort his daughter, Samantha, back to the United States. She's engaged to be married and exactly why she has fled to Mexico isn't made entirely clear, but it is suggested she is not entirely happy with the idea of getting married.

At first the two plan to take standard transportation to get back to the U.S. Through various circumstances, they are forced to take the illegal route which takes them directly through the Infected Zone. What follows is a trek down a river and then a tense night inside a vehicle while the angry aliens straddle the road above them.

We see the aliens as tentacles and hear them in the distance. We hear the explosions from battles between the military and the creatures just over the hills, the sky lit by the explosives. We see corpses of the creatures and the destruction both they and the battles they have fought have left behind. It makes for an eerie and tense journey.

Edwards brought in untrained actors for the supporting roles. He had no scripts for them. He gave them ideas for the scenes and let them run loose. What follows is an adventure story that happens to involve some aliens and becomes an intimate and profoundly touching journey of two very lost people looking for anything to cling to. At the same time the movie makes very poignant comments on the fear Americans, and others, have on foreigners.

There is, for example, the suggestion that the Creatures are not actually harmful. One characters suggests that they only do damage when the airplanes attack them. Mostly, it is implied, they just want to live their lives and that the efforts of the United States to keep them back are all but futile.

The movie is a perfect length at an hour-and-a-half. The two actors in the main roles are superb. The story movies along nicely and well-paced. The scenes are well filmed and add to the suspense rather than detract. Edwards knows that what is left unseen, and implied, is often much scarier or more suspenseful than what is seen.

The final scene of this movie will touch you in ways you will probably find surprising. It touched me. It moved me. It made me glad that there are still independent filmmakers out there willing to make good movies outside of the studio system.

Monsters is available on DVD and OnDemand. It is one of the best movies of 2010.