10 Best Movies Like Love And Monsters

The Dylan O’Brien movie Love and Monsters is finally receiving some well-deserved attention thanks to its streaming success, prompting interest in what other movies share its unique appeal. Released in 2020, Love and Monsters is a monster movie with a refreshing twist. The coming-of-age adventure comedy stars Dylan O’Brien as Joel, a sweet but directionless slacker who survived the “Monsterpocalypse” but can’t find purpose in a colony of humans hiding from the monsters overrunning the Earth. This lonely hero seeks out his high-school girlfriend seven years after the end of the world, braving all manner of monsters to meet her again.

WhileLove and Monsters has a bittersweet ending, the movie’s story is surprisingly upbeat and romantic given how bleak that summary sounds. Joel’s trek to find his old girlfriend is an inspiring one filled with constant peril thanks to the movie’s many inventive monsters, and their eventual reunion proves that the movie has a sweetness at its core. As a result, many of the viewers who enjoyed Love and Monsters may come looking for more movies like it. While some are a bit darker and others are more family-friendly, there are a handful of movies that are both thematically and tonally similar to Love and Monsters.

10 Monsters (2010)

This indie has a similar story to Love and Monsters

Four years before Gareth Edwards helmed Godzilla, the director created an even slower, more poignant monster movie with the 2010 indie Monsters. Like Love and Monsters, Monsters follows a slow-burn romance that unfolds in a world overrun with gigantic Lovecraftian beasts. Although it is a bittersweet romance, the quiet, intimate Monsters shares a positive outlook with Love and Monsters as both movies promise that love can blossom even at the end of the world.

9 Rampage (2018)

The video game adaptation Rampage was another fun monster movie

By the end of 2018’s Rampage, viewers will either be cheering in their seats or rolling their eyes at the movie’s many ludicrous moments. As silly as the giant monster movie might be, no one can deny that this Dwayne Johnson vehicle is packed with fun. Loosely based on the video game of the same name, this light-hearted adventure movie sees Johnson’s heroic Davis team up with scientists and a giant albino gorilla to stop an equally giant wolf and crocodile from destroying the city of Chicago.

8 Okja (2017)

This adventure made creature features lighthearted and hopeful

Okja

Okja is a 2017 sci-fi fantasy movie that tells the story of a genetically modified super pig and a young girl who goes on a mission to rescue her from the evil meat industry. The movie was written and directed by Academy Award winner Bong Joon-ho, who is best known for his 2019 movie Parasite.

Release Date

June 28, 2017

Director

Bong Joon Ho

Runtime

120minutes

Genres

Drama , Action , Adventure

Bong Joon-ho’s The Host could arguably also qualify as a similar movie to Love and Monsters, as it is another monster movie that isn’t really about its killer beast. However, 2017’s Okja shares its positive, cheery tone with the 2020 movie. In Okja, a young girl comes across an experimental super-pig and must stop a callous corporation from stealing the eponymous “monster.” Like Love and Monsters, this movie’s story is more concerned with love and family than anything resembling horror, as Okja proves an atypically uplifting monster movie.

7 Chaos Walking (2021)

The YA adaptation was another post-apocalyptic love story

This 2021 sci-fi adaptation didn’t fare as well with critics as Love and Monsters, and Chaos Walking’s box office failure killed any chance of subsequent sequels. However, like Love and Monsters, Chaos Walking does present viewers with an original apocalypse that fosters a sweet romance between unlikely characters despite their struggles to connect. As Tom Holland’s Todd saves Daisy Ridley’s Viola from the denizens of his all-male planet, he comes to realize that a dark secret underlies life as he knows it.

6 Tremors (1990)

This classic horror-comedy proved monster movies can be silly

If Chaos Walking mirrors the post-apocalyptic YA love story elements of Love and Monsters, Tremors echoes the 2020 movie’s fast-paced action and monster-focused set-pieces. This horror-comedy stars a perfectly cast Kevin Bacon and Fred Ward as a pair of small-town ne’er-do-wells who become unlikely heroes when subterranean monsters invade their tiny hometown. With the same warmth and charm as Love and Monsters, this is a rare monster movie with more laughs than scares.

5 Warm Bodies (2013)

This post-apocalyptic teen rom-com shares the optimism of Love and Monsters

The Nicholas Hoult-starring movie Warm Bodies is another YA adaptation, although this one is unusual thanks to its zombie protagonist. Hoult does an impressive job of humanizing R, the zombie who falls in love with Teresa Palmer’s well-meaning human Julie. Admittedly, the ending of Warm Bodies isn’t as strong as the poignant coda of Love and Monsters, but this is still an underrated coming-of-age horror-comedy that will appeal to fans of the 2020 movie thanks to their similar tones.

4 Evolution (2001)

This horror-comedy’s monsters even look like Joel’s enemies

The 2001 film Evolution isn’t set after the apocalypse, but the movie’s depiction of ragtag heroes battling bizarre CGI monsters certainly nails the same comedy/horror/romance/adventure tone as the later hit. Ghostbusters director Ivan Reitman directs this story of two professors and a geologist who must find a way to stop rapidly evolving monsters from taking over the world after a meteorite crash lands in the Arizona desert. With monsters that resemble the beasts seen in Love and Monsters, Evolution also has time for a cute romantic plot that mirrors the 2020 movie’s main storyline.

3 Rim Of The World (2019)

This year offered another goofy monster comedy adventure

Rim of the World built off the popularity of the kid-centric Stranger Things with a story of young teenagers who are forced to fight off alien invaders while at a summer camp. This plot might sound familiar, but like Love and Monsters, this horror-comedy has enough surprises up its sleeve and enough memorable villains to keep viewers guessing. It’s even less intense than Love and Monsters, but that is not necessarily a bad thing for this lightweight monster movie.

2 Grabbers (2012)

This Irish movie proves monsters and rom-coms go together well

The under-seen 2012 Irish indie movie Grabbers has an ingenious premise. A monstrous alien crash lands in a remote Irish town and a mismatched pair of police officers soon discover that the creature’s only weakness is alcohol, so the best way to avoid it is to get blind drunk. Raucous fun ensues, but what makes Grabbers so similar to Love and Monsters is the slowly unfolding love story between its two lead characters. A chipper young recruit and a bitter veteran of the force, the unlikely pair make for cute sweethearts in time for the movie’s surprisingly optimistic ending.

1 Zombieland (2009)

Zombieland provided the blueprint for Love and Monsters

The 2009 hit Zombieland is the most obvious influence on Love and Monsters, even though Zombieland’s many gory kills mean that the R-rated movie doesn’t share the family-friendly appeal of the later movie. However, both Love and Monsters and Zombieland center their stories on likable slackers who team up with hardened survivalists and later fall in love after the end of the world. Both see their heroes avoid bloodthirsty monsters while also learning how to be brave and seize the day, and have surprisingly funny, light tones despite the subject matter. As such, viewers who enjoyed Love and Monsters should seek out this 2009 horror-comedy next.