# What is Your Scariest Movie Monster?



## Silverthunder (Aug 11, 2022)

(TLDR: What's the scariest movie, tv, anime, or even video game monster?)

Ah yes, my genetic experimentation has come up once again for the process of peer review. This time however, instead of just creating a monster to devour my fellow mad scientists, I would like to instill terror into them first. Unfortunately, either because of my former work which sapped the adrenaline out of me on a nigh regular bases, or because simple constant exposure to the usual monstrosities across the entertainment spectrum, I find myself unsure of what creatures might be genuinely terrifying to the average film goer or gamer. 

I'm working on a monster design for another personal project, and I want something that really unnerves and creeps people out, not just something I think is cool. So, I want to find a commonality between people's answers. 

My answer?

Xenomorphs! I don't know if many people find them creepy or scary now, but I remember watching when I was a kid and being completely on edge. Even when I was a bit older seeing Covenant and Prometheus, despite the narrative faults, the creature designs and presentation gave me goosbumps.


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## Inferndragon (Aug 11, 2022)

For me it still gets to me...

The giant worm monster in Gear of War 2 i think. 
It is surprisingly resembles a Xenomorph in some images. 
I just recall getting extremely grossed out because you have to go inside the worm at some point. 

H.R. Giger's Xenomorph is based on a sexualised human body... A demon with a phallic shaped head on a womans body.

If you are interested in real things that creep you out. Just look at creatures that exist near the mariana trench level of the ocean.
There are even single cell organisms that are massive down there. 

For anime you could take inspiration from Gyo. That just unerved me to bits how characters became more controlled by machines and would evolve into nightmare abominations.


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## Nexus Cabler (Aug 11, 2022)

The best monster designs I've seen recently come from Indie horror games.

One's worth mentioning are:
The monster from the game 'Trenches'
Creatures from 'Monstrum' 
Creature from 'Eerie'
Siren Head
The monster from the game 'Under' 
The monster from 'In Silence' 

All of these beautiful abominations can be found in gameplay all across youtube. 
It's not only their appearance that makes them frightening, but how they function in gameplay, with their speed, aggressiveness, hostility, and environments.


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## Baron Tredegar (Aug 11, 2022)

Silverthunder said:


> Xenomorphs! I don't know if many people find them creepy or scary now, but I remember watching when I was a kid and being completely on edge. Even when I was a bit older seeing Covenant and Prometheus, despite the narrative faults, the creature designs and presentation gave me goosbumps.


Xenomorphs used to scare me as a kid too. My family goes to disney world a lot and they used to have this attraction called the Great Movie Ride which would take you through various movies. At one part of the ride you would go through the Nostromo and all the fog and emergency lights would be going off and an animatronic xenomorph would pop out right above your head!

As for movies probably the giant demon dog things from the original Ghostbusters scared me pretty badly the first time I watched it.


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## Marius Merganser (Aug 11, 2022)

Besides the Xenomorphs, the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal are pretty high on my list.


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## Xitheon (Aug 12, 2022)

Marius Merganser said:


> Besides the Xenomorphs, the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal are pretty high on my list.



As a child, I wanted to be a Skeksis. (It really disturbed my teachers for some reason.)

I'm going to join in the group appreciation for Xenomorphs. I used to have a huge collection of Alien/Xenomorph Queen merch. She's my Queen and I adore her.

Also this creature from that crappy Resident Evil Netflix series:






I'm terrified of caterpillars (I have always had a serious phobia of them) and when I see one or think about them too much I hallucinate abominations like the one portrayed in this scene.


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## Marius Merganser (Aug 12, 2022)

Almost forgot about Pale Man from Pan's Labyrinth.  That's scene was a bad time.


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## Miles Marsalis (Aug 13, 2022)

I'm surprised no one mentioned the Thing from _The Thing_ films. It could be anything living, even you and you don't even necessarily know it.

Also, the ending of the first film was so good.


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Inferndragon said:


> For me it still gets to me...
> 
> The giant worm monster in Gear of War 2 i think.
> It is surprisingly resembles a Xenomorph in some images.
> ...


Lol I had never noticed that... it does kinda look like a baby xenomorph.

I've read a lot on why the xenomorph might work so well. Taking taboo imagery and shoving it in your face in a grotesque way... literally and figuratively... seemed to just rub people the perfect way. Err- figuratively for that one!

And good ol' Junji Ito... I've seen his stuff here and there, but never looked enough to put a name to any of his work beyond his own name. Gyo is definitely in a style on its own! Superb suggestion.


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Nexus Cabler said:


> The best monster designs I've seen recently come from Indie horror games.
> 
> One's worth mentioning are:
> The monster from the game 'Trenches'
> ...



Monstrum had great designs for sure, the tense presentation helps build the fear factor up too I think. Siren head I think benefits greatly from warping the familiar and placing it in the uncanny valley a bit. Trever Henderson's monsters really take advantage of that. Actually- I think all your examples really hone in on that concept now that I look at them, maybe with the exception of Monstrum?


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Baron Tredegar said:


> Xenomorphs used to scare me as a kid too. My family goes to disney world a lot and they used to have this attraction called the Great Movie Ride which would take you through various movies. At one part of the ride you would go through the Nostromo and all the fog and emergency lights would be going off and an animatronic xenomorph would pop out right above your head!
> 
> As for movies probably the giant demon dog things from the original Ghostbusters scared me pretty badly the first time I watched it.



lol I'll tell you, I was terrified as a little kid about monsters popping up out of the toilet cus of a movie I saw. I don't even remember what it was called, just that it scared me for years and gave me a phobia of toilets for the longest time...


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Marius Merganser said:


> Besides the Xenomorphs, the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal are pretty high on my list.



Ooooh... I saw the dark crystal at a baby sitter's house when I was little... I realized only a few years ago the reason I hated that movie so much was cus of them! Now I just find them so cool and interesting.


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## Baron Tredegar (Aug 13, 2022)

Silverthunder said:


> lol I'll tell you, I was terrified as a little kid about monsters popping up out of the toilet cus of a movie I saw. I don't even remember what it was called, just that it scared me for years and gave me a phobia of toilets for the longest time...


I was able to find some footage of the ride from when I was a kid the Alien scene is around 9 minutes in.




There is a really bizarre history between the disney theme parks and the Alien franchise. Throughout the late 80s to the early 2000s Disney was strangely determined to put an Alien themed ride in the parks. The part of the Great Movie Ride was the only thing that ever came of it. There was a ride in Magic Kingdom that opened around 1995 that was originally going to be themed to Alien, however changes were made to make it not Alien, even though Xenomorphs were used in early promotional material. And George Lucas also helped with the creation of this ride. The ride was only open until 2003 but before closing and would go down as the scariest ride to ever be in a Disney Park. Heres a video I found of it:


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## Marius Merganser (Aug 13, 2022)

I saw the Alien Encounter show in Disney World in 97-98ish and that was a lot of fun.  I was in college at the time and thought it was a little unnerving, especially when I saw the theater seats had shoulder harnesses.  

Here's a mini documentary with footage of the show.


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## Baron Tredegar (Aug 13, 2022)

Marius Merganser said:


> I saw the Alien Encounter show in Disney World in 97-98ish and that was a lot of fun.  I was in college at the time and thought it was a little unnerving, especially when I saw the theater seats had shoulder harnesses.
> 
> Here's a mini documentary with footage of the show.


My brother got to ride it once before it closed and he said it was pretty scary. I never got to ride it due to it closing shortly after I was born. 
That ride has a really fascinating history behind it. 
Maybe they can bring it back now that the Stitch ride is closed.


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Xitheon said:


> As a child, I wanted to be a Skeksis. (It really disturbed my teachers for some reason.)
> 
> I'm going to join in the group appreciation for Xenomorphs. I used to have a huge collection of Alien/Xenomorph Queen merch. She's my Queen and I adore her.
> 
> ...



I have to admit, resi always had the coolest monsters. Little disappointed in the movies they've made and the lack of creative looking monsters, Hollywood always seems to want to default to zombie fodder when it comes to that. 

Omg... I remember a mild sleep paralysis incident I had once... of a giant spider descending from the ceiling. Couldn't move for a brief few seconds until I broke out of it and rolled off my bed to get away onto the hard floor lol. Only like six years ago.


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

Miles Marsalis said:


> I'm surprised no one mention the Thing from _The Thing_ films. It could be anything living, even you and you even necessarily know it.
> 
> Also, the ending the first film was so good.


 Ah... the thing... my first real horror movie that I can remember. I have to admit, I wouldn't love body horror as much if not for that movie. I feel like the uncertainty is certainly the key factor there.


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## Silverthunder (Aug 13, 2022)

@Marius Merganser @Baron Tredegar 

How did I not know about this? I thought I've seen all the defunctland stuff too... 

Also, unrelated, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the pan's labyrinth monster played by a contortionist?


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## Marius Merganser (Aug 13, 2022)

Silverthunder said:


> Also, unrelated, correct me if I'm wrong but wasn't the pan's labyrinth monster played by a contortionist?



Yeah, Doug Jones.  He plays humanoid characters in lots of other productions.


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## Judge Spear (Aug 15, 2022)

I can't think of too many really. There's not many monsters (at least I know by name) that scared me in my life save for dumb shit as a kid that really isn't all that frightening. Usually it's not the monster itself, just the circumstance.

About the only ones I can recall are just this thing. The sounds it makes and the way it fucking moves left an impression on me.





And this thing from Fuan no Tane.









Typical monster movies don't really do shit for me. Like I've never in my life felt fear with Xenomorphs or or such pop culture monsters. They just seem like menaces, but not chilling nightmare fuel.

EDIT: While making another thread, I reminded myself of this game's *HIDEOUS* creatures.


Spoiler: Bosses


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## Rayd (Aug 15, 2022)

among other possible answers that come to my mind that are much more obscure and under appreciated, i always have to give a lot of credit to the flood from the halo franchise.

the idea of a parasitic alienoid virus that rips, tears and contorts the infected bodies of helpless soldiers in an emotionally absent, brutally efficient manner to turn them into gruesome killing machines, snapping bones, mangling flesh and muscle, repurposing organs, all the while keeping them entirely conscious while doing so, causing them to feel perpetual agonizing physical pain - meanwhile, their most intimate memories are slowly erased from their mind as their brain is aggressively probed for useful information to be used against their comrades. a universally spread virus that's impossible to eradicate, an enemy whose impossible to reason with, with the power to subject any lifeform it encounters to a fate far worse than death. an overwhelming, relentless hoard of twisted, familiar monsters that impose intense fear into even the most proud, scrappiest warrior-culture races of the universe, turning them into cowards who beg their brothers to execute them upon initial infection.

a favorite concept of mine of horror antagonists, are the ones that make you _wish _for death. ones that truly leave little room for escape, leaving a burning question of "when" rather than "if", knowing there is nothing stopping it other than time and circumstance, prompting panic, despair and desperation.


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## Lordgwen (Aug 16, 2022)

Lets see, the human centipede? Creepy but no.... the quiet place monster? Yeah, hes gross and all but he just seems annoying. The basket case? What the fuck?  The worst horror movie monster isnt even in the actual film- its the director. The director of jeepers creepers: victor salva. Hes a disgusting human- as in a



Spoiler



convicted child moelester


.


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## Lordgwen (Aug 16, 2022)

Marius Merganser said:


> Besides the Xenomorphs, the Skeksis from The Dark Crystal are pretty high on my list.


Chamberlain best girl


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## a sleepy kitty (Sep 4, 2022)

Voldemort

Edit: no.... Umbridge.


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## Zehlua (Sep 5, 2022)

The Blob from the 1980's film scared me SO BAD as a kid!!!


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## Pomorek (Sep 5, 2022)

I'm surprised Dead Space is not mentioned. 99% of zombies induce only yawns from me, but those extremely mangled, mutilated and mutated corpses - that's something different. Worse yet that they tend to jump at you unexpectedly in cramped spaces. I'm just ridiculously oversensitive to jump scares and these games seem to depend on those.

This also made xenomorphs all the more scary, they use surprise attacks a lot too.


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## Kinguyakki (Sep 6, 2022)

The slime/oil slick thing from Creepshow, for some reason the idea of something like that just digesting you alive makes me cringe.  Same thing for the "bugs" at the bottom of the canyon in the Peter Jackson version of King Kong.


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## AceQuorthon (Sep 6, 2022)

The Cenobites in Hellraiser 1, before they became super silly and boring in the sequels. Just the idea of these giant huge perverts who dimension travel to find the extremest form of pleasure in self mutilation and murder just sends shiver down my spine.


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## Filter (Sep 10, 2022)

Gremlins. They still creep me out. If you come across a Mogwai, whatever you do, don't feed it after midnight!


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## tuxedo_fish (Sep 17, 2022)

Kinguyakki said:


> The slime/oil slick thing from Creepshow, for some reason the idea of something like that just digesting you alive makes me cringe.  Same thing for the "bugs" at the bottom of the canyon in the Peter Jackson version of King Kong.



Oh sweet dino jeebus, those freaking worm things were _horrifying_.

I didn't think they were particularly scary, per se, at the time -- just really gross? But the idea of being enveloped by a horrible snail mouth was a sort of fridge horror that has come back and gotten worse each time I think about it.

I don't know what critter traumatized Jackson as a child, but I hope I never meet it.


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