Seven years after monsters took over the planet and humans had to take shelter underground; Joel (Dylan O’Brien) sets out to find his girlfriend Aimee (Jessica Henwick) who is at another colony 85 miles away.

The creature designs in Love and Monsters are fantastic. The creatures are all mutated insects and cold-blooded creatures like frogs and crocodiles. So many of them have gone from being tiny and easy for a human to step on to the size of a car or even a house. The designs are great because you can tell what kind of bug they were originally but they’ve transformed into something out of the stuff of nightmares. Also, the creatures are used sparingly so then tension is always there and when one does show up it leads to a great sequence.

While there is a smattering of other characters throughout the film, Dylan O’Brien (and a dog, but I’ll get to that) carries this film. There’s his voiceover as he narrates his journey in the form of letters to her that’s equally funny, awkward and charming. In fact, as a character that sums up Joel pretty well. He is not known for his bravery and he makes a lot of mistakes in his trek across the surface, but he learns and O’Brien really captures Joel’s fear and joy in learning what’s out in the world.

Because that’s what Love and Monsters shows. There are creatures out there that are happy to stomp on or eat you, but there’s also beauty out there too. Not all of the creatures are nasty and in a world where no human has been for seven years, there’s so much that Joel, and any other survivor, has forgotten about. Even the simple pleasures of the smell of the grass and the feel of the wind, through experiencing them for the first time in so long Joel realises that while he might have been surviving, he wasn’t living.

Now onto the dog. Soon after leaving his colony Joel meets Boy, a dog who saves him from a monster attack, and they have such a brilliant bond. A lot of the time it’s just Joel and Boy together, with Boy being Joel’s sounding board and only true friend. Their relationship is easy to get invested in and as they protect one another, the tension grows because you don’t want anything bad to happen to either of them.

As well as being funny and a bit dark and scary, Love and Monsters is also surprisingly sweet and touching. You wholeheartedly believe in the love Joel has for Aimee and the little moments of connection he finds with other survivors are great too. Love and Monsters is a pretty innovative film about going outside your comfort zone and finding hope and connection at the end of the world. 4/5.