Monster movies occupy an evergreen subgenre of cinema. A mainstay of horror films, and occasionally action blockbusters as well, they thrill audiences with their suspenseful stories of survival and death that see the hapless and the heroic alike stand against obscene forces of nature (and sometimes even the unnatural). The intrigue and intensity are a surefire way to woo an enthralled audience, meaning that monster movies get made en masse. However, it goes without saying, only the absolute greatest monsters in cinema get to be remembered.
Ranging from towering icons of horror that are as evil and savage as they are heinous, to more sympathetic beings that encourage viewers to reconsider their humanity and ponder what differentiates man from beast,these creature features are landmark achievements in design, narrative, and execution. From the black and white beasts of the 20s and 30s to monsters of the modern day, the impact of these monstrous villains is immense, to say the least.
25The Aliens
‘Attack the Block’ (2011)
When the plucky antiheroes ofAttack the Blockare asked to describe the nameless alien creatures that beset their apartment complex, the closest to any sort of title spoken is “gorilla-wolf-mother f**kers,” which is actually quite an accurate summary. The English meshing of sci-fi, horror, and comedy follows a gang of South London street kids and the woman they tried to mug as they defend their neighborhood from the force of bizarre extraterrestrial beings.
Covered in spiky and pitch-black fur and sporting scads of bioluminescent fangs that adequately compromise their lack of any other discernible facial features, thealiens fromAttack the Blockexcelat being botha fantastic design that is strikingly unique and a concept that was able to be executed exceptionallyeven with the film’s budgetary constraints. While not the most terrifying movie monsters in cinematic history, they do provide plenty of thrills while still playing into the film’s comedic tone as well.
Attack the Block
24Audrey II
‘Little Shop of Horrors’ (1986)
Directed byFrank Ozand brought to life by the crew that animatedThe Muppets, Audrey II is not the sort of movie monster many would initially expect, even from a hard-rocking, human-eating monster plant with a penchant for musical numbers. Based on the 1960 film of the same name and the hit off-Broadway musical that launched in 1982,Little Shop of Horrorsfamously follows a meek florist whose struggling business develops a newfound popularity when he procures a bloodthirsty plant. Seymour (Rick Moranis) struggles to satiate the plant’s carnivorous appetite while clinging to the uptick in business the botany beast provides.
Armed with ever-growing ivy arms and a grotesque pink flapping tongue, Audrey II is the perfect foil to Moranis' shrinking violet Seymour.A comically creepy man-eater that has, for decades, inspired laughs aplenty and probably a few nightmares as well, Audrey II leaves audiences humming and haunted. However, many viewers see the insipid Seymour as being the true villain of the film, putting forward an interesting notion of what true monstrosity and evil actually are.
Little Shop of Horrors
23The Blob
‘The Blob’ (1988)
Another old classic that was arguably perfected by a healthy dollop of 80s excess, the titular monster ofThe Blobdebuted in the 1958 film that saw a 28-year-oldSteve McQueenplaying a teenager. The gelatinous beast truly found its edge decades later in the 1988 iteration of the film, which sees the Blob begin as the by-product of a chemical experiment conducted during the Cold War. After escaping into the sewage system, it begins wreaking havoc as it grows exponentially before attacking people in the city of Aborville, California.
The true horrific masterstroke of the 1988 film is its addition of the Blob’s acidic ingestion, with the monster sucking people in with its strange and purple-ish allure only to melt the skin off them as it consumes them. A brilliant exhibition of practical effects that are heavily stylized and totally surreal, yet undeniably terrifying,the Blob is made one of the greatest movie monstersof all time by its striking simplicity and its brutality.
Few classes of monsters or beasts belongto visual mediums quite like zombies. While the brain-eating undead have appeared as everything from swarms of enraged and volatile berserkers to tireless hordes of beasts capable of impossibly physical feats, the best portrayal of zombie terror is still found in the film that pioneered the subgenre,George A. Romero’sNight of the Living Deadand its various sequels.
A mindless, aimless mob of man-eating corpses,zombies are an innately fearsome concept that play on common fears of the supernatural and life after death, Romero also uses them to great effect to comment on issues like consumerism in such films as 1978’sDawn of the Dead. Remaining not only relevant but influential in pop culture over the decades through everything from movies, television series, comic books, and video games, zombies are one of the most interesting and metaphorical movie monsters of all time.
Night of the Living Dead
21The Rancor
‘Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi’ (1983)
Throughout the many decades it has run, and across its numerous tales of adventure and excitement,theStar Warssagahas featured dozens if not hundreds of creatures that have stoked the awe and wonder of audiences. However, few beasts have been as brilliant as the Rancor from the original trilogy’s final installment,Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi. With a frozen Han Solo (Harrison Ford) held as a showpiece in the lair of Jubba the Hutt, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and his friends sneak into the hideout on a daring rescue mission.
When the ploy is busted, Luke is cast into a pit where he comes face to face with the fearsome Rancor.An imposing beast defined by its hideous appearance, brutish violence, and its towering physicality, the Rancor is a masterpiece of creature design. It’s not quite mammalian, not quite reptilian, but it is allStar Wars. In a rather surprising and somber touch, after Luke outwits the beast and crushes it beneath a door, the Rancor’s trainer is left inconsolable by his beloved pet’s demise.
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi
‘Cloverfield’ (2008)
Perhaps a bit of an ironic entry considering so much ofCloverfield, and the wider franchise it now belongs to, is about drumming up suspense by not showing the monster, the monstrous Clover still earns its title as one of the most effective movie creatures in recent memory. This is a feat made all the more impressive given how the beast is given only a small amount of screen time to make such an impact, with the vast majority of the movie teasing its grand reveal through sequences like the iconic moment the head of the Statue of Liberty is tossed down the street.
Directed byMatt Reeves,Cloverfieldruns as a found-footage horror film that follows a group of New York friends whose farewell celebrations turn into a mad dash for survival when the city is set upon by a terrible force of destructive power. The mental anguish the film puts viewers through is a work of suspenseful excellence, and it is a highlight of the film that the eventual reveal of the monster is so rewarding and terrifying.Toxic, deadly, gigantic, and ugly as hell, “Clover” ends up being a bizarrely pleasant name for such a foul beast of death and despair.
Cloverfield
19Leatherback
‘Pacific Rim’ (2013)
While Leatherback is the ultimate option from the kaiju presented inPacific Rim, it is absolutely worth noting that theGuillermo del Toroaction sci-fi extravaganza is overloaded with brilliant beasts. What truly sets Leatherback apart from the rest, in addition to his iconic appearance and his hulking might, is the mesmerizing fight scene between him and the Jaeger Gypsy Danger in the night off the coast of Hong Kong. It marks the best sequence of the film and one of the most unforgettable and engrossing movie battles of the 21st century.
A part of what helps Leatherback stand above the other kaiju is his clear ties to several other iconic movie monsters, with Godzilla and King Kong two that immediately spring to mind when viewers first see him rise up out of the ocean.However, he still excels as his own unique form of beast, one that is a worthy villain and a fan-favorite.
Pacific Rim
18The Behemoth
‘The Mist’ (2007)
The Mistis a movie that doesn’t need to give much screen time to its mysterious monsters for them to have the ultimate impact. In fact, for large portions of the film, they are somewhat subsidiary compared to the more central threat of humanity’s woes, misguided faith, and religious extremism. Based onStephen King’s novella of the same name, the movie focuses on a group of survivors in the supermarket when a mist descends upon their small town, bringing a legion of man-eating monstrosities with it.
When a small posse decides to take their chances outside, they encounter a creature which has come to be known as the Behemoth as they drive through the mist. While the ginormous beast is never hostile to the group, its brief appearance still shakes viewers to their core, withits immense size and its indefinable, completely alien form making for a shocking and viscerally terrifying moment. This impact makes it one of the most unforgettable movie monsters, an impressive feat considering not only its fleeting screen time, butThe Mist’s similarly memorable and scarring endingas well.
17The Babadook
‘The Babadook’ (2014)
A common trend with many of the great movie monsters is an embracing of the simple philosophy that less is more. The less an audience sees the monster itself, the more terrifying it will be on the occasions that it does appear on screen. Few movies in recent years have executed this notion quite as effectively as the 2014 Australian horror movie,The Babadook, which follows a single mother and her young son as they are haunted by the malevolent creature in an eerie children’s book.
With its unnatural features like its disproportionately large smile, its ghostly white skin, and its pale eyes, the Babadook (Tim Purcell) is both visually striking and viscerally harrowing. However, it is also a poignant meditation on the effects of grief and the impact it can have on a family if ignored for too long while lingering and festering quietly.
The Babadook
‘The Host’ (2006)
A big, amphibious mutant that is about as repulsive and dangerous as a sewer-dwelling, man-eating monster is ever likely to get, Gwoemul is the fearsome nightmare fuel that thrives at the heart ofBong Joon-ho’s 2006 South Korean horror masterpiece,The Host. The film sees the creature’s reign of terror take place in the Han River, and it follows the family of one of the beast’s victims, Hyun-seo (Go Ah-sung), as they set out to retrieve the girl when they learn she is being held by Gwoemul and may yet be brought home alive.
A by-product of chemical waste carelessly dumped in the water years prior by American military personnel, the monster serves as a metaphor for the ongoing consequences armies and soldiers can have on the area they visit. To comment specifically on its design,Gwoemul sports a striking and unnerving physical appearance that is a disconcerting mish-mash of several different animals, with a large fish being the notable basis of the beast. An eerie evolutionary misstep that is visually terrifying and symbolically pointed, Gwoemul ranks among the best movie monsters to come from international cinema, especially in more recent decades.
