Monsters is a wonderful film.

It is even more wonderful when you realize that the whole thing was made for $15,000.  This is the kind of movie that I would like to make. The script is solid with a decent injection of humour and subtle touches (I loved the army dude humming Ride of the Valkyries at the beginning).

The basic premise is that alien spore was returned to earth 6 years ago by a satellite. These spores are flourishing and have grown into giant alien animals that inhabit the southern US and Mexico. The plot is a photographer has been asked by his employer to safely return the employers daughter across the zone to the US.

The visuals in this movie are fantastic and a testament to what one can achieve with some knowledge of special effects. I would assume that the entire cast and crew was voluntary and they do a remarkably good job. The two main leads hold your attention and the various local peoples they encounter, mostly subtitled or translated by the characters are suitable.

My one caveat with this film, is not actually about the film, it’s about the method in which I got it which leads to a rant about the entire film distribution structure at present. This appeared on the usenet servers a few days ago. This film is probably one that most haven’t heard of yet. The release date listed on IMDB states September 20th in Russia (?). If the distribution companies would get their asses in gear when they acquire a film and get it out faster, there would be a much higher chance of people like me seeing it in the theater. This isn’t even a case of having a choice between paying to see it and getting it for free; there is simply no way, at present to reimburse the maker of this film for his wonderful work.

Miramax was notoriously bad at this, especially with foreign films; they’d buy the rights and just sit on the things.

Anyways.

Monsters. Great film. Inspires me further to work on my scripts.

Highly recommended.