Were the movies Jaws and Jurassic Park not amazing? The thought of a shark or dinosaur, let alone some other bizarre creature with ghastly eyes, sneaking up on me and turning me into meal is too much for me to bear. Plus, we won't bring up the fact that there are enormous irradiated bugs, zombies, and aliens out to get you.
To what end do we seek out such unsettling entertainment? We are more likely to think that life-threatening monsters that defy nature do exist because of them. Or perhaps we enjoy delving into the shadowy depths of the human mind. If nothing else, we watch them for the suspense.
Whatever your motivation, it's undeniable that movies will go to any length to hook you on a harrowing plot. List of the top horror films that scared the pants out of viewers.
Top 10 Most Frightening Movie Monsters
10. A Quiet Place
In A Silence Place, “quiet is golden” could save your life. In this post-apocalyptic world, the Abbot family—father, mother, deaf daughter, and two boys—must stay silent to avoid being detected by the sightless, terrifying aliens with extraordinary hearing but no other senses.
The protagonists sprinkle sand over roadways to minimize crunching leaves, utilize sign language, and tiptoe through the abandoned town to find supplies, playing on your innate terror.
One of the boys, who had sneaked out of a store without his parents' knowledge, accidentally sets off a toy space shuttle, which notifies one of the alien beings nearby, who rushes out and… well, you'll have to watch to find out.
After a year, the family is still together and the mother is expecting. They can't get around it.
9. Tremors
Tremors begin in a little town with two friends and laborers, Val and Earl. They cook, play, live, and argue. They quarrel.
Val and Earl decide to flee the small town, but the only road is blocked by dead townsfolk and sheep. When the monster creature emerges from underground to pursue them, the two men ride to the next town for help.
It's an eyeless, snake-like sandworm with many-tentacled tongues that find, attack, and kill prey via seismic vibrations. The seismologist helps them escape the huge sandworms. Despite the monster's sensory abilities, worth attempting.
8. The Descent
The Descent follows six best friends on an Appalachian Mountain trek to help Sarah get over the loss of her husband and daughter. When the small passage collapses behind them, their fun cave excursion turns into a nightmare.
Dark tunnels induce unpleasant claustrophobia. When the girls realize they are imprisoned in the underground abode of blood-thirsty humanoids, fear, and betrayal set in. These blind creatures hunt on sound, like A Quiet Place.
The film has two endings: Sarah escapes the tunnels and audiences understand it was a hallucination. The other girls—what happened? Assumed.
7. The Mist
An unusual thunderstorm blasts a heavy mist into a Maine town. A bloodthirsty species follows. Cat-sized insects, praying mantis/dinosaur hybrids, and tentacled creatures from another dimension (due to government agencies playing with stuff they shouldn't) consume everyone who ventures outside.
David and his son go to town for emergency supplies and are in the supermarket when the unexplained attacks start. They and many other townspeople.
Some strive to prepare, while others hype the apocalypse. The latter believes that sacrificing people—including David's son—will prevent monsters from attacking the store.
David and his friends must escape humans and man-eating bugs in their town. He and his crew leave the business, realizing they may not survive. Best? Suicide, eating alive?
6. The Babadook
This story features a different kind of monster. This creature haunts you until you become a monster. Amelia, a young widowed mother, raises six-year-old Sam. The boy's unpredictable behavior strains Amelia. He builds rudimentary weapons to save his mum from a monster when insomniac.
Sam convinces his mom to read Mister Babadook, a pop-up book. Once discovered, Babadook, a pale-faced taloned-fingered humanoid, torments his victims. Doors open and close, making weird sounds.
Amelia destroys the book, and a darker version comes at her doorstep with pop-ups showing her killing their dog, Sam, and herself. As she sees the Babadook and murders Sam in hallucinations, her mental state deteriorates. She turns into a monster and tries to kill Sam.
5. Sweetheart
At a boat party, a storm washed Jennifer Remming and her companions onto a secluded island with a beautiful beach and forest interior. She hurries to her acquaintance Brad, but he dies, leaving her alone again. Jenn buries him and enters the jungle to find only a family's belongings and graves.
The next day, she finds Brad's remains dug up and devoured, indicating something else on the island. Jenn launches a flare pistol after hearing a jet fly over that night, luring the sea monster.
Jenn flees into the forest and hides. Having a humanoid thingy with an amphibian face, fins, clawed arms, and a powerful body (were those hooved feet I saw) come for you every night is unnerving, and there are multiple close calls.
Jenn's boyfriend Lucas and friend Mia arrive in a life raft days later, but they don't believe her monster story. Lucas and Mia stop Jenn from escaping the island on the raft, knock her out, and tie her to a tree. Nighttime sea monsters hunt.
4. Blade II
What scares vampires? Cannibal vampire. Especially one with a proboscis-like tongue hidden in its three-way jaw. This lethal breed (reapers) is weak to UV radiation and needs to feed every several hours.
Reapers eat people, vampires, and themselves. Worse, a tongue strain turns their “meals” into reapers. Blade must stop a disease that will destroy the globe.
What started it? Eli Damaskinos, the vampire overlord, wants to breed strong vampires immune to light and other vulnerabilities. The strain turns carriers into blood-thirsty, unstoppable monsters. Blade, a human-vampire hybrid, kills reapers and their reapers with other vampires.
Hatred, mistrust, and betrayal—especially from unexpected sources—make decimating the opponent tougher than it should be. For background, watch Blade.
3. Them (1954)
Hollywood classic Them! Two state police officers find an Alamogordo desert girl in distress. They discover her family's holiday trailer was attacked and destroyed. Her family is disappeared, and the attacker isn't a mountain lion. “Anything.”
The coroner finds formic acid on the body of a store owner who died. FBI and USDA myrmecologists get involved. The catatonic girl shouts, “Them!” Radiation from atomic bomb testing turned ants into enormous foraging beasts who kidnapped and killed people. The officers must slay these animals without being killed.
2. The Cave
Artifact thieves blow up the floor of an ancient abbey to reach its vaults but fall into a vast cave system. The opening collapses, ending their lives. Maybe? Years later, a team excavates the site and finds a mile-long cave river. Unfortunately, they get imprisoned underground and must escape the caves.
Strange things happen. The crew watches bloodthirsty animals in dark recesses, on walls, and in the water assault, pull away, or kill team members. These ugly, emaciated humanoid cave creatures had bat-like wings, vestigial eyes, two sets of jaws, and crest-like head structures.
Jack's body mutates after these aliens harm him. The team's biologist thinks the animals were humans infected by a parasite that changed them. Jack sacrifices himself when the party ultimately escapes. Kathryn meets a teammate in civilization. She mutated as they talk.
1. Cloverfield
Rob Hawkins is moving to Japan. His brother and buddies host a farewell party. She leaves Rob after an argument. After the power goes out, partygoers hear a weird sound. They see a rooftop explosion and blazing debris.
Everyone leaves the building to more commotion on the streets. Why? Unknown fear is destroying skyscrapers. The National Guard battles the monster, but parasite-like things fall off and attack them and passersby.
Beth calls Rob from her flat. Rob and his pals save her with love. The parasites and monsters attack them. Marlena bleeds through her eyes and explodes from parasites. Even though the Army plans to destroy Manhattan to kill the monster, the little gang will save their companion. After the credits, the nightmare continues.
