With the cinematic juggernaut Jaws reaching its 40th anniversary this weekend, June 20th, we thought we’d take a look back at some of the best movie monsters of our time. I can’t say I’m all too well-versed in the genre (not for a lack of trying, I might add) so I was lucky enough to have help from a handful of fellow TYF writers. Check out our picks below and let us know in the comments what your favorite movie monster has been! Also, make sure to check back later for a retrospective on Jaws.
The Pale Man (Pan’s Labyrinth)
What a horrifying concept. There’s almost a stunned moment of awe in seeing this creature come to life, slowly, in jerking movements, unhinging itself from its seated position. It’s nightmarish while also being strictly fairytale–everything about it is otherworldly and grotesque. It’s something that anyone, young or old, would run from screaming. Guillermo Del Toro is a master filmmaker when it comes to creating something horrifying and putting another spin on it. Our point of view of the film was through the eyes of a little girl, and this world full of dark creatures of old bedtime horror stories is what she’s envisioned. – Ally Johnson
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Bruce the Shark (Jaws)
If anything, Bruce was as much of a terror to Spielberg and his crew whilst filming Jaws as the finished film was for audiences in the following decades. Coupled with expertly shot and edited scenes and the tension-building score that may be the most well-known John Williams theme, Bruce is the unnamed, twenty-five foot shark that terrorizes Amity Island in the classic film that was released forty years ago. Now, with real great white sharks of nearly the same size stalking the east coasts of the United States, Jaws has never been so eerily relevant. – Evan Griffin
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Dementors (Harry Potter)
Listen, I am by no means a “monster movie” person. That would require more horror movie watching, which strays far and away from my To Do list. So, it isn’t very surprising that one of my favorite movie monsters are ones that I was introduced to at a young age. Aside from Professor Umbridge, the Dementors are possibly the most imposing monsters the Harry Potter universe ever created. While some of their spark and intrigue is taken away in the films, where their design becomes a little too simplistic, the idea of a creature whose sole purpose is to suck the happiness and hope out of a person is terrifically frightening for any age, and it’s one that stuck to the themes of the series for its duration. – Ally Johnson
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The Balrog (Fellowship of the Ring)
“The Balrog made no answer. The fire in it seemed to die, but the darkness grew. It stepped forward slowly onto the bridge, and suddenly it drew itself up to a great height, and its wings were spread from wall to wall; but still Gandalf could be seen, glimmering in the gloom; he seemed small, and altogether alone: grey and bent, like a wizened tree before the onset of a storm. From out of the shadow a red sword leaped flaming.”
The mastery of Weta Workshop throughout the production of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is to be credited for bringing the massive scale and absolute darkness of Tolkien’s worldbuilding to life on film, and the entirely computer-generated beast of shadow that faces off against Gandalf the Grey still holds up in one of the most iconic moments in film of the last two decades. – Evan Griffin
T-Rex (Jurassic Park)
In 1993 this was one of the most ambitious and laborious projects for Stan Winston’s effects workshop: building a full scale animatronic beast to be used in Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Michael Crichton terror. Not a hero or a villain, but simply a hungry beast out to survive with stylish teeth, the Tyrannosaurus rex reigned supreme as the ultimate creature in the eyes of children throughout the 1990s, even so far as to have the very same Rex with her own allotted screen time in the sequel that is Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World. – Evan Griffin
Kaiju (Pacific Rim)
I am a full fledged, unapologetic Pacific Rim fan. I just think it’s terrific, and no one can convince me otherwise, and while I thought that there was a lot to love about the film (obviously), I can’t imagine it without the Kaiju and their detailed designs. The film clearly comes from a mind of someone who loves monster movies. The creativity shines through with kaiju that look familiar but who have their own little something that make them modernized and new. – Ally Johnson
Godzilla (and the Monsters of Toho)
He’s the king. No question. If someone were to ask the silly question, “Who would win against Godzilla in a fight?” the answer would be nobody. Even Chris Pratt knows what’s up in that scenario. His scale can’t be matched, and his image is as unmistakable as Mickey Mouse. The most classic of post-war monster films, Godzilla has dominated genres ranging from American blockbuster to surreal horror films and silly Saturday morning creature features. –Evan Griffin
Clover (Cloverfield)
In Cloverfield, Reeves’ filmmaking hooks you into the present action of the protagonists, leaving the question of “What the hell IS this thing destroying New York City?” in the viewer’s head. That is why it is all the more brilliant when Reeves instead confirms an entirely different question in the end of the film: “What does it LOOK like?” – David Plummer
Check out the rest of what David has to say here.
Stay Puft Marshmallow Man (Ghostbusters)
There is no creature in cinematic history that can inspire as much terror as it does hunger. Yes, the gelatinous Blob from its self-titled film might be competition, but it doesn’t hold a candle (or proton pack) to the sinisterly delicious Mr. Stay Puft. Whether he is casually taking a stroll around New York or scaling a building where an ancient Sumerian god is about to return, he is always a delight and terror. Don’t let that fiendish smile fool you, because inside of that marshmallow monstrosity lies a fluffy heart of evil. Listen to the suggested serving size on this one. – Jon Espino
Xenomorph (Alien)
If you hear it, it’s already too late. This creature is a silent killer through and through. The ultimate predator. There is no part of it that isn’t made to kill or destroy. I’m not just talking about its razor sharp talons or sword-like tail, but also its highly acidic/corrosive blood that melts almost anything on contact. The Xenomorph is what nightmares are made of and is probably one of the few reasons I would never want to explore space. There is something terrifying about a creature that kills for sport and even likes to play with their prey. When a creature has a smaller mouth inside of its bigger mouth, you know you’re fucked. –Jon Espino
Blanche the Cat (House)
Old cats can open doors, but only ghost cats can close them again.
Yeah, I bet you weren’t expecting a cute kitty in this, were you? Of course, that brings up the question of whether Blanche is actually a monster. She is, and it’s buried in the concept of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s candy-colored surrealist horror-comedy House, one of most stylistically amazing films of the 1970s.
The movie is often misunderstood as being just weird or crazy; I mean, on your first viewing, how are you supposed to take a horror movie that has lighting like a cereal commercial and has weird side trips into slapstick comedy and a train sequence through a brightly-colored matte painting and utilizes literally every single cinematographic trick in the span of 88 minutes?
But at the heart of the movie is its story concept from Obayashi’s pre-teen daughter Chigumi. Obayashi used Chigumi because he set out to make a horror movie from the perspective of a child near the ages of the characters. Many of the more “odd” things in the movie come from that, including the concept of the cute witches’ cat that helps lead the film’s seven characters to their Technicolor doom.
Blanche is sinister from the beginning. Because the movie is based entirely in magical thinking, she just appears and disappears out of nowhere before they get to the titular house, and it unsettles Gorgeous’ friends, who suspect that she is a witch’s cat. With the film’s psychedelic imagery, Blanche becomes a distorted horror monster, and an image of her deals heavily in the film’s wild climatic scenes. – Ryan Gibbs
Ghostface (Scream)
There is nothing more terrifying than facing the unknown—an idea that Scream uses to its full advantage. From the moment Casey Becker (Drew Barrymore) picks up the phone in the opening scene, the audience is treated (or tortured, depending on your horror movie tolerance) with chilling shots of a mysterious serial killer in a black robe and Ghostface mask. The movie introduced America to a previously unfamiliar threat—serial killers who use technology to conceal their identity, stalking their victims with cell phones that allow them to be anywhere and using voice changers that allow them to be anyone.
The true success of Scream’s monster is that it’s not a monster at all—the killers are ordinary people, albeit psychotic ones. Sure, relentless killers like A Nightmare on Elm Street’s Freddy Krueger or Halloween’s Michael Myers seem like insurmountable foes, but their ridiculous immortality and tendency toward cheese leads to more laughs than screams from the audience. The idea of a common human serial killer, especially someone who’s close to you (in the first movie, REALLY close), is a far more terrifying thought. – Bri Lockhart
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