Monsters (2009)

Dir: Gareth Edwards

Set sometime in the near-future, a NASA probe containing alien creature samples has crashed over Mexico. These creatures are giant, dangerous squid-like beasties who can't be controlled and, as a result, parts of Mexico are sealed off as Infected Zones. A photographer is assigned to get his boss's daughter home from Mexico and the film follows their journey through said Infected Zones back to the US border. Monsters is a bizarre, low-key film and one that doesn't always work. Too much of the film is spent on filming our heroes walking through bleak locations in silence when it could be spent on character development and the pace drops almost unbearably in the middle. However, it is all impeccably shot and directed, the story is unusual enough to resonate and the unexpected ending comes from out of nowhere and is - most shocking of all - really rather beautiful. **1/2