Monster movies are one of the many staples of the horror genre. They allow filmmakers to explore the supernatural and the human psyche in a tangible and visual way. These monsters range from demons haunting and possessing people and items to actual monsters, sometimes rooted in different folklore.
However, movie monsters, especially in the horror genre, can be a mixed bag. When the writing and overall production are done well, the monsters can be truly terrifying. But, when either aspect is lacking, usually as a result of the budget or intent of the writers and filmmakers, some monsters come across more hilarious than terrifying. Here is a look at five terrifying monsters and five silly monsters from horror movies.
10 Scariest: The Babadook (The Babadook)
The Babadook is the monster after which the film that features it is named. In the film, the monster starts as a character in a pop-up book entitled Mister Babadook which explains that the monster appears after people learn of its existence to terrorize them.
The Babadook terrorizes single mother Amelia Vanek and her son Sam, both of whom are still grieving from the loss of Amelia's husband and Sam's father, who died hours before Sam was born. Because of this dynamic, the monster acted as a metaphor for grief and the effects it can have on people when they do not deal with it properly.
9 Silly: The Pale Lady (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark)
While the book Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark truly terrified its readers, the movie was less scary and more gross, with the body horror aspect turned up to an eleven. That being said, the Pale Lady, which should have been terrifying, ended up being laughable.
The Pale Lady appears when Stella, Ramon, and Chuck take their investigation of the supernatural occurrences happening in their town to a local hospital. She pursues Chuck and eventually corners and swallows him up through her stomach. The most laughable moment is immediately afterward when she hums to herself out of satisfaction.
8 Scariest: The Monsters (A Quiet Place)
These Monsters from A Quiet Place are only known as Monsters. These Monsters are extraterrestrial with armored bodies and super-sensitive hearing, but they cannot see. Upon hearing a noise, the Monsters are able to locate and attack the source of the noise.
Because of the nature of the monsters, the film itself utilizes very little diegetic noise (noise happening within the fictional setting). This makes any and all sounds outside the film itself startling for viewers who are so engrossed in the film that they themselves are scared to make a sound.
7 Silly: Mogwai/Gremlins (Gremlins)
The Mogwai, also known as Gremlins, are demonic creatures who turn antagonistic upon being fed after midnight or after exposing them to water, causing them to spawn more creatures. Once the protagonist does both of these things, against the instructions of the shopkeeper who sold the Mogwai, the creatures wreak havoc on the town of Kingston Falls.
Gremlins is a black comedy horror movie meaning that the creatures are campy and the havoc that they create are more akin to pranks gone wrong, which can still be terrifying but are done so in a way that makes audiences laugh.
6 Scariest: The Blair Witch (The Blair Witch Franchise)
The Blair Witch is a monster whose entire lore was made up for the films. For the first two films, the Blair Witch is more of a force or a presence. It goes unseen but gives signs of its lurking near the characters like leaving piles of rocks or the iconic stick bundles. In the third film, the Blair Witch actually makes an appearance, chasing the final girl Lisa through Rustin Parr's house where the Witch takes refuge.
The Blair Witch is at its most scary when it remains unseen and is used to psychologically torture the characters because audiences don't know who or what the Blair Witch actually is, even with the knowledge of the folklore behind it.
5 Silly: Deadites (Evil Dead Franchise)
Deadites are creatures from the Necronomicon and the forms they take after possessing humans as featured in the Evil Dead franchise. The Evil Dead films, particularly the original trilogy, are primarily campy, with the exception of the problematic and exploitative rape scene in the very first film. The Deadites are also very campy and offer a lot of likely unintentional comedic moments, especially when Ash battles against them.
Deadites did not receive a proper name until the third installment in the franchise, Army of Darkness, in which Ash is taken into an alternate dimension where the Deadites reside.
4 Scariest: Pale Man (Pan's Labyrinth)
The Pale Man is the monster from Ofelia's second task given to her by the titular faun in Pan's Labyrinth. For this task, Ofelia was to retrieve a dagger from his lair. The Pale Man is known to eat children but Ofelia finds him asleep. The faun advised her not to eat any of his food, but she does so anyway, awakening him. He eats two of the fairies accompanying Ofelia before chasing her. Thankfully, she manages to escape.
The most terrifying aspect of the pale man is that he does not have eyes on his face. He instead can insert eyeballs into the palms of his hands when he wants to see.
3 Silly: Bruce (Jaws)
While the shark in the movie Jaws did not have a formal name within the film, the cast and crew named the animatronic shark "Bruce." Bruce was an oversized great white with an appetite for humans, often targeting them while swimming in the ocean, but eventually starts targeting watercraft and boats as well.
While it was initially a terrifying sight for audiences first watching it upon its release in 1975, in retrospect, using an oversized shark as a horror movie monster is rather silly as most sharks are now known to avoid humans rather than attack them. Furthermore, shark attack horror movies have now mostly associated with SyFy Channel original movies, which are known for their low budgets and campy effects.
2 Scariest: Pennywise (It)
Pennywise is the antagonist of Stephen King's novel It, and its adaptations. Pennywise is an otherworldly creature that primarily takes the form of a deranged party clown. It feeds off of people's fears, particularly children's fears, and exploits such fears in order to attack, kill, and eat people.
It was adapted into a television mini-series in the early '90s and later became two feature-length films and was portrayed by accomplished actors Tim Curry and Bill Skarsgård for the respective adaptations. Because of these actors' portrayals, along with the premise of feeding off of people's fears, Pennywise was a truly terrifying monster.
1 Silly: Fouke Monster (The Legend Of Boggy Creek)
The Fouke Monster is rooted in Southern United States folklore, particularly Arkansas. Supposedly, a bigfoot-like creature has been seen around and in the town of Fouke, Arkansas. The Legend of Boggy Creek is a docudrama covering the whereabouts and what information there is about the monster.
The docudrama was created in the early '70s with a low budget, meaning that the footage was poor quality. The poor quality paired with a legend that is about as true as the legend of Bigfoot makes the Fouke Monster seem pretty silly, especially in comparison to other monsters.
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