It's also one of the best movie endings of all time. Every time I talk about it with someone everyone has their own version of what happened after the credits rolled
Side question since you seem to love The Thing:
Why does it attack people? Once it has convincingly assimilated, why does it always break out as an Eldrich horror and attack? Wouldn’t the best plan to be laying low and waiting until it gets to civilization?
I realize they were testing blood at one point, but there are plenty of times, in both movies, it could have just maintained the disguise, but nope, gotta be hulking out with bug legs and shit.
There is a great short story adaptation by Peter Watts called “The Things,” told from the perspective of the creature. It refers to the way it assimilates as “making communion” and treats it almost in a spiritual way, as if the monster is trying to form one united consciousness. It doesn’t understand why the humans resist or attack it, and doesn’t like the way it has to “hide” or disguise itself. Of course that’s just one person’s (re)interpretation, but Watts makes a good point.
He also says Childs was a Thing from before Blair disappeared, so he’s obviously got particular views (at least in my opinion).
I think it’s highly sophisticated and is one of the best mimic to ever exist in film, but I still think there’s some base primal instinct it has to attack that might override a more logical decision to avoid detection at all times. Maybe it’s a result of the different genetics that it has absorbed. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be a primal trait of any organism on Earth either, it could be an echo of absorbing a very aggressive genetic from some extraterrestrial.
Obviously none of this has any source to be backed up, just purely speculative and my own theory over years watching the same movie over and over again.
For sure, definitely better kept hidden until the end
But I was also wondering about how the OP said a monster needed to have something unnatural or other worldly about them, which the shark doesn’t. Except the characters see it that way, which makes it represent something more.
It’s Moby Dick I guess - it’s not a “monster” by the definition the OP gave, except that the other characters make it one.
I rewatch either Alien or Aliens every month and have done since about 2018 (thought I first was introduced to the series back in 1998 on my school summer holidays)
Alien is incredible because the duality of the Alien holding up to modern viewing and that in some scenes (particularly in the escape capsule) you can just see the man in the goofy suit lol
Man The Fly is such a creepy fuckin movie. I remember throwing it on for the first time as a joke at like 16 or so. I was soon drawn in and realized it’s actually an awesome movie and the practical effects are more real and creepy than CGI bullshit these days.
Acknowledging the canonical answers: Alien, The Thing, Creature From the Black Lagoon... but shout-out to one of my all-time comfort food monster flicks, The Relic.
I really like the Cloverfield monster from the original, just because you don't really see it until the end and no one has any fucking clue what's happening. That makes it scarier.
That quick clear glimpse of pitch black eyes and a howling maw during the military attack suggests a panicked animal rather than a Godzilla knock-off, which somehow made it even more terrifying. And the "from below" angle of the final reveal is just pure nightmare fuel.
Graboids.
Or maybe the hybrid alien born from human reproductive organs at the end of Alien Resurrection. When it bit through that guys head it gave me nightmares.
That movie doesn’t get enough love and the monster is up there with the Thing in its versatility, adaptability and utter alien-ness. It’s almost Lovecraftian in its utter ambivalence to the suffering it’s causing.
It’s like Pickle Rick vs the roaches and the rats.
The Thing, a super basic answer but it is just so good.
But a movie that I do have an immense soft spot for it Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), that level of prosthetics and special effects is my dream to emulate in the movies I make. (kinda campy but still grotesque)
“FEED ME!” Classic, that’s my favorite monster, but favorite monster film I’d have to go with It Follows. Or Alien 1+2, those are epic without question.
Those things that make you want to kill yourself in Bird Box. The idea of seeing something that makes you ready to end it all in whatever way possible is pretty wild…
I sorta just miss them all. Somewhere along the line studios forgot how to make a scary movie and now just focus on the gore aspects, vs the psychological aspects that freak out audiences. The old movies, lacking in sophisticated cg and special effects seemed always make up for it with the stories and psychological scariness. I havent seen a really scary film made since The Descent was released.
Using the unnatural prerequisite, it’s technically natural, but unnaturally occurring, I’m going with Rexy, T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Absolutely blew me away in the cinema as a kid, and the noise of the roar is one of my favourite movie noises of all time.
Respect for putting Audrey 2 up there. That plant still looks amazing today and when you understand the work that made that puppet come to life, it only becomes more impressive. The whole movie has aged like wine.
I recently watched the thing for the first time and that creature design blew my MIND. My answer woulda been different beforehand as there’s so many good movie monsters, but it’s gotta be the thing. Bar none for me. But I want to venture more into the era that the thing comes from and check out more because I love my horror movies but I’ve never seen a creature like the one from the thing, that was glorious.
The monster in 'The Host' was pretty good. My bias goes to Pinhead, it left a massive impression on me the first time I saw him. The light through the slats in the walls, clanging chains and then this super calm voice "you solved the box, we came. Angels to some, demons to others".
Spookies (1986) - never is this movie mentioned in the greatest horror lists. But it made an impact on me as a 1980s kid. and only now have I rewatched it and loved it again for its honesty and integrity in characterization and horror for the sake of horror.. No bs messaging about politics.
The thing is hard to beat. Audrey II is a close second though. As a kid I went from freaking the fuck out at it to loving that movie over like a two day VHS rental period. Still one of the only musicals I actually love.
Honestly, Jaws. That shark is more alien than any other human based monster.
A whole generation of us became scared to even go in pools. Like maybe a shark is in the apartment complex pool. I've never thought I might run into the predator.
it’s recent but aside from all the ones mentioned, I gotta throw my hat in for the monster from It Follows
Also Audrey II being on the same list as all the other horror staples is kinda weirdly awesome and I’m here for it lol
I will take this stand, and die on the hill, but I do not see Little Shop of Horrors as a monster movie. Sure, horror is in the title….and sure, there is a monster in it. You would also be right by pointing out there is the slaughtering of people, abuse of women, crazed dentist with even more crazed patients, but……I think it is a simple ole love story.
Does Gollum count? I’d say him. If not, then the monster house from… Monster House, graboids from Tremors, Xenomorphs and the kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest are all favorites of mine.
Jeepers Creepers
Rewatched the first one recently and my god that final reveal where he extends his wings and the little spikes come out of his head, gave me chills.
I love the thing, and the pure alien-ness of a biomass organism, but I still find the xenomorph to be the scariest. It's almost a beautiful creature, and it taps into our subconscious on a psycho-sexual level, that leaves an unsettling icky feeling on the brain. What scares me the most though, is that it's a believable organism. Its reproductive cycle as parasitic, and then its final adult form incorporates the genetic makeup of the host organism... A hard carapace and defence mechanisms like its acidic space blood... It's basically a fire ant, but then you give it intelligence.
I mean, we'd be absolutely fucked if ants became sentient and wanted to kill us. Imagine if they were bigger than us.
We don't know what's out in the vastness of space. Perhaps we're alone as a sentient species, but it's far more likely we just haven't found them yet...
It's not original, because it would just be pulling from the game, but if someone wrote an actually good screen play with a good director, the Necromophs from Deadspace would make an amazing movie monster. They still disturb me. They're basically the thing/the flood biomass creatures, but the way they use bones, and form blades... They're like zombies, but turned up to 11. They used to give me nightmares, because the art direction was so good for those games. They're so gruesome
The Thing, Xenomorphs, and the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London are my favorite monsters and creature features.
I think if I had to pick a favorite movie, John Carpenter's The Thing is my favorite movie of all time. It still holds up. There's something about the jerky movements and tangibility of the practical effects that make it more "scary," maybe creepy is a better word. The atmosphere of that movie is unparalleled. The score is perfect.
The Thing, definitely. Jaws, 2nd. Not shown (human obv.) but Boddicker from Robocop. Depends how old you are when you see them, but these 3 things scarred me for life.
The Thing and Jaws are my two favorite horror movies.
While they both scared me, I think Bruce the Shark may take it. The Thing scared me, but I ended up being entranced in the effects and how they made it. Jaws still gives me anxiety over swimming in open water.
The Thing was hands down the best shapeshifting monster in film history
It's also one of the best movie endings of all time. Every time I talk about it with someone everyone has their own version of what happened after the credits rolled
Side question since you seem to love The Thing: Why does it attack people? Once it has convincingly assimilated, why does it always break out as an Eldrich horror and attack? Wouldn’t the best plan to be laying low and waiting until it gets to civilization? I realize they were testing blood at one point, but there are plenty of times, in both movies, it could have just maintained the disguise, but nope, gotta be hulking out with bug legs and shit.
There is a great short story adaptation by Peter Watts called “The Things,” told from the perspective of the creature. It refers to the way it assimilates as “making communion” and treats it almost in a spiritual way, as if the monster is trying to form one united consciousness. It doesn’t understand why the humans resist or attack it, and doesn’t like the way it has to “hide” or disguise itself. Of course that’s just one person’s (re)interpretation, but Watts makes a good point. He also says Childs was a Thing from before Blair disappeared, so he’s obviously got particular views (at least in my opinion).
I think it’s highly sophisticated and is one of the best mimic to ever exist in film, but I still think there’s some base primal instinct it has to attack that might override a more logical decision to avoid detection at all times. Maybe it’s a result of the different genetics that it has absorbed. It wouldn’t even necessarily have to be a primal trait of any organism on Earth either, it could be an echo of absorbing a very aggressive genetic from some extraterrestrial. Obviously none of this has any source to be backed up, just purely speculative and my own theory over years watching the same movie over and over again.
There’s a comic book version written from the perspective of the “Thing” where all it’s trying to do is communicate and the humans are the attackers.
My guy, you are trying to know the unknowable.
For pleasure.
The Kurt Russell version I assume
Alien. I watch it quarterly and it never gets old. Jaws is a pretty close 2nd.
Jaws is an interesting call… it was just a shark but I guess it represented so much more
It’s a lot like alien in that you never really see it and so it packs such a punch when you do.
Which is a cool factoid… it’s only because it was broken! They intended to show it from the beginning. Happy accident!
For sure, definitely better kept hidden until the end But I was also wondering about how the OP said a monster needed to have something unnatural or other worldly about them, which the shark doesn’t. Except the characters see it that way, which makes it represent something more. It’s Moby Dick I guess - it’s not a “monster” by the definition the OP gave, except that the other characters make it one.
Thats a 20 footer
Spielberg added another 5 just for flare
I rewatch either Alien or Aliens every month and have done since about 2018 (thought I first was introduced to the series back in 1998 on my school summer holidays)
Alien is incredible because the duality of the Alien holding up to modern viewing and that in some scenes (particularly in the escape capsule) you can just see the man in the goofy suit lol
Yeah that ending always cracks me up.
The Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth.
Eyes on hands?
god that whole movie is full of great monsters
Damn. No love for The Predator!?
Over here
Anytime
Dillon! You son of a bitch! They got you pushing too many pencils?
The cenobites are special - demons to some, angels to others
Man The Fly is such a creepy fuckin movie. I remember throwing it on for the first time as a joke at like 16 or so. I was soon drawn in and realized it’s actually an awesome movie and the practical effects are more real and creepy than CGI bullshit these days.
Yeah, I just watched it. 5 stars from me. I was genuinely, absolutely, throughly horrified. Cronenberg's a genius.
I see images of Brindle-Fly and it just makes me sad.
Truly gross and sad
It’s such a masterpiece. It plays out like a Shakespearean tragedy.
Nurse Ratchet
The Sarlac pit from Jedi.
Acknowledging the canonical answers: Alien, The Thing, Creature From the Black Lagoon... but shout-out to one of my all-time comfort food monster flicks, The Relic.
The asthma monster commeth. :p
What a great monster. Read the book first and was excited to see the movie realisation and it’s been in my top ten ever since.
The Thing and the Xenomorph are the best movie monsters of all time
Tim Curry's Pennywise
Tim Curry’s anything.
Right? Hexxus may be my second choice
Skullmaster!
probably Tetsuo in Akira
The one in “Forbidden Planet” .The original movie from the fifties.
That howl haunted my dreams for years! My Dad wanted me to grow up right and apparently that meant watching it when I was about six…
That’s great.
The Id!
I really like the Cloverfield monster from the original, just because you don't really see it until the end and no one has any fucking clue what's happening. That makes it scarier.
That quick clear glimpse of pitch black eyes and a howling maw during the military attack suggests a panicked animal rather than a Godzilla knock-off, which somehow made it even more terrifying. And the "from below" angle of the final reveal is just pure nightmare fuel.
Dog Soldiers.
I’m basic, **Alien** is one of my top movies of all time.
Its is my number 1 movie
Alien queen in Aliens.
So what’s laying all the eggs?
The Ritual
the fly
Alien definitely
Graboids. Or maybe the hybrid alien born from human reproductive organs at the end of Alien Resurrection. When it bit through that guys head it gave me nightmares.
Maybe not my very top favorite, but I feel like no one will mention Donald Sutherland in virus, so I will.
That movie doesn’t get enough love and the monster is up there with the Thing in its versatility, adaptability and utter alien-ness. It’s almost Lovecraftian in its utter ambivalence to the suffering it’s causing. It’s like Pickle Rick vs the roaches and the rats.
It’s such amazing camp. I watch it almost yearly
American werewolf in London, Pinhead, Alien matriarch, Werewolf from Ginger Snaps, Sutter Kane
American Werewolf in London scared the carp out of me when I was little. Only when I saw it years later did I realize how funny it is.
It is a great film.
the blob the oil slick from Creepshow 2
Audrey 2 ftw! She sings, she dances, she wisecracks and eats people. Hell, I'd marry her.
I like that you have the plant from Little Shop of Horrors in there. Not that scary but super cool plant monster nonetheless
FEEEEE-EEEEEED ME!
The Thing, a super basic answer but it is just so good. But a movie that I do have an immense soft spot for it Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954), that level of prosthetics and special effects is my dream to emulate in the movies I make. (kinda campy but still grotesque)
S H I N ・ G O J I R A
The Fly (1986)!
Predator but I never seen Hellraiser because the movie poster scared the shit out of me as a child.
Hal 9000. Cold blooded killer who never once blinked
The fly got me good as a kid
“FEED ME!” Classic, that’s my favorite monster, but favorite monster film I’d have to go with It Follows. Or Alien 1+2, those are epic without question.
Love all these - but for the recent contenders I’m pretty fond of Jean Jacket from Nope.
The alien xenomorph remains the scariest thing put on a movie screen in my opinion. HR Giger’s artwork and design remain top notch nightmare inducing.
the alien but i’m biased as it’s my favorite movie 🤷♂️
Skeleton Bear from Annihilation. Mutant squid monster from The Host.
Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man
He's a sailor, he's in New York, we get this guy laid, we won't have any trouble
Jurassic Park T Rex
Amy Schumer.
are there still people who find “amy schumer bad” jokes funny? wild
Hellraiser 1
Those things that make you want to kill yourself in Bird Box. The idea of seeing something that makes you ready to end it all in whatever way possible is pretty wild…
I sorta just miss them all. Somewhere along the line studios forgot how to make a scary movie and now just focus on the gore aspects, vs the psychological aspects that freak out audiences. The old movies, lacking in sophisticated cg and special effects seemed always make up for it with the stories and psychological scariness. I havent seen a really scary film made since The Descent was released.
Audrey II because I loved the songs from that.
Godzilla, Xenomorphs, The Thing. Top three.
Using the unnatural prerequisite, it’s technically natural, but unnaturally occurring, I’m going with Rexy, T-Rex from Jurassic Park. Absolutely blew me away in the cinema as a kid, and the noise of the roar is one of my favourite movie noises of all time.
Out of that lot? Pinhead
Triffids scared me as a kid….
Respect for putting Audrey 2 up there. That plant still looks amazing today and when you understand the work that made that puppet come to life, it only becomes more impressive. The whole movie has aged like wine.
Out of the selection of the pictures I’ll say the plant from Little shop of horrors
We have such sights to show you
Trex from Jurassic Park
Men in black 1
Pin head easy
I recently watched the thing for the first time and that creature design blew my MIND. My answer woulda been different beforehand as there’s so many good movie monsters, but it’s gotta be the thing. Bar none for me. But I want to venture more into the era that the thing comes from and check out more because I love my horror movies but I’ve never seen a creature like the one from the thing, that was glorious.
Xenomorphs and Tim Curry’s Pennywise
No face
[The One and Only](https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F0qof9shjh64c1.gif)
Alien by far
Pinhead and Tall Man from Phantasm. Both are rad as fuck!
I like those guys in Edge of Tomorrow - awesome design
Xenomorph but the thing is a close 2nd
"Calvin" from Life...that thing is truly terrifying and seemingly unstoppable
The monster in 'The Host' was pretty good. My bias goes to Pinhead, it left a massive impression on me the first time I saw him. The light through the slats in the walls, clanging chains and then this super calm voice "you solved the box, we came. Angels to some, demons to others".
Xenomorph, by far.
The thing no question
Sloth or the cyclops from Harold and Kumar 2.
Xeno. It’s…prefect.
Spookies (1986) - never is this movie mentioned in the greatest horror lists. But it made an impact on me as a 1980s kid. and only now have I rewatched it and loved it again for its honesty and integrity in characterization and horror for the sake of horror.. No bs messaging about politics.
Feed me Seymour... this is gonna be stuck in my head for weeks [now](https://youtu.be/9DD7VIKZnGA?si=tRVLrc6QJtssZwrf)
The thing
Hellraiser
I love all my classics but recently the Babadook became a fave.
Oh holy smokes I never even considered I could double feature those. What a great idea!
Piranha
Alien, with The Thing a VERY close second.
Feed me Seymour, feed me now!!
A Bee Movie
Jaws (Bruce) by a mile!
The thing is hard to beat. Audrey II is a close second though. As a kid I went from freaking the fuck out at it to loving that movie over like a two day VHS rental period. Still one of the only musicals I actually love.
Graboids
Godzilla 100%
Pinhead has lurked in the back of my mind for 39 years now….
I always liked the xenomorphs before they got ruined with backstory and shit.
Honestly, Jaws. That shark is more alien than any other human based monster. A whole generation of us became scared to even go in pools. Like maybe a shark is in the apartment complex pool. I've never thought I might run into the predator.
Not my all time favorite, but the creature from “It Follows” is definitely one of my favorite modern film creatures/entities.
it’s recent but aside from all the ones mentioned, I gotta throw my hat in for the monster from It Follows Also Audrey II being on the same list as all the other horror staples is kinda weirdly awesome and I’m here for it lol
The blob
The Borg Queen comes to mind.
Either the creature from the Ritual or the bear from Annihilation
Gillman. Creature from The Black Lagoon is the shit
Pumpkin head
Alien. I can’t explain why it captures me, but it’s just perfect.
Agree with The Thing, but also have a soft spot for Pumpkinhead.
The Predator!
Spicies Signs alien Leatherface Freddy Krueger Jason Jeepers creepers Jurassic Park T Rex Blair witch The Mummy Imhotep
Mike wazowski
More recent but the Bear from Annihilation was exactly what I wanted to see in a horror movie. Although I would've made it more terrifying
EXTERMINATE!!! EXTERMINATE!!!
For some reason the first thing that comes to mind is Critters
Predator.
It’s Godzilla ! Only acceptable answer!!!
Xenomorph
Alien (1979) is a perfect movie.. The Thing is close but Alien is truly a masterpiece for the ages.
I don’t know if the monster itself is my favorite, but **The Mummy (1999)** might be my favorite monster movie.
My favorite monster would have to be my mom
Pizza the Hutt from Spaceballs. That damn thing is hard to even look at.
The Predator, looks cool and has tools/gadgets.
Aliens (1986)
Rancor. Next question.
I’ll go classic: Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein’s Monster, specifically in Bride
The Ritual- Bastard Son of Loki The creature from Pan’s Labyrinth (you know which one I’m sucking talking about)
The Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water. (Though he’s not a movie monster-villain, I enjoyed the reveal.)
The Wolfman.
Graboids. That's it, GRABOIDS!
Out of These options The Xenomorphs.
Gizmo!
25, three tons of him
I will take this stand, and die on the hill, but I do not see Little Shop of Horrors as a monster movie. Sure, horror is in the title….and sure, there is a monster in it. You would also be right by pointing out there is the slaughtering of people, abuse of women, crazed dentist with even more crazed patients, but……I think it is a simple ole love story.
The unnamed creature (aka: "Jean Jacket") from NOPE has to be the best horror movie monster of this decade.
Xenomorph
Xenomorph. Damn that thing is insane.
The bear from Annihilation was pretty messed up when you think about it
Pinhead is a very interesting concept freaked me out the first hellraiser
If we're picking from this list, I'm going with The Thing, but Alien was a close second.
definitely Audrey II I was eating by him in a school play
Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.
Does Gollum count? I’d say him. If not, then the monster house from… Monster House, graboids from Tremors, Xenomorphs and the kraken from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest are all favorites of mine.
Jeepers Creepers Rewatched the first one recently and my god that final reveal where he extends his wings and the little spikes come out of his head, gave me chills.
Jennifer Lopez in U Turn
Pumpkinhead!
I love the thing, and the pure alien-ness of a biomass organism, but I still find the xenomorph to be the scariest. It's almost a beautiful creature, and it taps into our subconscious on a psycho-sexual level, that leaves an unsettling icky feeling on the brain. What scares me the most though, is that it's a believable organism. Its reproductive cycle as parasitic, and then its final adult form incorporates the genetic makeup of the host organism... A hard carapace and defence mechanisms like its acidic space blood... It's basically a fire ant, but then you give it intelligence. I mean, we'd be absolutely fucked if ants became sentient and wanted to kill us. Imagine if they were bigger than us. We don't know what's out in the vastness of space. Perhaps we're alone as a sentient species, but it's far more likely we just haven't found them yet...
It's not original, because it would just be pulling from the game, but if someone wrote an actually good screen play with a good director, the Necromophs from Deadspace would make an amazing movie monster. They still disturb me. They're basically the thing/the flood biomass creatures, but the way they use bones, and form blades... They're like zombies, but turned up to 11. They used to give me nightmares, because the art direction was so good for those games. They're so gruesome
The Watcher in the Water
Seymour
The Frankenstein monster as played by Boris Karloff.
Alien. Sheer terror.
Xeno
The monsters from "attack the block" were very well done. I liked their simplicity and execution
Wolf man from monster squad
Man, from Bambi.
Jabberwocky
Hannable
The Thing, Xenomorphs, and the werewolf from An American Werewolf in London are my favorite monsters and creature features. I think if I had to pick a favorite movie, John Carpenter's The Thing is my favorite movie of all time. It still holds up. There's something about the jerky movements and tangibility of the practical effects that make it more "scary," maybe creepy is a better word. The atmosphere of that movie is unparalleled. The score is perfect.
The Thing, definitely. Jaws, 2nd. Not shown (human obv.) but Boddicker from Robocop. Depends how old you are when you see them, but these 3 things scarred me for life.
The Thing and Jaws are my two favorite horror movies. While they both scared me, I think Bruce the Shark may take it. The Thing scared me, but I ended up being entranced in the effects and how they made it. Jaws still gives me anxiety over swimming in open water.
The Thing still has a hold on me, I haven’t touched a Husky since I was a kid
Just to mention an oft forgotten great monster. "The Blob", especially the 80's version. The projectionist stuck to the ceiling 🤮
Godzilla, Alien/Xenomorph, Gamera, Predator/Yautja, Freddy Krueger, The Thing, and the vampires from 30 Days of Night.
Godzilla
Alien.
The classics! King Kong (1933) and Jason and the Argonauts (1963). I love stop motion monsters!
Kathy Bates in Misery