Love and Monsters is a 2020 American monster adventure film directed by Michael Matthews, with Shawn Levy and Dan Cohen serving as producers. The film stars Dylan O'Brien, Jessica Henwick, Dan Ewing, Michael Rooker, and Ariana Greenblatt.
Development began in 2012 as Monster Problems; the project lingered for several years until October 2018 when O'Brien and then Matthews joined the film. The rest of the cast joined over the next few months, and filming took place in Australia from March to May 2019.
Love and Monsters was originally going to receive a wide theatrical release by Paramount Pictures in March 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the studio opted to release the film digitally via video on demand, and in select theatres, on October 16, 2020; the film's international release was handled by Netflix, which released the film on its service on April 14, 2021. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and was nominated for Best Visual Effects at the 93rd Academy Awards.
Plot
The destruction of an asteroid headed for Earth releases fallout, causing cold-blooded animals to mutate into large monsters and kill off most of humanity. During the evacuation of Fairfield, Joel Dawson is separated from his girlfriend Aimee but promises to find her, shortly before his parents are killed by monsters.
Seven years later, Joel lives in one of many bunkers underground called "colonies", where all other survivors have romantically paired up while fighting monsters and seeking supplies. Joel instead is left behind in the kitchen, as he freezes in dangerous situations. When a giant ant breaches his colony, killing one of the survivors, Joel sets off on a quest to reunite with Aimee so he doesn't end up alone.
Passing through the suburbs, Joel is attacked by a giant toad-monster but is saved by a stray dog named "Boy", who follows Joel on his journey, warning him against poisonous berries and other dangers. Joel falls into a nest of worm-monsters called "Sand-Gobblers", when two survivors, Clyde Dutton and Minnow, rescue him. They are heading north to the mountains, where fewer monsters live due to the colder weather and higher elevation. They teach Joel some basic survival skills, and that not all monsters are hostile, demonstrating how "You can always tell in their eyes". They invite Joel to join them, but he insists he must find Aimee. As they part ways, Clyde gives Joel a grenade.
Continuing west, Boy becomes trapped by a giant centipede-monster. Joel freezes, but eventually saves Boy with his crossbow. Sheltering in an abandoned motel, they meet a robot named Mav1s. Before her battery dies, Mav1s powers his radio long enough to briefly contact Aimee. Other survivors have reached her colony, promising to lead them to safety. The next day Joel and Boy are attacked by a queen Sand-Gobbler. They hide, but Boy barks, giving away their position. Joel kills the queen with the grenade, and yells at Boy for putting them in danger, causing Boy to run away. After swimming across a pond, Joel is covered in poisonous leeches and hallucinates, but is rescued before he collapses.
Joel wakes to finally see Aimee. She leads a beach colony of elderly survivors who depend on her. He is introduced to the survivors, as well as Brooks "Cap" Wilkinson, a ship captain, and his crew. As everyone celebrates their imminent departure, Aimee confesses she is glad to see Joel, but has become a different person and is still mourning someone she was in love with. Joel decides to return to his colony, contacting them on the radio and learning that it has become unsafe and that they too must leave. Cap sends Joel some berries, which he recognizes as poisonous. Realizing Cap is not to be trusted, he rushes to warn Aimee but is knocked unconscious.
Joel, Aimee, and the rest of her colony awaken tied-up on the beach. Cap reveals that his group is going to raid the colony, and that their yacht is towed by a crab-monster controlled with an electrified chain. Cap sets the crab to feed on the colonists, but Joel and Aimee escape and are able to fight for their lives, and Boy returns to help. After a lengthy battle, Joel has the opportunity to shoot the crab, but he realizes it is not hostile by looking into its eyes. Joel instead shoots the electrified chain, freeing the crab, who leaves Joel unharmed and instead sinks the yacht, devouring Cap and his crew.