Monsters are cheap labor

Well, I just finished watching the movie "Monsters", Gareth Edwards new creature-feature.  It is ultra low budget, but surprisingly ambitious.  This is the synopsis: "Six years ago NASA discovered the possibility of alien life within our solar system. A probe was launched to collect samples, but crashed upon re-entry over Central America. Soon after, new life form began to appear and half of Mexico was quarantined as an INFECTED ZONE. Today, the American and Mexican military still struggle to contain "the creatures"...... Our story begins when a US journalist agrees to escort a shaken tourist through the infected zone in Mexico to the safety of the US border." (IMDB)
There are several things that make this small sci-fi gem:

• The production budget was reportedly 15,000. 
• It was made with a crew consisting of only two people using "off the shelf" consumer level cameras, editors, digital effects programs and other such equipment.
• The film was shot entirely on location: any settings featured in the film were real locations often used without permission asked in advance, and all the films extras were just people who happened to be there at the time(yaaaa pirate film making!).(IMDB)

What really makes this movie great, is that it achieves what fimakers like George A. Romero only seeks to do in his Zombie films.  These fantastic events, ridiculously Cthulu-like sentient creatures from space, overtured scenes of wreck-less military presence, and intense real-time flavor--serve only as a backdrop to a very real, and very well-received human story.  A story of a desperate journalist and his boss' spoiled little princess surviving a quarantine zone, while holding onto-and strengthening-their own humanity. 
I dug it, and  the only thing I would add to this movie is more of the sympathetic undertones toward our southern neighbors.  It was a well rounded movie with characters more believable than those of its unofficial predecessor, "Cloverfield".