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A monster movie (creature feature or giant monster film) is a film which revolves around innocent civilians and emergency services struggling to stay alive in assaults against giant monsters. The film may also belong to the horror, fantasy or science fiction genre.
- Draculas, Xenomorphs, Godzillas, and more. What's the greatest monster movie of all time?
- IGN's Festival of Fear
- 25. A Quiet Place (2018)
- 24. Little Shop of Horrors (1985)
- 23. Dracula (1931)
- 22. Let the Right One In (2008)
- 21. The Wolf Man (1941)
- 20. The Mummy (1999)
- 19. Slither (2006)
- 18. The Cabin in the Woods (2011)
By IGN Movies
Updated: Jan 23, 2024 6:57 pm
Posted: Oct 24, 2023 8:00 pm
The monster movie can come in many forms. It can be horror, fantasy, comedy, science fiction, or drama. The best ones, though, are usually some unique combination of different genres. Everyone loves a good movie monster, but oftentimes the creature itself has a longer lifespan than the movies that birthed them.
We're celebrating the spookiest season in style this year with over 20 articles, videos and more. Check out the IGN's Festival of Fear schedule for the full rundown on everything that's going on in the countdown to Halloween!
With a hundred years of cinema to explore, we've attempted to spread the wealth, from black and white classics to new on-screen terrors, trying not to bunch up too many similar creatures (or directors, for that matter). Selected by a group of IGN editors, this list includes monster movies that were influential on the art form of cinema when they were released, feature a unique and memorable monster (or monsters), and still pack a punch today.
Where to Watch: Paramount+, Fubo
John Krasinski proved himself to be a incredibly adept creature feature director (while also making use of Jim Halpert's ability to act with his face) with the harrowing dystopian monster flick A Quiet Place, which takes place in a world where alien beasts now roam Earth mutilating anything that makes a noise. A family tucked away on a remote farm does their best to survive this hush-pocalpyse in a nail-biter of a survive-the-night tale.
Where to Watch: Max
Deviating slightly from this list's (mostly) full-tilt horror, Little Shop of Horrors is a delightfully macabre murder-comedy about an alien plant, the blood-craving mutant Venus flytrap Audrey II, who promises the good life (and the love of his life) to a flower shop schlub (Rick Moranis, at his Moranis heights) as long as she gets fed fresh bodies. A musical adaptation of a 1960 Roger Corman film, Little Shop features maliciously catchy songs by Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
Based on Bram Stoker's 1897 novel (and the stage play from 1924), Dracula kicked off Universal's monster mania, altering the very course of movie history. The story of an ancient, seductive vampire's attempt to relocate from Transylvania to London, Dracula is pivotal to the entire horror genre and a touchstone for countless monsters going forward. Bela Lugosi's commanding Count is an icon of scary cinema as Dracula became one of the most adapted and explored creepy characters of all time. If you love vampire movies, this is an essential film.
Where to Watch: Prime Video, Peacock, Fubo
Nearly a century after F. W. Murnau's silent masterwork Nosferatu, movies were still finding new ways to craft the vampire story and delve into undead lore. 2008's Swedish haunter Let the Right One In follows a bullied, lonely schoolboy who befriends a young, isolated girl in his apartment complex -- only to discover she's a vampire with an elderly caretaker. Young love blooms in this mesmerizing look at lost souls and found family.
Where to Watch: Prime Video
A decade after Dracula -- which carved space for The Mummy, Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, and more -- and Universal's monster tank had not yet run dry. The Wolf Man, starring Lon Chaney Jr. as a man who returns home to Wales and gets afflicted by a crazed curse, terrified viewers with an all-new nightmare (and game-changing transformation effects for the time). The Wolf Man wasn't the first werewolf movie but it was the one to put frightening lycans on the map in a big way, adding them to the rogues gallery of famous monsters.
Where to Watch: Peacock, Fubo
Stephen Sommers' rollicking desert adventure, The Mummy, was a swashbuckling update on Universal's original Mummy movie from 1932. Starring Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, The Mummy was part Indiana Jones, part rom-com, as man of action Rick and Egyptologist Evy attempt to thwart the supernatural plot of high priest Imhotep to return to the land of the living. While classic takes on mummies will always be integral to the genre, 1999's The Mummy showed us how fun can mix with frightening and forge a bit of light in the darkness. It's also one of Brendan Frasier's best movies.
Where to Watch: Peacock
James Gunn's good-natured alien invasion horror-comedy Slither was designed to get under your skin. At some points a brutal body horror hoedown, Slither stars Nathan Fillion as a small-town police chief trying to keep people safe while his sleepy burg is tormented by hive-minded cosmic slugs with a penchant for body snatching. It's a gross-out trip that borrows from the best while also paving new roads. Elizabeth Banks, Michael Rooker, and Jenna Fischer also star.
Where to Watch: Max
The magic of The Cabin in the Woods is the potential debate over who/what the monster actually is in the movie. There are the literal monsters from the menagerie, of course, but then there are the Ancient Ones as well as the humans who have crafted this whole horrific display in order to please their masters.
Either way, Cabin in the Woods provides a unique spin and analysis of the horror and monster movie tropes, flipping them all on their head and providing a context that reminds us why these kind of movies work so well even when they are campy or absurd.
More Like This: Tucker & Dale vs. Evil (2010), Ready or Not (2019)
- IGN Movies
Mar 14, 2024 · The 50 best monster movies ever made. Stalkers, graboids, aliens and many men in rubber suits unite for the ultimate monster mash. Thursday 14 March 2024. Written by Tom Huddleston. Arts and...
- Tom Huddleston
- 'Jurassic Park' (1993) Having discovered the secret to cloning dinosaurs, entrepreneur John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) creates a dinosaur-themed park and invites a group of specialists to preview it before it opens to the public.
- 'Jaws' (1975) After their peaceful town is plunged into chaos due to the arrival of a great white shark that has a taste for human flesh, the authorities scramble to protect the residents.
- 'The Thing' (1982) The workers at a remote research facility in Antarctica find their monotonous days interrupted by the arrival of a strange alien creature that is intent on murdering them all.
- 'Alien' (1979) When the crew of the cargo ship Nostromo receives a distress signal from a nearby planet, they set out to investigate. Finding nothing but a strange egg, they take it with them when they leave.
- Katie Rife
- "Godzilla" (1954) Over the years, Godzilla has evolved to become a protector of humankind, a beloved pop-culture icon, and even a friend to children. But in director Ishirō Honda's original film, he's terrifying — the massive, volatile personification of the nuclear bombs that leveled Japanese cities less than 10 years earlier.
- "Bride of Frankenstein" (1935) Pioneering director and gay horror icon James Whale outdid himself with The Bride of Frankenstein, a stark Gothic horror film that's enlivened with electric jolts of wit.
- "Frankenstein" (1931) It's the film that set the standard for all the movie monsters that would come in its wake. The look and tropes of James Whale's original 1931 Frankenstein have become so iconic that even those who haven't seen it are familiar with its imagery of mad scientists, hunchbacked assistants, and villagers waving pitchforks.
- "King Kong" (1933) Although his screen debut arrived in the midst of the Universal monster boom, King Kong was actually the creation of a rival studio, RKO Pictures.
Oct 24, 2020 · We're looking back at the best monster movies of the century so far, from the pulse-pounding terrors of 'The Babadook' to the hilarious thrills of 'Colossal'.
Oct 9, 2023 · When you hear the term “monster movies,” you might think you know what to expect. A giant, irradiated bug stomping all over a modern metropolis, perhaps, or an inhuman beast stalking a group of...
