Not all monster movies also function as horror movies, since you could call Jurassic Park a monster movie of sorts, and though it’s intense (and has some scary scenes), it’s not usually described as a horror movie. The same goes for a few Guillermo del Toro movies about monsters, with Pan’s Labyrinth and The Shape of Water being two of his best, and both are more concerned with other genres besides horror.
Also, if you go back and look at earlier monster movies – so, for present purposes – the ones made before the year 2000, not all of them are necessarily scary by today’s standards. The following titles, though, have the best chance at still feeling unsettling and frightening, being particularly timeless as horror movies that just so happen to prominently feature monsters. There are also a range of monsters featured in the movies below, including giant ones, aliens, werewolves, and even a (particularly big) shark.
10
‘Godzilla vs. Biollante’ (1989)
Oh yeah, there’s gonna be Godzilla. There has to be Godzilla. But it does also have to be stressed (even if obvious) that not all Godzilla movies are intended to be scary, as plenty are more focused on action, and some feel comedic/kid-friendly, too. Godzilla vs. Biollante is one of the more intense films in the series, though, as well as one of the more moving Godzilla movies, too.
It’s about a creature that comes to life after cells from Godzilla, a plant, and a young woman are combined, forming the also titular Biollante. Godzilla vs. Biollante is particularly spectacular in terms of how Biollante is brought to life, and the stakes feel especially personal while the one-off (at this stage) monster is just as alarming in appearance as its backstory is sad. It’s got a lot to offer as a giant monster movie, to put it bluntly, and is an overall highlight of the Godzilla series.
9
‘The Howling’ (1981)
The Howling was directed by Joe Dante, who later helmed both Gremlins movies, and they’re also monster movies, albeit very comedic ones (especially the unapologetically manic second film). The Howling, though somewhat B-movie-ish, was a good deal more serious, bloody, and raunchy, though, and it’s all uncompromising in ways that still strike a nerve, plus the practical effects get pretty gnarly at times.
Narratively, though, it’s what you’d more or less expect out of a werewolf movie, just a whole lot more extreme than most had been in the past. It came out the same year as another fairly in-your-face werewolf movie, but more on that one in a bit. Also, The Howling has a surprisingly high number of sequels, but it’s one of those horror franchises where the first movie is the only one that feels truly necessary, unless you’re particularly fond of this kind of horror movie.
8
‘Godzilla vs. Hedorah’ (1971)
About as creepy as Godzilla vs. Biollante, but also much stranger and somehow goofy at times as well, Godzilla vs. Hedorah is about as weird as the Godzilla series has ever gotten, but in a good way. Its plot has Godzilla going up against a big old smog monster, basically. Well, Hedorah is from space, and has mutated and grown to an immense size from feeding off pollution.
That sounds potentially silly, but there’s also this energy to Godzilla vs. Hedorah that’s weirdly unsettling, and the more comedic parts clash with the darker sequences in genuinely jarring and disarming ways. Hedorah is also up there among the most surprisingly powerful foes Godzilla has ever taken on, so there’s a surprising amount of tension to seeing the two monsters clash, heightened by all the bizarre powers Hedorah has.
7
‘The Fly’ (1986)
Sure, David Cronenberg has tackled more than just body horror, but his name is linked to the sub-genre for good reason. Well, it’s linked to the sub-genre for more than one reason, but a major reason, nonetheless, is the fact that he directed the 1986 version of The Fly. Sure, it’s more body horror than monster movie, but it’s about a man gradually turning into a human-sized fly/monstrosity, so it eventually nears monster movie territory.
And it’s perfectly done, just as a horror movie, or as whatever kind of sub-genre of horror you ultimately want to define it as. The Fly is one of a handful of super simple movies in this ranking, because it really can be summarized as “Science experiment goes wrong, man becomes fly,” but it’s the execution that makes it so surprisingly scary and even emotionally engrossing.
6
‘Alien’ (1979)
Alien is about an alien, and follows a small group of people on a ship trying to survive it as it mutates, becomes increasingly dangerous, and starts to hunt them all down, one by one. It ended up kicking off a series that had a fair few sequels that were grander in scope, and also (sometimes) more action-packed, which can make the first one stand out more in hindsight, owing to how patiently paced and quietly intense it is.
Still, Alien does earn its R-rating with some brief bursts of impactful violence, but it’s reserved in a way that’s made it age surprisingly well. The atmosphere here is undeniable, and the situation it depicts is timelessly scary, because you do constantly feel the claustrophobia here, and the desperation of the fairly regular human beings stuck in a truly nightmarish situation that, thanks to the quality of the filmmaking, still feels oddly believable/grounded.
5
‘Godzilla vs. Destoroyah’ (1995)
It didn’t end up being a “finale” for long, but for a few years following the release of Godzilla vs. Destoroyah, it probably felt like a definitive ending for the whole Godzilla series. And while there have obviously been plenty released since 1995, the film does still stand as a finale for the Heisei era of the series, and a pretty emotionally devastating one at that.
Godzilla vs. Destoroyah has perhaps the most ruthless foe Godzilla’s ever faced in the form of Destoroyah, who’s born from the weapon that took down Godzilla in the original film, and then Godzilla himself is also in meltdown, which raises the tension and stakes even higher. There are more moving pieces here than you might expect to see in a typical giant monster movie, but everything’s well-balanced, and it’s undoubtedly dark/harrowing for a Godzilla film, too.
4
‘An American Werewolf in London’ (1981)
1981 was a good year for werewolf movies, since The Howling is one of the best, and then An American Werewolf in London is probably the best in the horror sub-genre, including anything that came out in the 21st century, too. It starts out as a comedy about two Americans backpacking in England, but then they’re attacked by a werewolf, which results in one of them himself becoming a werewolf.
It plays around with conventions associated with werewolves and all that, but with a certain edge – and a few unpredictable moments alongside the expected ones – to make it stand out. An American Werewolf in London is a classic, and its comedic parts make it a bit more approachable than most horror movies, though you do have to be prepared for some sequences here being surprisingly upsetting and visceral.
3
‘Godzilla’ (1954)
It’s difficult to determine whether the original Godzilla is definitively the best, but it’s the most important for obvious reasons, and it might also be the scariest film from the first 40 to 50 years of the series. That largely comes down to the fact that it’s not exactly action-packed, and it plays all the monster stuff for horror, rather than spectacle, and it’s also visually dark and gloomy, not just because it’s in black-and-white, either (though that helps).
Also, Godzilla (1954) puts all the fears surrounding nuclear weapons at the forefront to a greater extent than most Godzilla movies that followed, ensuring there’s a palpable sense of dread throughout this one. Also, on a technical front, Godzilla hasn’t aged as poorly as most other giant monster movies from the 1950s, so there is still something menacing (and not really all that goofy) about the titular monster’s appearance in this one.
2
‘Jaws’ (1975)
It’s a shark in Jaws, sure, and sharks are animals rather than monsters in the technical sense, but the shark here is particularly big and seems far more willing to attack/terrorize people than sharks in real life. That’s actually one of the things Jaws has been criticized for in the years following its release: being too effective as a horror movie, and giving sharks a bad reputation, leading to them being harmed more often.
Jaws is admirable for how simple it is, and how efficiently it’s paced, just having three guys going after a shark, following a series of shark attacks, but it’s remarkably riveting.
So, that’s bad, but it also means that Jaws was super effective as a thriller/horror film if it made people so afraid of going in the water. Also, the film is admirable for how simple it is, and how efficiently it’s paced, just having three guys going after a shark, following a series of shark attacks, but it’s remarkably riveting, and is almost as good as creature features get, really.
1
‘The Thing’ (1982)
One of the easiest things to observe about The Thing, and the history of its release and reputation, is the fact that it wasn’t too well-received upon release, maybe because it was just too gnarly, visceral, and horrifying. Times have changed, and it does take a bit more nowadays to gross your average horror fan out, but there is still something confronting about how this film looks and feels, and there aren’t enough good things to say about the quality of the special effects (thank you, Mr. Stan Winston) on offer, too.
Rather than aging in a way that feels dated, people have sufficiently adjusted to the kind of shocks and gross-out moments found in The Thing, so nowadays, people seem willing to recognize it as a masterful horror movie rather than reject it the way it seemed to be rejected upon release. There’s some speculation involved there; maybe there were other reasons for The Thing being received the way it was in 1982. What matters, in any event, is that it’s a fantastically tense and disquieting movie nowadays, and pretty much the gold standard for sci-fi/horror-heavy monster/alien films.
The Thing
- Release Date
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June 25, 1982
- Runtime
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109 minutes
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