Snakes, Lizards, And…Sheep?!
Some of the earliest stories humans told were about monsters. Homer’s The Odyssey and The Epic of Gilgamesh feature fanged and vicious creatures representing the anxieties and fears of early civilization. Our not-so-early civilization still loves a good monster story, especially while sitting in a darkened theater.
Anaconda (1997)
Maybe it’s just the way they move, but snakes tend to give a lot of people icky feelings. And giant snakes? Well, let’s just say that the film crew in this movie gets more than icky feelings when a hunter forces them to help him track the world’s largest, deadliest snake.
Lake Placid (1999)
The name of this movie is quite misleading. There is nothing placid about a lake that is home to a giant crocodile. The normal-sized version of these reptiles is enough to scare the average person. The monster in this film is enough to make you think that dinosaurs have returned to the Earth.
Phoenix Pictures, Lake Placid (1999)
The Blob (1988)
A remake of the classic 1968 film, The Blob takes our fears of monsters and embraces the formlessness from which they spring. An alien…blob…lands in a small town and begins eating everything. That’s it. It just eats everything. And it’s terrifying.
Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Spiders are actually very helpful little creatures. They keep pests down and are an important part of the ecosystem—except when they’re gargantuan and looking at humans as food. And to set your mind at ease, the idea that you’re never more than three feet from a spider is a myth. Most of the time.
Warner Bros., Eight Legged Freaks (2002)
Black Sheep (2006)
For many, if not most people, a sheep is not the creature that comes to mind when we think of monsters. New Zealand, famous for its sheep population, begs to differ in this tale of genetic engineering and a bloodthirsty wooly monster.
New Zealand Film Commission, Black Sheep (2006)
Godzilla Vs Mechagodzilla (1974)
The King of Monsters had to rear his rubber-suited head for this list. When a robotic version of the giant lizard makes an appearance, the real Godzilla rises from the depths to stop its rampage.
Toho Eizo Co., Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974)
Reign Of Fire (2002)
Dragons are a classic monster, but more often than not, we see them in medieval settings. Not so in this fiery movie. In modern times, fire-breathing dragons emerge from the Earth and it’s up to Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale to stop their rampage.
Predators (2010)
This one’s a film that asks who the real monsters are. An unfamiliar, and perhaps alien, jungle is the setting for a showdown between the fiercest warriors the Earth has to offer and the galaxy’s most fearsome hunters. Who is predator, and who is prey?
Twentieth Century, Predators (2010)
Tremors (1990)
The rumbling underfoot of an earthquake can be scary enough all on its own. But when it’s accompanied by giant, razor-toothed, scaly worms intent on eating you? That’s a whole other level of terror. Residents of a small town must figure out how to stop the creatures before there’s no one left.
Pandorum (2009)
Science fiction is a great place to find monsters—so much of space is unknown, and the unknown is where monsters do their best work. Two astronauts wake up to find the rest of their crew missing, but there’s still something else on the ship.
Constantin Film, Pandorum (2009)
Splinter (2008)
Some monsters rampage across entire cities and planets. And some confine their appetites to smaller locales. Three people trapped in an isolated gas station must fend off a strange parasite that takes over the living in its quest for carnage.
Slither (2006)
Slugs and slimy things have long been fodder for monster movies and gross feelings. If you’ve ever been horrified finding a leech on your leg, this probably isn’t the film for you. Weird slithering creatures infect a small town, turning the people into mutated horrors.
Strike Entertainment, Slither (2006)
Abominable (2006)
Bigfoot is one of the classic North American monsters, with sightings of the giant, hairy hominid continuing to the present day. Are they just shy and peaceful creatures, content to live out their lives in the woods? This movie says no.
Hellboy (2004)
It just makes sense. If you’ve got monsters to fight, why not get a monster to fight them? The demonic Hellboy is on the side of humanity, combatting tentacled beasts from beyond. As an agent of the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, Hellboy is all that stands between humanity and monstrous chaos.
Revolution Studios, Hellboy (2004)
Jurassic World (2015)
Genetic engineering of dinosaurs? How could anyone think this was going to end well, especially as this is the fourth installment of the Jurassic Park series? The Indominus Rex proves to be a challenge for all involved, except Chris Pratt and his pack of trained raptors.
Universal, Jurassic World (2015)
Super 8 (2011)
Childhood is a time when monsters grip the imaginations of most. Usually, those monsters are just in our heads and don’t really pose any threat. But for a group of young filmmaker friends who witness a train accident in 1979, the monster is very, very real.
Predator (1987)
The film that introduced the galaxy’s most fearsome hunters, this Arnold Schwarzenegger movie has spawned a franchise that shows no signs of stopping. A covert mission into the Central American jungle turns violent and bloody for an elite group of commandos.
Twentieth Century, Predator (1987)
The Mist (2007)
Infamous for having one of the most depressing endings ever, this monster film will have you looking at foggy days very differently. As a weird mist rolls over a small town, monstrous creatures force the survivors to seek shelter in the local grocery store. Why is it always a small town?
The Weinstein Company, The Mist (2007)
Mimic (1997)
Another movie that cautions against genetic engineering, this time of a lifeform that vastly outnumbers humans: insects. And when the insects realize that humanity is their greatest threat, they turn the tables on the mammals.
Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Westerns don’t always successfully cross over with other genres, but that doesn’t stop Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, and Olivia Wilde from opposing some monstrous aliens intent on taking over the Earth. Who needs jets and missiles when you’ve got your trusty six-shooter?
Universal, Cowboys & Aliens (2011)
Godzilla 2000 (1999)
It’s difficult to tell if Godzilla is for or against humanity. The fire-breathing lizard is often seen as a representation of the anger of the Earth over humankind’s meddling, but he also tends to protect us from dangers from space and elsewhere. Such is the case with the strange, levitating rock that calls the giant reptile into action this time around.
Toho Pictures, Godzilla 2000 (1999)
The Cabin In The Woods (2011)
If you had your choice of monsters to face, which one would it be? That is the question a group of young people unwittingly answer in this smart and exciting deconstruction of the horror/monster genre. The Cabin in the Woods offers an interesting explanation of why characters in horror movies often seem so similar.
Lionsgate, The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
Kong: Skull Island (2017)
If Godzilla is the King of Monsters, Kong is the one creature who might give him a run for his money. Scientists exploring an island in the Pacific come across the giant ape and must fight to escape the treacherous Skull Island.
Warner Bros., Kong: Skull Island (2017)
King Kong (2005)
This one’s a remake of the classic 1933 film that introduced the world to the giant ape. The greed of an ambitious filmmaker places his stars and crew in desperate peril when they encounter Kong, an ape of unusual size and monstrous temperament.
Godzilla (2014)
Here’s another attempt to bring Godzilla to American screens after the disastrous Matthew Broderick film. A wave of monsters brings destruction to major cities, and humanity’s only hope seems to lie in a large, fire-breathing lizard named Godzilla.
Cloverfield (2008)
This found footage film gives viewers a firsthand experience of what a giant monster attack might look like. A huge creature rampages across Manhattan as a group of friends try to get out of the city and avoid the monster and its spawn.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Giant robots versus giant monsters! This special effects extravaganza is like an anime come to life. When increasingly large monsters begin invading the planet, human-piloted mechs are the last, and best, line of defense.
Warner Bros., Pacific Rim (2013)
Attack The Block (2011)
Forget about defending the planet. How about defending your building? When aliens land on Earth, a disparate group of neighbors must band together to protect their home and stop the monsters. This movie features early performances from stars John Boyega and Jodie Whittaker.
StudioCanal, Attack the Block (2011)
A Quiet Place (2018)
Monsters and screaming or shouting seem to go hand in hand. But in this thrilling film, silence is golden. Earth is beset by creatures that hunt by sound, and survivors must face the horrors of their new world while keeping their voices well under control.
Paramount, A Quiet Place (2018)
Jaws (1975)
A film that is often credited with giving sharks their monstrous reputation, Jaws is a classic 1970s thriller. A giant great white shark terrorizes a popular beach and a group of locals must find a way to deal with it before getting eaten. The two notes of the shark’s theme music will send shivers down your spine.
The Descent (2005)
For this writer, it’s the tight spaces and caves that are the most horrifying in The Descent. Add monsters, and there’s simply no way I’ll ever take up the hobby of spelunking or cave diving. What should have been an exciting vacation turns into something extremely terrifying for a group of adventurous friends.
Celador Films, The Descent (2005)
Aliens (1986)
The film that gave us the Xenomorph Queen, Aliens took the terror of the first film (see below), and cranked up the action movie excitement a few notches. When survivor Ripley is awakened decades after the first film, she falls in with a group of space marines investigating a colony that has gone silent.
Twentieth Century, Aliens (1986)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
If monsters really are metaphors for the things we fear in real life, Pan’s Labyrinth is one of the most inventive explorations of that theme. Set during WWII in Spain, the film explores a young girl’s reactions to the increasing horror of the world she sees around her.
Esperanto Filmoj, Pan's Labyrinth (2006)
Alien (1979)
No one may be able to hear you scream in space, but when the alien burst out of John Hurt’s chest, you can bet some people screamed in the theater. This film made an instant classic out of the Xenomorph. The franchise continues to this day, almost 50 years after the original film.
Twentieth Century, Alien (1979)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Dinosaur fossils are almost certainly what gave rise to the monstrous myth of dragons, so why not go straight to the source instead? The dinosaur effects in this ground-breaking film took audiences' breaths away, as did the terrifying T-Rex and the strangely intelligent velociraptors.
Universal, Jurassic Park (1993)
The Host (2006)
Like the Godzilla films, The Host uses its monster to teach the dangers of treating the environment poorly. Years after formaldehyde is dumped into the Han River in Seoul, a strange monster begins attacking people on shore.
CJ E&M Pictures, The Host (2006)
The Thing (1982)
A remake of The Thing from Another World (1951), this John Carpenter classic features some of the gooiest, creepiest practical effects ever put to celluloid. An Antarctic research base is attacked by a shape-shifting creature from space that takes on the form of the people it has killed.
Godzilla (1954)
Deserving the title of King of Monsters, the original Godzilla film was a reaction to the atomic bombs dropped on Japan during WWII, and to the fears of nuclear power run amok. The effects may not have aged well, but the themes of the film sum up exactly why monster stories continue to be so popular.
Splice (2009)
Monsters aren’t always from space or radioactive waste dumps. Some monsters are the product of human experiments that probably shouldn’t have been done in the first place. The combining of human and animal DNA goes horribly wrong for two genetic engineers with questionable ethics.
In one particularly controversial scene, one of the engineers does the deed with the creature. Many viewers were disturbed by the scene—a reaction director Vincenzo Natali had expected and intended. Natali knew the studio would take issue with the scene, so he had it written in the contract that the scene would not be cut. So, try as they might, the studio had to release the full, unsettling version of the film.
