Barely, 3 out of 10. It's a slow road trip with the occasional glimpse of a creature.
🐱THE SCARE SIGNAL
SCARE SCORE
3 /10
🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱🐱
DREAD LEVEL
Low
It is gone before the credits end, unless you plan a trip through a quarantine zone.
DOG
Dog: fine
fine, no dog dies.
Ruling: A slow road trip with fewer monsters than the title promises, so bring patience and a snack.
Monsters runs 94 minutes, and most of them are spent on a road trip. A NASA probe crashed in Mexico, alien life spread across the border region, and the north of Mexico is quarantined. A photojournalist has to get a boss's daughter out of there.
The premise, briefly
A photojournalist has to escort his employer's daughter through the quarantined, creature-infested north of Mexico to the US border before the way out closes.
How much do you want to know?
🐱
The verdict above is spoiler-free. Everything below, including the ending, stays hidden until you pick a depth.
🐱CUT TO THE CHASE
How it ends
The creatures have already crossed the border into Texas by the time Andrew and Samantha get there. They survive the gas station, and the military takes them away in separate vehicles. The scene that opens the film is the chronological ending: a creature attacks the rescue team, and Andrew carries Samantha's lifeless body.
The scene you're dreading
Near the end, at an abandoned gas station in Texas, a creature's tentacles search the inside of the store while Samantha hides. She ends it by unplugging the television that is attracting it, and the creature leaves.
The dog
No dog dies in Monsters.
Monsters is a quiet road movie with a few tense creature scenes, and the saddest part is a shot at the beginning of the film.
THE SHORT VERSION IS HIDDEN
How it ends, the scene you're dreading, what happens to the dog, and the bottom line. About twenty seconds to read.
What actually happens
One night out, two missing passports
A NASA probe sent to look for alien life crashes in Mexico, and life forms spread along the Mexico-US border. The northern part of Mexico is quarantined, troops fight the creatures, and a huge wall runs along the border. The photojournalist Andrew Kaulder gets a call from his employer, who wants him to find his daughter, Samantha Wynden, and bring her home. He finds her in a hospital in Central America. Their train stops because the tracks ahead are damaged, and they learn that unless they leave the country in a few days, sea and air travel closes for six months. They hitchhike to the coast, and Andrew pays a lot for a ferry ticket leaving the next day. After a night out together, Andrew spends the night with a local woman, and she steals both passports. Samantha misses the ferry and has to give up her engagement ring to buy a way into the quarantine zone.
A riverboat takes them partway, and then armed escorts are meant to lead them overland to the border. Creatures attack the convoy, and Andrew and Samantha get away but none of the guards survive. They keep going and find the bodies of other travelers. At the top of a pyramid ruin, with the US border wall in sight, the two of them get closer. When they get to the border, the creatures have already gone over it. They cross a wrecked, empty Texas town and find an abandoned gas station that still has power, where they phone the army for help.
A television that is a bad idea
While they wait for the army, Andrew and Samantha phone their families. A single creature silently approaches the gas station. Samantha hides and watches several tentacles feel their way around the inside of the store, apparently soaking up the light from a television. This is the scene people dread, and it happens near the end. Nothing in it turns violent: Samantha pulls the television's plug, and the creature stops caring. A second creature arrives, and the two seem to communicate and possibly mate with pulses of light. Then they leave, and the military arrives. Andrew and Samantha kiss before soldiers put them into separate vehicles.
The ending, explained
The military takes Andrew and Samantha away in separate vehicles after the creatures at the gas station wander off. The film's chronological ending is actually shown at its start, in green night-vision footage. On the way back to base, a creature attacks the military rescue team. The last glimpse of Andrew is him carrying Samantha's lifeless body as an airstrike hits the creature. The rest of the film is the road trip that gets them there.
The post-credits ruling
Nobody has confirmed whether Monsters has a scene after the credits.
✓ Spoiled safelyDog status: fine, no dog dies.
Questions people ask at 1am
Is Monsters scary?
Barely. Monsters is a 3 out of 10 with low dread: a slow road movie with a few tense creature scenes and very little gore.
How does Monsters end?
After the gas station, soldiers take Andrew and Samantha away. A scene at the start of the film shows what comes later: a creature attacks their rescue team, and Andrew carries Samantha's lifeless body.
Does the dog die in Monsters?
No dog dies in Monsters.
Is there a post-credits scene in Monsters?
Nobody has confirmed whether Monsters has a scene after the credits.
What are the creatures in Monsters?
In Monsters, they are alien life forms that spread through the Mexico-US border region after a NASA probe crashed in Mexico. They have tentacles, they are drawn to light, and they seem to communicate and possibly mate with pulses of it.
BLURRED FOR YOUR PROTECTION
The whole plot of Monsters is hidden, ending included. It stays that way until you ask.
You can know how Monsters ends without crossing the quarantine zone. Install Scaredy Cat and the internet's horror gets blurred before you see it.
