Who is he?

He used to be a special effects whiz at the Beeb. Now the 35-year-old has directed Monsters, one of autumn's buzziest movies – it has been compared to Cloverfield and District 9. Getting a bit carried away, one journalist sized Edwards up as "the next James Cameron". He wrote, shot, directed and did the effects on the movie – all   for peanuts.

A BBC man? Is it set in Britain?

No, Mexico, six years after a Nasa probe crashed over earth on its way back from space. Now there are a colony of creatures in an "infected zone" between Mexico and the US. A newspaper photographer (Scoot McNairy) has to escort his boss's daughter (Whitney Able) to catch a boat back to the States

That doesn't sound very low-budget.

Well it is. $15,000 has been bandied around. The production company says the figure is higher, but not much. Either way, it is an astonishing feat given how slick this film is. It was shot in three weeks with a four-man crew and a mumblecoreish improvised script. The two leads are the only proper actors. All the others you see are   local people.

What do the beasties look like?

They are not telling. But they have got tentacles. And don't be expecting a monster fest either. Edward calls it a "road movie set in a world with giant monsters." It is actually rather romantic and the chemistry between McNairy and Able is amazing. Just as well, they are a real life couple.

What next?

A futuristic sci-fi apparently: "An epic human story, set in a futuristic world without humanity." Heaven knows how he'll cast that one.

Cath Clarke