Saturday, August 24, 2013

Top Ten Non-Giant Movie Monsters

   The last list was fun, but there were some critters that I had to leave off since they just weren't big enough. To give them their due, I decided I simply had to do another list, this time of the non-giant monsters. And so, without further ado, I present the

TOP TEN NON GIANT MOVIE MONSTERS

#10: Frankenstein's Monster


   Extra points if you know the monster's given name, per the 'good' Doctor Frankenstein? Anyone? I like this guy because he is such a sad monster, misunderstood and maligned before he ever had a chance.

#9: Flying Monkeys


   My wife's favorite movie is The Wizard of Oz. When I saw it for the first time as a kid, these guys scared the bejeezus out of me. And the new Oz movie upgraded them.

#8: The Dragon's Teeth Warriors


   A Ray Harryhausen classic, the skeletal warriors sprung up from the ground in Jason and the Argonauts.

#7: Werewolf/Wolfman


   The allure of this monster is that he is a man. Until the full moon comes out and then hes an unreasoning avatar of hunger and death. Me likey. My favorite werewolf film is An American Werewolf in London. The transformation scene to Bad Moon Rising is a classic.

#6: Reavers


   In a nutshell these creatures - once human - are so scary because, they will rape you till you die, remove your skin and wear it as clothing, and then eat you. And if you're very, very lucky, it will be in that order. That and the fact that they appear in one of my favorite TV series, Firefly, which was made into a film, called Serenity.

#5: The Wampa


   A giant hairy carnivore on the ice planet of Hoth. He took out Luke and the tauntaun with one swipe of his paw. If he had decided that the little guy would be a better appetizer than dessert... well, that would have been the end of that movie.

#4: Imhotep


   Best mummy ever. Both Boris Karloff's version in 1932 and Arnold Vosloo's portrayal in 1999. He did it all for love.

#3: The Alien


   The Alien from the classic sci-fi horror film, Alien. Not the hordes of aliens that the Marines and convicts on a prison world could manage to kill. The original baddie, which took out the entire crew of the Nostromo, except for Ripley. That was a baaad monster.

#2: Zombies


   Man, do I love zombies. The shambling horde. The end of the world. None of this running zombies, none of this 'rage virus' nonsense, and voodoo zombies? Fuggedaboutit. Give me good old fashioned Night of the Living Dead or Dawn of the Dead (original, not remake), or, on the small screen, The Walking Dead. Those are some good monsters. We will not discuss World War Z beyond saying this: great book, okay movie, but not the same thing by any stretch of the imagination.

#1: Count Dracula


   Screw Twilight. Vampires should only sparkle when exposed to sunlight for about a tenth of a second as they are consumed in fire and burnt away to ash. The Count is another horror icon, and has appeared in many guises and many movies. He's a suave killer. And, Bela Lugosi's accent sealed his voice forever.

5 comments:

Michael Awdry said...

The Wampa! An inspired choice Sir.

TamsinP said...

Frankenstein's monster, if I recall correctly, was never named in the book but Mary Shelley did refer to it as "Adam" in a reading.

Laughing Ferret said...

Great list!
My favorite Frankensteil movie is the Brannagh version with DeNiro as the creature. The Skeletons scared the crap out of me when I was a kid. Zombies are probably scarier,but I think skeletons are cooler.

OK, I couldn't resist doing the standard-sized monster list too.

http://laughingferret.blogspot.com/2013/08/top-10-monsters-of-movies-not-giant.html

Sean said...

Great list. I'd also like to give a shout out for Christopher Lee's portrayal of the Count, I always liked it.

J Womack, Esq. said...

Tamsin: Spot on! You get an Extra Keen Invisible Prize. Here you go:

Sean: I do like Christopher Lee's portrayals as well, but not as great as Bela.