creature features

[molly1216]

i likes me a good monster movie..even a not so good monster movie...
like 'revenge of the ninja' some films are judged on a different scale...

I rewatched the Relic (1997) yesterday which i had remembered as having a pretty decent monster and it does.
in a lot of ways its physical animation reminds me of the Host (2006)....which is an awesome movie with a monster.

Monsters (2011) was a great movie..but it's not something i put in when i want to watch a 'monster' movie.

I suppose we can use Jaws as the benchmark to compare all monster movies against even though there were great monster movies before it, none of them really had a GREAT monster, (Kong isn't monster) I think we needed the modern age to match great monsters to great monster movies.

Thing From another Another world is a GREAT monster movie, though the monster is pretty lousy, John Carpenter's The Thing..(the 1st one of course) is both a great monster movie with a kick ass monster.

It! The Terror from Beyond Space (1958) is a great monster movie with an OK monster...basically it is the recursor to Alien (ridley scott is a stylist not an original thinker) enclosed area, monster hunt in the dark...delicious.

of courseAlien & Aliens have a great monster, even though the later films misuse it. (The Predators aren't monsters they are villains. Monsters hide in the dark and eat you. Hence personally I don't really think of the Universal monsters in this category of Monster movies until we get to Creature from the Black Lagoon but even then, i think he'd have been happy left alone...with Julie of course..)

Willis O'briens Black Scorpion great monster, not a half bad little movie.
Harryhausen's It Came from Beneath the Sea great monster, great monster movie.

Mimic (1997) had a really GREAT monster, excellent monster movie..take my advice skip the sequels...
before that it was Tremors (1990)..great monster, great film, great comedy...all on a low budget. iconic in fact.

When I saw David E Kelley's Lake Placid (1999) i wanted to like it, i have seen it several times and i am only liking it in retrospect since i have seen so many bad films since. it's just a B movie in A movie wardrobe but the monster is pretty wicked.

Slither could be called a monster movie...though it has both a monster..in the little squiggly things and a villain in the parent creature. so it's a pretty decent monster movie with a great monster and an IMHO mundane villain.

I keep trolling all the creature features on Netflix hoping to find something worth not only rewatching but basically watching straight through to the end.

I am sure i missed a few in between...

What have you seen that you can recommend ...favorites? ones you hate?

[azul017]

Creature features are just a dime-a-dozen these days, when it comes to the Syfy channel. They're just pumping out shit left and right... and they're not even fun on a cheesy level.

I'd wish studios would actually produce more quality B-movie creature features. I'll grant that Anaconda (the first one with J-Lo and Ice Cube) is a guilty pleasure of mine, but its three sequels are just garbage.

[molly1216]

Creature features are just a dime-a-dozen these days, when it comes to the Syfy channel. They're just pumping out shit left and right... and they're not even fun on a cheesy level.

I'd wish studios would actually produce more quality B-movie creature features. I'll grant that Anaconda (the first one with J-Lo and Ice Cube) is a guilty pleasure of mine, but its three sequels are just garbage.

that's the pain i feel, I start one of them up and i get disappointed very quickly.
why is that such a radical wish?

[azul017]

why is that such a radical wish?

It's been a while since we got something that's good or watchable. Bad B-movies are just... everywhere.

[J.M. Vargas]

Harryhausen's 20 Million Miles to Earth has the Ymir, a pretty iconic and uber-cool monster.

[Attrage]

I loved as a kid, and still do, Critters (1986) and Piranha (1979)...though I guess they are more "critter features"

[Dunnyman]

you didn't mention Tarantula? Epic monster movie, and if you want some thinking to go along with your creature feature, The Monolith Monsters is a superb flick.

[molly1216]

you didn't mention Tarantula? Epic monster movie, and if you want some thinking to go along with your creature feature, The Monolith Monsters is a superb flick.

Monolith Monsters is awesome..it's actually a disaster movie disguised as a monster movie. i have always thought it would make a great remake because of our technology...the crystals really don't have an agenda, they aren't alive they just exhibit the indicators...but what if they were?

don't forget Alligator (1980)


is Corman the producer on a lot of these BAD movies? i see his name on a lot of monster movies i have avoided

[mavrach]

If you liked Slither, try Night of The Creeps. It's basically the same moster: space slugs crawl into your brain and turn you into a zombie. No central intelligence on this one so if you didn't care for Michael Rooker's mutated husband, this will work for you.

NotC is directed by Fred Dekker, who also did The Monster Squad - A childhood favorite about monster geek kids repelling an attack by classic Universal mosters.


The Syfy problem is thanks to cheap CGI. Now you don't need talent or cheeseball costumes to make a decent monster. Hire some animators and you can make a monster movie out of any vaguely familiar mythical creature.

[Paul Kile]

Them! is one of my all-time favorites. The ants are pretty lame if you compare them to modern effects, but the sense of tension that Gordon Douglas created by not showing us the critters until about 1/2 hour into the movie worked very well.

And the little Ellinson girl's scream ranks up in the top 10 of all time!

It has been said the movie was supposed to be filmed in color, but the studio ran out of money. I'm glad for that, B&W worked, whereas color would have made the ants too cartoonish.

[Gabriel Girard]

why is that such a radical wish?

It's been a while since we got something that's good or watchable. Bad B-movies are just... everywhere.

Rogue (2007) is a recent one that was pretty good.

[Dunnyman]

If you liked Slither, try Night of The Creeps. It's basically the same moster: space slugs crawl into your brain and turn you into a zombie. No central intelligence on this one so if you didn't care for Michael Rooker's mutated husband, this will work for you.

Oh, now see, if you're going to go into pure cheeseball territory, then Slugs! has to be mentioned, any flick where the line "Mayor! There's giant slugs in the water supply!" get belted out is a classic. Oh jeez, now you made me think about Night Of The Lepus. Giant mutant killer bunnies. Nuff said.

[ccb]

Vikings vs space monster in Outlander.