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Deciding what a monster is is difficult. Do you count people who commit monstrous acts? (No.) What about dinosaurs? (Maybe.) Are sentient aliens like aliens or Chewbacca suitable? (No.) What about Mike Wazowski, Sully and the rest of the ‘Monsters, Inc’ critters (probably)?
The best movies about monsters and various monsters and alien creatures have long been the proud home of allegorical storytelling; beautifully crafted reasons for the real fears that haunt and control us. In the motion pictures below, you’ll see a particularly interesting mix of modern panic and technological age horrors.
When building this list, we decided to be precise and excluded zombies and vampires, mainly because both genres are good as stand-alone genres.
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Eddie Brock (Tom Hardy) is a famous journalist/reporter who, in his words, “follows people who don’t want to be followed.” He runs into the Life Foundation, and in his attempt to uncover the allegations the foundation has received, he ruins his entire career. Six months later, he finds himself back at the foundation with the help of one of their top corporation scientists, but during his visit, Eddie encounters an alien known as the Symbiote.
9. Jurassic World (2015)
Located just off the coast of Costa Rica, the Jurassic World luxury resort is home to a host of genetically engineered dinosaurs, including the restless and intelligent Indominus. When the huge creature runs away, it sets off a chain reaction that makes the other dinosaurs angry. Now it’s up to ex-military and animal specialist (Chris Pratt), it’s time to use his special skills to save two young brothers and other tourists from an all-out prehistoric attack.
8. Pacific Rim (2013)
Mexican cinematographer Guillermo del Toro is a brilliant writer, producer and director of horror, fantasy and supernatural films, one of the most talented to emerge in these fields since Tod Browning and James Whale in the 1920s and 30s. His best films to date have been made in Spain, notably two subtle gothic fables set during the civil war and its aftermath, The Devil’s Skeleton and Pan’s Labyrinth.
The film is about giant alien monsters known as “kaiju” that emerge from a dimensional rift in the Pacific Ocean and leave a trail of destruction in their wake. Humanity eventually confronts the giant threats by creating a huge mech known as the Jaeger, but as time goes on the kaiju grows stronger and turns the tide of battle back to their side.
When the rising losses of the Jaegers lead the world’s governments to cut funding for the program, the marshal plots one last counterattack against the Kaiju threat: an attack by the Jaegers on the rift itself in the hope that they can permanently close the rift.
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A huge monster attacked the underwater bathyscaphe, which monitored the ocean world, after which it lay down on the bottom of the deep trench of the Pacific Ocean along with the entire crew. An oceanographer from China asks for help from submariner Jonas Taylor, who has to save the team from a 23-meter monster shark.
6. Frankenstein (1931)
Frankenstein is a film about a mad, obsessed scientist, Dr. Henry Frankenstein, who creates a monster by taking body parts from dead people. After placing the brain into the monster’s head, Henry and his assistant Fritz are amazed that the experiment is alive. When the monster mistakenly kills Maria, a young girl he meets by the river, the city rebels and seeks to bring the monster to justice. They find the monster and its maker in an old mill, where the monster is trying to kill its maker.
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David Drayton and his youngest son Billy are among a large group of terrified townspeople herded into a local grocery store by a strange, otherworldly fog. David is the first to realize that something is hiding in the fog – deadly, terrifying creatures not of this world. Survival depends on everyone in the store pulling together, but is that possible given human nature? As his mind crumbles in the face of fear and panic, David begins to wonder what scares him more: the monsters in the fog or those around him.
4. King Kong (2005)
Peter Jackson’s remake is extremely faithful to its source material, which is why it echoes a lot of the themes about King Kong as the shaggy incarnation of nature’s fury.
Each frame of this film is designed to re-lure the viewer into a century of history and capture a fresh sense of excitement, which in the 21st century is no small task. Dinosaur beheadings and arachnid attacks are conceived with boyish delight, and the scenes between Anna and Kong are performed with youthful tenderness. As an adult, one can still experience a level of emotional detachment watching the 1933 finale, but Kong is more than an instinctive monster, and Darrow is more than his frightened victim. However, thanks to Jackson’s film, viewers experience the reaction of a 9-year-old child to the death of this creature.
3. Frankenweenie (1984)
When young Victor’s beloved dog Sparky (who stars in Victor’s home monster movies) is hit by a car, Victor decides to bring him back to life the only way he knows how. But when a “monster” with a huge neck causes havoc and terror in the hearts of Victor’s neighbors, he must convince them that despite his appearance, Sparky is still the good, loyal friend he always was.
2. The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
From his hiding place under a 19th-century Parisian opera house, a brooding Phantom (Gerard Butler) plots to get close to vocalist Christina (Emmy Rossum). A ghost, wearing a mask to hide a congenital deformity, forces strong arms to give aspiring star characters key roles, but instead Christina falls in love with arts benefactor Raul (Patrick Wilson). Horrified at the thought of losing his lover, the Phantom hatches a plan to keep Christine by his side, while Raoul tries to thwart the scheme.
1. Alien (1979)
Alien blends sci-fi, horror and dark poetry into one.
Alien is an extremely disturbing space science fiction horror film about a fearsome, unstoppable, carnivorous, escaping, androgynous demon. A gruesome, claustrophobic, action-oriented film without a lot of dialogue, it contains many tense-filled moments.
He introduced both dark horror elements and gore in his traditional sci-fi fashion. It was like the cheap and obscene “alien monster” movie cycle of the 1950s, but with superior production value, directing talent and cast.