With Godzilla: King of the Monsters coming out this weekend, we are about to see an invasion of monsters entering our cinema screens. Before we are entertained by the spectacle of this new set of creatures, we wanted to take a look back at all of the best creature feature movies that came before. What is your favorite monster movie? What creature would you be the most afraid of running into?
Tremors was the first monster movie I ever saw that didn’t star Scooby-Doo and it is one I will never forget. Starring Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward, Michael Gross and Reba McEntire before she dressed as Colonel Sanders to sing about fried chicken, it is the quintessential 90s B-Movie. The film follows all 14 residents of the small town known as Perfection, Nevada, as they are terrorized by giant worm-like creatures that they call Graboids. Graboids live underground and only use their sense of hearing to track down their victims. What makes this movie so compelling is that it revels in its cheesiness. Despite the terrifying premise, the film never loses its sense of fun. Characters bicker during their down time, they joke during intense situations, they come up with crazy ideas to survive their predators. Tremors utilizes its perfect ensemble and its horrific monsters to create the perfect introduction to the genre so lovingly dubbed Creature Features. (Logan Van Winkle)
“Get to the choppa!”Predator starts out as your typical 80’s military action flick with huge (literally) stars that becomes something else entirely halfway through the film. This 1980’s sci-fi/action/horror flick stars the greatest action star of all time, Arnold Schwarzenegger, as he and his team of elite soldiers fight to survive in the jungle as they are being picked off one-by-one by the extraterrestrial killing machine known as The Predator. This film packs so many amazing one-liners like, “stick around”, “get to the chopper”, “I ain’t got time to bleed”, and many others I would quote if they didn’t have language. This film also features one of the greatest creature designs in history for The Predator. It’s both creepy and intimidating all at once. Please avoid all sequels, except for the 2010 Predators, as they really ruin the specialness of this classic. (Ben Davis)
In 1986, Frank Oz released Little Shop of Horrors, a mid-budget film adaptation of an Off-Off-Broadway Musical based off a low-budget B-movie from the 1960s, with music inspired by doo-wop and rock and roll—and, impossibly, captured lightning in a bottle. Even with studio interference forcing him to re-shoot the third act (something which would be repealed in the Director’s Cut, which restored his original ending), something about Little Shop seemed destined for cult status, as it failed to break even in theatres, only gaining notoriety on home video years later. Serving as the debut musical for legendary songwriters Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, it features some of their most memorable and quirky songs, including the Oscar-nominated “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space” sung miraculously by the giant Venus Flytrap Audrey 2, performed by veteran puppeteers of the Jim Henson company. The film is surreal and has a sense of dread, without ever sacrificing the fun, offbeat tone it has set up as a musical. Yet what might separate it from any other monster movie of its kind is how the monster goes about paving its path of destruction; not through stomping through streets, or crashing through buildings, or breathing fire, but empty promises; the promise of fame, power, and everything you could ever want in life, just for—seemingly—a few drops of blood. In those final moments, the true horror is not what’s unfolding onscreen, but whether you can see yourself giving in to such lust in real life. (Devan Meyer)
When I think of my favorite horror films of all time, there are so many to choose from! But what really makes true horror is paranoia. The unknown can do so much more than a creature in front of you. The irony is that one of the creepiest creature features of all time is most scary when this creature is not on screen (or is it?). John Carpenter is the king of low budget film-making as he made a career full of cult classics that made the most of miniature budgetary resources. With that shoestring budget and the impeccable talents of special effects artist Rob Bottin, Carpenter created a creature that will haunt your dreams for the rest of your life. Whether it is a head with spider legs or a giant teethed human chest, The Thing will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish. Building tension, Ennio Morricone’s minimal but eerily affecting score, and a great cast elevate this from a B-movie to a classic of horror cinema. Kurt Russell is a badass in every sense of the word and carries the film with his great charisma (and his luscious locks). But is really comes down to Carpenter and his great handle on paralyzing suspense. Who ever thought a blood test could be so terrifying? And when it really comes down to it, who really is The Thing? (Shane Conto)
To call the amphibious being at the center of The Shape of Water a “creature” actually leans right into the central themes of the film. Guillermo del Toro is one of the great visionary filmmakers of our time as he writes his love letters to the monsters of his imagination. But love is what should be shown to these lovely creations and that is the hardest thing to show to the unknown or the stranger in front of us. The Shape of Water is perfect in this aspect as del Toro makes the audience really question whether the fish-man is a true monster or the humans around us. Doug Jones brings grace to the Amphibian Man while the true monstrosity of the film is Michael Shannon, a government agent who looks down at those different from him and brings bloodshed instead of understanding. The love that grows between Elisa (Sally Hawkins) and the Amphibian Man is beautiful as this strange and misunderstood being makes a mute woman feel accepted and unjudged. The Amphibian Man represents the misunderstood and the different in our society, something that del Toro knows so much about. (Shane Conto)
What’s most spectacular isn’t that this movie was made almost 90 years ago, what’s most spectacular is that it somehow holds up. Sure, the stop motion is more jerky, and the quality of the film leaves a lot to be desired, but behold the power of story. What the original Kong understood is that your “villain” becomes much more interesting when you give them motivation and empathy, even when that character is a giant ape like monster. If you haven’t ever fired it up, give it a shot, it’s a testament to the power of story telling trumping modern technology. (Aaron Dicer)
The brilliance of Hitchcock’s The Birds isn’t merely just making the feathered demons the monster of the movie. No, the brilliance is that by making something so common overwhelmingly evil, the horror of the movie spills out into our live and escapes the cinema with us. This movie demands to be watched over and over again. We see the slow build of birds in the background. Then the unsettling scene as Melanie Daniels (Tippi Hedren) and school children are attacked by the crows as they try to escape. This will have you looking over your shoulder in the middle of the day time as every bird you seeing suddenly becomes more sinister. (Dexter Hansen)
This film didn’t create the wheel for Creature Feature Films, but it finely tuned it to the utmost degree. Alien (1979) directed by Ridley Scott is a Sci-Fi/Horror Film that has inspired so many filmmakers after its conception. It is a true classic. The story follows the crew of the commercial spaceship Nostromo: their plans of going home for some much deserved R&R are cut short when they intercept a distress call they wish they had ignored. Sigourney Weaver does an excellent job bringing the character of Ellen Ripley to life and jump started a successful film career with this breakout role. Watching the crew interact with one another is a joy to take in and draws you in with each scene provided. Parker and Brett provide great comedic moments as counterpoint to Ripley. Complimenting brilliant dialogue is the sleek design work of H.R Giger. The design of the Alien/Xenomorph is one of the most iconic monsters/creatures in movie history. Shiny black skin, tons of texture, a protruding rib cage, a long spiny tail—but most frightening is the lack of eyes on its elongated head. The sense of the walls closing in on the crew as the Alien makes its way through the vents makes the audience feel as hunted as the cast. The claustrophobic nature of the film is assisted greatly by the set design and having the advantage of a fully constructed interior of the ship. Alien is a true benchmark film and has a long lasting legacy as one of the greatest films ever produced. (Joseph Vargas)
I remember seeing this for the first time on the big screen back in 2013 when it got re-released for it’s 20th anniversery in 3D. I’ll never forget the experience 13 year old me had when witnessing the scene involving a T-Rex and a tiny man in the rain holding a flair. I was scared and excited at the same time, all thanks to the amazing work by Director (Steven Speilberg), and the fantastic iconic score by (John Williams). If you haven’t heard the premise, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) want’s to open up a new park on an island and call it “Jurassic Park”. Four people get to experience the park before it opens played by “Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, and Martin Ferrero”. Some things in the park go wrong and it’s up to everyone to escape the island before it’s too late. While the direction, and acting is good, my personal favorite thing is how this movie blends practical effects and CGI. Almost everything about this movie holds up today in doing everything better than movies that are releasing lately. This is a scary creature movie everyone should get to see at least once. (Alex Henderson)
I’ve spoken about this once, but it seems very fitting that I talk about this film again right at the start of summer. Jaws is a perfectly crafted summer blockbuster disguised as a horror film. Spielberg is firing at all cylinders here, crafting an unforgettable masterpiece that has yet to be topped in its approach to the genre by not showing the monster till the very end. Some have tried this same format, but not to the same effect that Spielberg was able to capture here. The cast is also excellent; in particular Robert Shaw whose reaction—you know the one—at the end of the film still gives me nightmares about getting too far out in the water. So with that being said, after you watch this film “you’ll never go in the water again”. (Ben Davis)
Honorable Mentions
The Mist
Based on the 1980 book of the same name by Stephen King, The Mist is one of those “fear down to your bones” type of movies. It’s what I believe to be a horror film with a splash of SciFi in between. The town is covered in this thick fog and they don’t know what’s hiding inside of it. The film is suspenseful, scary and has some stomach-churning moments, and it has an ending so messed up you don’t know how to feel or what to say. Even though it is a monster movie, the humans are actually the monsters in this film. This film shows how far ordinary people will go just to survive each other in a supermarket. (Chantal Ashford)
Also See:
Cloverfield, The Host, The Fly, Gremlins, Open Water, Reign of Fire, Super 8, King Kong (2005), Starship Troopers