10 Essential Monster Movies You Need To See Before Godzilla

9. Monsters (2010)

Movie Monster: Aliens Gareth Edwards' first feature film is an incredible achievement when you take into account the measly budget ($800,000) and that he directed, wrote, edited and completed the visual effects by himself on his home computer. In fact, he once quipped: "You can go in the shop now and you can buy a laptop that's faster than the computers they made Jurassic Park on." Monsters is a brave little picture that focuses on its characters more than the actual creatures. It isn't to everyone's taste, but being driven in this direction allows room for growth and a certain relatability to the situation. It would have been easy for it to devolve into straight-up monster movie mayhem - but a strong directorial vision ensures that the narrative concerns the people more than the actual aliens. Godzilla didn't turn up the way the monsters did in this film - mutating from a fallen NASA probe - and the two films are entirely different beasts at their core. But rest assured, you can expect similarly strong performances and character development in Gareth Edwards' second feature which boasts a much stronger cast; not to mention a massive budget which means even bigger monster madness.