31 Best Movie Monsters

Share This

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Some come from the realm of the supernatural, others from nature. There are mutants and evolutionary freaks among them, but perhaps the most feared are the “ordinary” human beings. What are they? They’re monsters, of course, and Hollywood has been creating and recreating them since its inception. Here’s 31 of the best of them–one for each day in October.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon - Half-man, half-fish, the creature first appeared in 1954 when he was discovered by a group of geologists on an expedition up the Amazon. Like many a movie monster before him, Gill Man takes a shine to the lone woman on the trip, whom he kidnaps. This missing link from the evolutionary chain returned to the big screen in Revenge of the Creature and The Creature Walks Among Us. Ten years after his first movie appearance, Gill Man made a guest appearance on the TV show “The Munsters” as Uncle Gilbert.

King Kong - Among the giant prehistoric inhabitants of his native Island of Skull Mountain, the 50-foot ape reigns supreme as the most fearsome creature of all. But though he’s capable of picking up a car and throwing it at his attackers, Kong is undone by his love for a beautiful woman. Making his film debut in 1933, Kong has appeared in many sequels and remakes, most recently in the eponymous 2005 picture directed by Peter Jackson and starring Adrien Brody and Naomi Watts.

The Wolf Man - If you ever find yourself stuck in a rural village where the villagers go around whispering this ditty: Even a man who is pure in heart/and says his prayers by night/may become a wolf when the wolfbane blooms/and the autumn moon is bright. get the heck out of there. Larry Talbot, played by Lon Chaney Jr , fails to heed the warning and ends up roaming the Welsh countryside trying to rid himself of his curse.

Freddy Krueger - Whatever you do, don’t fall asleep. Freddy Krueger has been keeping people up since his original appearance in 1984’s Nightmare on Elm Street. The undead Krueger inhabits the world of dreams and attacks his victims while they’re sleeping. His weapon of choice: A leather glove, from which sprout four 6-inch knives.

The Fly - An important thing to remember before teleporting : Check the teleporting chamber for insects. You won’t be sorry. The original Fly appeared in 1958 as scientist André Delambre, who exchanges heads and a limb with a fly that happened to be in the machine in which he was attempting to teleport himself. Jeff Goldblum’s character, Seth Brundle, is guilty of teleporting while intoxicated in the 1986 remake, which sees the character slowly morph into the insect of the title, step by gory step.

Michael Myers - A killer at the age of six, Michael Myers has been on a rampage since 1978 when he escaped from an insane asylum and returned to his hometown to commit a little mayhem in the movie Halloween. Should you run into him, don’t bother trying to kill him as Michael has proved harder to kill than Rasputin. Throughout the years he has survived being shot at point-blank range, as well as being burned, stabbed, beaten, hanged and electrocuted.

Frankenstein’s Monster - The classic movie monster first appeared in 1931 when Dr. Frankenstein builds his monster from spare body parts and a criminal’s brain. Not a good combination. When the monster’s nature is revealed, Frankenstein locks him in a dungeon, but the 7-foot fiend breaks out. Hijinks ensue. Frankenstein’s monster has had a long and varied movie career. In subsequent films the monster marries Elsa Lanchester, meets up with Abbott and Costello and becomes part of a song-and-dance act.

Dracula - The count from Transylvania has had a leading role in almost 160 movies, first appearing in the 1922 classic Nosferatu, an unauthorized adaptation of Bram Stoker’s novel that Stoker’s widow fought to keep off the screen. Bela Lugosi, the most famous of Hollywood’s blood-sucking aristocrats, starred in a 1931 version that was based on a play by Hamilton Deane. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, played by Gary Oldman and directed by Francis Ford Coppolla, closely follows the plot of the original novel.

Alien - The sight of the alien of the title bursting out of John Hurt’s chest has got to be one of film’s scariest moments. The always morphing creatures, first appearing as eggs, drip with a “universal solvent” that can eat its way through the deck of a ship. Described by one of the film’s characters as a “perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility,” the beasts came back for three more movies.

The Mummy - Boris Karloff starred in the first Mummy movie in 1932. He played Imhotep, an ancient Egyptian priest who was buried alive for the sacrilege of trying to bring back the dead. Inadvertently brought back to life by an archaeologist, Imhotep uses his mystic mummy powers to reincarnate his ancient love in the body of another woman. Lon Chaney Jr picked up where Lugosi left off in the 1940 flick, The Mummy’s Hand. in which he plays the mummy, Kharis. If Hollywood has taught us anything, it’s that you’re bound to confront an irate mummy if you insist on monkeying around in Egyptian tombs . Kharis goes after two archaeologists in the first film, which was followed by three more that took the mummy to New Orleans and New England.

Chucky - Serial killer Charles Lee Ray transfers his evil soul into a doll in Child’s Play, unleashing a wave of four more horror movies. This pint-sized monster also manages to reproduce, which could mean that we’ll never see the end of this series. And that’s really scary.

Hannibal Lecter - A brilliant psychiatrist with a taste for human flesh, Hannibal the cannibal is the perfect man to help FBI agent Clarice Starling track down a serial killer. Although Hannibal has appeared in five movies, his portrayal by Anthony Hopkins in Silence of the Lambs and its two sequels is the one with which most movie-goers are familiar. As Lector, Hopkins is erudite and charming–if you can ignore the fact that he’d like to eat your liver with a side order of fava beans and a nice chianti.

Predator - This monster from another planet enjoys tracking down human prey for sport, starting with a group of US Army commandos trapped in a South American jungle. Arnold Schwarzenegger takes down the monsters in the first film, but that didn’t stop them from coming. As the series progresses, we come to learn that this particular species has been hunting down and killing men since ancient times. Is an alien/predator hybrid coming soon to a theater near you? Don’t count it out.

Wicked Witch of the West - The witch and her flying monkeys have been terrifying movie-going children since 1939, when she went after Dorothy Gale for killing her sister–the Wicked Witch of the East–and stealing the coveted ruby slippers. One of the most recognizable villains in the world, the witch ruled over her corner of Oz with an iron fist until Dorothy offed her with a simple bucket of water.

The Exorcist - One minute 12-year-old Regan MacNeil is a normal kid, next thing you know she’s spewing pea soup, rotating her head 360 degrees and abusing a crucifix. Regan’s not suffering from the onset of puberty. She’s possessed by Satan. The only horror movie to be nominated for an Oscar until 1991’s Silence of the Lambs, the movie reportedly caused heart failure to some in the nationwide audience. It was that scary.

Annie Wilkes - She seems so nice when we first meet her, so cheery and kind. But Annie Wilkes, the obsessed fan played by Kathy Bates in Misery, has got more than one screw loose. A nurse, Annie rescues romance novelist Paul Sheldon after he’s injured in a car crash. She seems like an angel of mercy, but gradually we learn that Annie, Paul’s number one fan, has some pretty serious control issues.

Norman Bates - Another seemingly harmless character is Norman Bates, Anthony Perkins character in Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho. But young Norman, who quells before his domineering mother, has hidden depths. When the film came out, Hitchcock insisted that no one be admitted to the theater after the movie started. The director said he didn’t want the audience to miss the appearance of star Janet Leigh, who’s killed in the beginning of the movie in the famous shower scene.

Jason Voorhees - This hockey-mask-wearing killer started out as a young boy who died of drowning at summer camp in Friday the 13th. Then he was a plot inspiration. Now, with 11 movies, under his belt, Jason is a franchise. Jason’s made a career of killing the unlucky summer residents at Camp Crystal Lake. It’s a wonder that the camp continues to draw customers.

Phantom of the Opera - A gifted musician who’s obsessed with a young singer, the phantom roams the Paris Opera House scaring off singers who threaten his love’s career and knocking off potential suitors. Lon Chaney played the first phantom in a 1925 film that was released both as a silent film and a talky. The phantom, who has been disfigured, has hidden in the opera house for years to avoid the cruel stares of strangers. Claude Rains plays the title role in the 1943 version. The Andrew Lloyd Weber musical version of the tale was released in 2004.

The Invisible Man - A mysterious stranger, his face swathed in bandages and his eyes obscured by dark glasses, takes a room at a village inn. The stranger demands that the staff leave him alone and never leaves his quarters. While working with test tubes in his room, the stranger doesn’t see the landlady inadvertently walk in. She, however, notices that her guest has no head. Claude Rains plays the stranger, Dr. Jack Griffin, a scientist who goes insane after drinking an invisibility potion of his own invention.

Godzilla - This monster, a prehistoric lizard who’s been mutated by atomic warfare, made his film debut in 1954. He’s been terrorizing the people of Japan ever since in numerous movies, television shows and comic books.

The Blob - This giant amoeba didn’t hit the big time until its human co-star, Steve McQueen, became a TV star. Then this 1958 indie movie became a favorite at the drive-in, eventually achieving the status of cult classic. A mass of jelly left behind in a crater after a meteorite crashes to Earth, the blob eats humans in order to survive. And it’s very hungry.

Pinhead - The star of the Hellraiser films, this movie monster is often rated as one of the scariest villains of all time. Originally a human, Captain Elliott Spenser he experiences a mental breakdown while taking part in the Battle of Flanders in 1916 (as a British military captain). He then gets lost in the world of drugs and alcohol and eventually gets into Satanism and Black Magic.He transformsinto “Lead Cenobite” when he opens the demonic Lament Configuration, an intricate box that serves as the doorway to Hell.

Mr. Hyde - Mild-mannered Dr Jekyll creates a potion that brings out his wild side, the evil murderer Mr Hyde. The story, based on The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson, has been filmed numerous times. Wearing copious amounts of makeup, Frederic March playedthe dual roles in a steamy 1931 pre-Code co-starring Miriam Hopkins as the prostitute Ivy. Ingrid Bergman is Ivy in the 1941 version, in which Spencer Tracy transforms into a more naturalistic Hyde.

Them - They are ants that have mutated into giant, human eating monsters thanks to–you guessed it–nuclear testing in New Mexico. Not the sort of creatures you want showing up at your picnic.

Candyman - According to an urban legend, if you say Candyman five times in front of a mirror you’ll summon the Candyman, a one-armed man who will cut you in two. The back story: Candyman was an ex-slave whose right arm was sawed off, after which he was coated with honey and stung to death by bees. That’s the kind of treatment that makes for vengeful spirits. A graduate student studying folklore summons him to the notorious Cabrini-Green housing project in Chicago. Bad stuff happens.

Leatherface - Wearing a mask made of human skin, Leatherface was an abused, mentally retarded boy who grows up to kill as directed by his family of grave-robbing cannibals. The character has starred in six Texas Chain Saw Massacre films including the first film in 1974.

Damien - He’s the son of Satan who was switched at birth for the stillborn child of the American ambassador to Italy. The Omen, Damien’s first movie, concerns his childhood, when he had a nasty habit of killing his nannies. Good help is so hard to find. The series continues into Damien’s adulthood when Satan’s spawn becomes the CEO of a large multinational corporation.

The Thing - A shape-shifting alien takes on the appearance of the people he kills. The Thing begins his rampage at a scientific outpost in Antarctica. Howard Hawks directed the first version, The Thing From Another World, in 1951. John Carpenter remade it in 1982 as The Thing. The first movie created suspense by leaving the Thing largely unseen as an unknown menace lurking in the shadows. The latter was a carnival of gore . Pick your poison.

Cujo - once a mild-mannered family pet, this St. Bernard turns vicious after being bitten by a rabid bat. Cujo attacks a mother and son trapped in a car and goes on to terrorize an entire town. He is one mad dog. Very mad.

Jaws - The beaches of Amity Island became the feeding ground for a particularly voracious Great White Shark who proves to be as hard to kill as Moby Dick. The first summer blockbuster, Jaws did for swimming in the ocean what Psycho did for taking showers–it kept a whole lot of people out of the water.

Share This

Tags: Entertainment //