At the 13th British Independent Film Awards, "Monsters" was nominated in six categories including Best Picture, Best Director for Edwards, and Best Actor for McNairy. The film won for Best Director, Best Technical Achievement, and Best Achievement in Production. At the 64th British Academy Film Awards, Edwards was nominated for Outstanding Debut by a British Director, but lost to Chris Morris for "Four Lions". It won Best Independent Movie at the 2011 Scream Awards, and was nominated for Best Science Fiction Movie. The film also won Best International Film at the 37th Saturn Awards. The National Board of Review named the film one of the top ten independent films of 2010, and it placed third on Moviefone's Top 10 Sci-Fi Movies of 2010 list.