One of Hollywood’s preferred practices of recent years is to pluck filmmakers who only have a handful of lo-fi independent credits under their belt, and place them in charge of mega budget studio-backed blockbusters. The results have been hit-and-miss so far, but Gareth Edwards’ Monsters led to a jump that can be described as suitably impressive.
Made for only $500,000, the enterprising Edwards wore many hats during the development, shooting, and post-production process by serving as writer, director, visual effects artist, production designer, and cinematographer. The end product may have only yielded $4.2 million at the box office, but that was still enough to turn a tidy profit, and act as one hell of a calling card.
Edwards then went on to deliver back-to-back critical and commercial smash hits via Godzilla and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, while Monsters also served as the springboard for Scoot McNairy’s career, with the actor landing countless roles in many high-profile projects in the decade since Monsters first arrived in late 2010.
Reviews were strong across the board without being overly enthusiastic, but as a technical achievement, it’s undeniably ingenious stuff. A dozen years on and Edwards’ feature-length debut has been rebounding on streaming, too, with FlixPatrol revealing that the tale of a journalist escorting his boss’ daughter across a quarantine zone established in the wake of alien life being discovered has rediscovered its mojo on the iTunes charts.
Edwards may not have helmed anything since Rogue One landed, but Monsters remains an excellent showcase for his undoubted potential as both a visualist and storyteller.