Run For Your Lives! My 45 Fave Giant Monster Films

Ants.
Atomic radiation.
The process of mutation.
The desert.
You do the math.

Despite what seems like a direct movie title,
this is actually more of a love story with a backdrop of giant alien monsters, of which we probably don't see enough of.
I gotta give credit to this movie for trying to do something different by intermingling a romance "road trip" plot within the setting of a War of the Worlds type premise, without getting too many of the tentacles all tangled up.
A journey through a world in the process of alien invasion, it's a tuetonic tale that borders on far reaching aspirations of using it's "monsters" as a metaphoric device to help two people from different worlds find love. For my tastes though, I think I would've preferred seeing the makers of this movie make the matters of the heart material go more major in it's proportions. Still, in the end, it was worth seeing such a serious effort by all involved, including the actors, putting in the effort required to push a "little love story" to go a bit bigger.

Spoiler alert!

In this particular Frankenstein movie, Doc Vic's creation enters the Toho universe and goes from being just a plain ol' human-sized Frankenstein's Monster to becoming a giant several stories tall Frankenstein's Kaiju Monster. Well, at least, in his heart he does.
And here's the spoiler alert part; despite what the movie title suggests, Frankenstein doesn't really actually conquer the world. But at the height of 300 feet, he does end up covering alot more landscape than before.
And in keeping with the theme of mashing up the madcap with the macabre, Mary Shelley rolls over in her grave.

  Let's be honest here,

when you think about what a kaiju flick is all about, and what the concept of it's premise is, it comes as a pretty bizarre and even moreso, as just plain straight up ridiculous. The fact that iths form of escapist cinema has lasted as long as it has, and even grown into mainstream popularity, it's all just down right crazy.
But just when you think that it can't get any more insane than that, Japanese monster movie makers show that there is still more that they can scrape off at the bottom of the behemoth beastie barrel.
 Just by the title alone, one can easily tell that they are about to embark on one of the surreal, mentally whacked-out movie "thrillrides" that they have ever encountered with Robo-Geisha.
And how does it relate specifically to the theme of this particular list?
 Well, let me put it this way.... whatever company that is responsible for putting together the rubber suits that are donned by whatever flunkie gets the job of animating the kaiju kreatures of this genre, the person who takes down the orders for what the productioncompany puts in, even after all the weird characters that have been concieved thus far, their response must've been "what dafuq..??!!".

A sequel to another kaiju flick called Frankenstein Conquers the World, the extreme title change in this follow-up may due to the fact that within the story of Sanda and Gaira is a continuity that is barely stitched together with it's successor, and then, just plain gets totally lost in translation once it reaches the shores of it's more English speaking audiences.
Which, is probably for the best since Mary Shelley most likely never even considered the possibilty that her patchworked creation would evetually translated into a giant, Japanese, city stomping kaiju. Let alone one who would spawn two Cain and Ablesque sons. Fortunately (or infortunately depending on your level of fandomhood towards this Asian over-the-top genre), none of the monster-making studios of Tokyo had the idea of doing a film that focused on a matriarch for this skyscraping dysfunctional family a la Attack of The 50 Ft. Bride of Frankenstein.

While maybe not the biggest monsters that will habituate this list, Sinbad's Golden Voyage still contains it's fair share of the giant critters, including a couple that literally fall under the category of "more than a handful".

The period of time between the late 1930's until the end of the 1940's covered alot of ground when it came to creating classic creatures and subgenres in the field of horror movies. Iconic standouts like Frankenstein's monster, Dracula, the wolfman, along with general concepts like mummies, mad scientists and zombies crawled out into existence and became longstanding standards of the genre. But when the Iron Curtain of the Cold War came slamming down in the 50's, it not only crushed the trust of international powers in the political world, but also it squelched many of the vampires, werewolves and undead themes of the world of cinema. The rise of the Atomic Age gave rise to the b-movie beast-themed behemoths, in which several species in the animal kingdom grew to horrific heights due to the effects of radiation. And one such "victim" was the tarantula! Already the biggest of the arachnids, in this physics-defying film, one of these hairy eight-legged crawlers ends up evolving to a size bigger than just about any other species of living organism on the planet. So big to the point where it needs an exclamation point at the end of it's name!

Okay, okay,
you might think that technically, this isn't so much a giant monster movie,
as it is a giant man movie.
But, imagine, if you will, what you would see when looking up a 60 foot tall bald man in diapers. Now, hold that picture in your head for a while,
and then tell me that you're not splitting hairs.

Frankenweenie tells the macabre tale of how a pet dog is bought back to life by his child owner. After the bull terrier gets killed by a car (the leading cause of death amongst canines, after old age), the young lad decides to a take a page out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, & ressurrect the Spuds Mckenzie look-alike through the use of electricity. I guess mad scientists have figured out that electricity is spark of all life.
Which sets in motion a series of events of science going wild, including one is which a pet turtle is mutated into a in a giant Gamera-like monstrosity. Which, depicted in the unique style of Tim Burton, makes it look even more adorable than when it was in someone fish tank. Never has a kaiju looked so damn cute.

Boy.....



.... remember back when stop-motion was the sh#t?

TBH, I found the first chapter of the Narnia film series to be much more entertaining & engaging than I expected, especially for a nonfan such as myself. However, by the time of the sequels came out, I did find them to be a bit overbearing with their messages of Divine Superiority.
However, Dawn-Treader had some redeemable moments that allowed me to endure the bits that bothered me.
One of those moments was, of course the really cool giant Sea Serpent segment.
From what I understand, it was much more fearsome than the source material. I don't know how 0r if that may have translated to the sensibilities of the hardcore fans, but for me, I just thought it was pure kick-ass.

Yo, you wanna make a modern, low-budget, b-movie about a big ass spider? Then take a look this flick. And don't just look at it, study it. Every eight legged part of it. Because, in the beginning, the whole beauty of those rarified b-movies that have since earned the status of classics or cult films is that, despite their small budgets and other limited resources, somehow they were able to rise above the restrictions of their paltry production pennies and still create a magic of guiltless entertainment that is the center of many cheapskate cinophiles' tastes. Not since 1955's "Tarantula!" has a film been able to stretch out it's meager means to create a web-weaving wonder of whale-sized wallcrawlers.

Loki, the God of Mischief, arranges the worldwide conquest of the Earth. Because he's a cosmically powered supervillain, and that's basically the goal of most cosmically powered supervillains. His latest scheme of global domination involves the use the Cosmic Cube & a vast army of extra-dimensional aliens, including one giant armored species that act as bad-ass flying warships.
And the fate of the world hangs in the balance.
As usual.
"Avengers Assemble!!"

Before the world of cinema had Computer Generated Imagery to make fantastical beasts and creatures seems like they could actually be a part our physical world, they had Ray Harryhausen. Now, I know that back in the day, he wasn't the only one using stop motion methods to create what was, in reality, was uncreatable, but it is highly unarguable that he was the guy who mastered the technique. And while the filmography which boasted his creations is pretty long, it's no doubt that his most famous (not to mentioned, most endeared) fantasy flix are the ones based on the mythological monsters of ancient Greece and Rome.
Jason and the Argonauts is an excellecent of example of Mr. Harryhuasen's work when it was at it's peak, and demonstrates why so many who grew up in the 60's and 70's have such fond memories of seeing movies in which creaturies and entities that they read in about in history class came to life.

Almost a decade after the country buckled under the very first atomic attack in the history of the world, Japan presents a cautionary tale about the dangerous consequences of atomic energy.

I'm sure that many of today's kids would look at this movie and wonder what the heck is it that the generations before them saw in this big ol' rubbery, radiation blasting, clumsy-looking dino-phenomena.
Well,
the only way I can explain it is by saying that,
even with the scars of WW2 still visible and the lack of big budgetry in their film industry, Japanese cinema knew how to make do with what they had. And it was this can-do/make-do attitude that helped them to make a big footprint in the arena of 50's colossal creatures genre that was raging in film at the time. And it's what also helped to give Godzilla the long standing reputation as the King of all Kaiju Monsters.

For me, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea is a movie that if it were just any sci-fi movie, would still be one the best sci-fi movies of it's time. But the fact that it was made by Disney, and comprising some of the typical "Disney conventions" (which I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of), makes it an even remarkable achievement for a classical pre-steam punk thriller.

The film adaptation of Captain Nemo and his legendary underwater ship, the Nautilus, finally comes to shore in a very fitting manner, as the very first film ever to be shot in Cinescope.

Yeah,
I suppose that there are alot of movies with dragons that I could put on this list. But since dragon movies could make up a whole separate film category by themselves, I've decided to limit it to just one entry onto my giant monster list.
Therefore, for me, I'd have to say that as far as the use of a dragon in a live action movie goes, my fave so far has gotta be the Hungarian Horn Tail in Goblet of Fire, the fourth installment in the Harry Potter film series.

I'm sure I don't have to explain who this creature is.



I'm sure I don't have to explain who this creature is.
I mean, let's be honest here,
has there ever been a slimy public figure who was a bigger meme sensation on the world wide web than Cthulhu?
Oh, okay,
maybe Chuck Norris.
But still,
no matter how much Mr. Norris likes to brag that he can kick anybody's ass, we all know that he wouldn't stand a chance against this guy.
Hell, even as an actor, Cthully can swim circles against the ol' Chuckster. And Cthulhu is just a stop-motion effect.
The truth is, no matter how much martial arts training CN has had, at the end of the day,
brass testicles just don't stand a chance against mass tentacles.

TROLLS!
Not as scary as the kind you might find here on the internet,
but still, just as ugly. And stinky.
Not to mention that these guys are HUGE!

The Earth's populace must come to grips with it tendency of abundantly accumulating & disposing it's vast heaps of garbage upon the shrinking expanse of the enviroment, as The King of All Monsters takes on a giant shambling mountain of red-eyed sludge that terrorizes the island of Japan by transforming itself into a flying smog-billowing force of pollution incarnate.
Kinda makes you want to start recycling, huh?

I tell ya, qhen you look at all the destruction and chaos that Zues & Co. release down on our humble planet just outta petty jealousy and pride, it really reveals the truth behind the old saying, "The gods must be crazy".
While I'm not usually a big fan of movie remakes,
for me, the original Clash, is an excellent example of a classic that would greatly benefit from today's special effects technology.
I'd really like to see alot of these old stop-motion flicks of yesteryear get the updated treatment that many of us as children could only dream of back when these films were first released.
But even with that said,
it doesn't change the fact that, as cheeseball as they were,
most of these ultra-fantasy originals will always hold a special place in my heart. Simply b'cuz they were a big part of my childhood.
:o)

After the bloated attempt of the late 90's verion of the King of Monsters resulted in an underwhelming performance at rebooting the radiated reptile of massive proportions, mid-way through the second decade of the new millinium, another attempt is made, this time, without straying so off from the Godzilla we all grew up with, with the exception of the big floppy feet and the big hunk of cheese that stomped their way through the skyscraping streets of Tokyo.
While Godzilla worked as a massive campfest 'o' destruction during the 50's, 60's and early 70's, by the time the 2010's came around, movie millinials had a more discerning desire to what they saw on the silver screen, even when it came to giant monsters that required equally giant amounts of suspension to one's disbelief.
Now, for my particular tastes, I'd like to see a little more effort when it comes to the scripts for these more modern takes of the kaiju genre, but with this 2014 upgrade, I still think it's a "giant" step in the right direction.

In this latest comedy directed by Evan Goldberg (he's done a bunch), The End is not only nigh, it is here. In Hollywood, some of it's biggest names (well, biggest when it comes to the circle of friends who tend to hang around Seth Rogen & Co.), are not excluded from the mayhem of global destruction simply because they're better than the rest of us.
And just as the Book Of revelations said that there would be demons walking the earth, in this depiction of The End of Days, there are. Including a massive tower sized "Lucifer", which despite the comedic slant of this apocalyptic tale, the makers of this movie did a serious job of making it looking pretty damn fearsome not to mention pretty damn cool.

To be honest,
I haven't yet decided which version of Clash I like better:
the original 1981 version, which always held a sentimental spot in my movie-viewing heart,
or this new 2010 update, which adds alot of the coolness factor into the creatures & effects that we wished for back when such technology wasn't so available, but also doesn't contain the heart or charm the the original did.
So for now, I'll lean more towards the remake basically for that one scene that every special effects fan has been looking forward to since this modern version was announced: "Release the kraken!"

  One of the things I've always liked about the Toho daikaiju was the ability of their creative department to incorporate really cool and unique themes into the middle of melee of the rubbery cheese that was running amok thru the cardboarded streets and buildings of Nippon.
  Mothra is probably my favorite example of what I mean here. Having a giant moth as part of the roster of expatriots to come outta  Monster Island would've been enough to distinguish from all the kaiju in this universe. But Toho wasn't satisfied with just that one distinction. They went an extra mile and introduced two tiny little fairy-like beauties who act almost as the fluttering cryptid's familiar, with the ability to communicate telepathically with the great godlike bug. And as if that wasn't enough, yet another dimension is added to the lore of Mothra in that the big butterflying beast is treated in almost every story as sort of a Phoenix-like enity. Every time it dies, it is soon ressurected not too long after as a giant egg, soon to hatch into a large larvae form (almost as equally formidable as it's adult moth stage).
  For me, it's the over-all mythological slant that accompanies this particular kaiju that sets it apart from it's floppy-footed counterparts and therefore makes it one of my more favorites of this far eastern-themed genre.

What can you consider a Vegan to be a vegan and a carnivore at the same time?
When it's a giant flesh-craving Venus Flytrap from another planet.



A little shop that demonstrates that in order to properly take care of a house plant,
one need simply add water, some potting soil and lots of norishing sunshine.
Not to mention, a carcass or two.
BTW, on a side note, Little Shop Of Horrors originally had a completely different ending, which was much more darker than what was officially released. While I think that this original ending doesn't feel aligned to where a viewer thinks the movie is going, especially with Rick Moranis in the lead role as a very "lovable" character, it's quite an amazing piece of cinema to watch. Not to mention that it runs well with the theme of this list. Therefore, if you haven't seen it, I invite to give it a looksee on youtube, where it's pretty easy to find

Yo, I know that Godzilla and King Kong both had sons,
but where there any "mega-monsters" movies ever produced that featured the moms?
The only one that I saw that did was Kramer Vs Kramer, which I watched b'cuz, based on the title, I thought it was a monster movie.
And for those of you haven't seen it, let me spoil it for you....
No, it's not.
:(



Just when you thought that beauty had killed the beast for good, turns out that, apparently, the king had a prince.
Although, there are rumors that have been whispered throughout the jungle, that the albino mega gorilla might not really be the son of King and Queen Kong. Word is, that the Kongs' milk-gorilla (that the super sized simian's equivalent to a milkman) was also an albino).

I gotta be honest with you guys....
the only reason this movie is on this list is b'cuz after watching this flick as a little kid,
I used to fantasize about having a 50 Ft. woman attack our hometown just so's I could have an excuse to look up her dress without getting in trouble.

In the so-called "War Of The Worlds", the aliens in question are not only winning, they are displaying the power to totally wipe us out. I mean, they are completely ripping the planet Earth a new @ss.
But just when it seems like all hope is lost for our defeated species, a savior is revealed. In the form of our bacteria. Looks like these giant tripod riding raiders have an immune system that would make a bubble boy's seem like an iron-clad defense system. Yep. The aliens literally catch their death of a cold.
Turns out that, all the while they were cutting us down with their sophisticated disintegration rays, all we had to do was to sneeze on 'em.
"... aah....
... aah....
... aAH-CHOOO..!!!!!!

Take that, ya blasted Martians!!"
Germ warfare in it's purest form.
"Oh, and if you greenblooded bastards want some more of this,
bring it!
Cuz I feel a fart coming on with all of yo' extra-terrestrial names on it!"



And yeah, marching around in those big three-legged thingies, for me these aliens qualify as giant monsters.

Before Godzilla came along, Kong was the original over-sized king of all monsters in this early film era spin on the beauty and the beast theme.

One of my fave giant creatures movies b'cuz, seriously, how can any list of fave giant monster flicks be complete without the original gangsta of really big beasties in it?
Obviously, special FX have come a lonngg way since Kong made his black & white debut, but for me, I still find the energy and fun that went into making this film to still somehow be very present and very palpable whenever I watch this classic staple of the genre.

Monsters vs. Aliens is a tribute to all those 50's black & white sci-fi horrors flicks, but now in cool 3-D-like computer graphics. And in full color.
The graphics are absolutely top-notch, but some of the sheen has been lost due to the fact that they're also something that I'm sure viewers are pretty much starting to become accustomed to by now. And teen-agers today, let alone the more targeted little kid audience, will barely, if at all, get any of the references made to the Attack Of The 50 Foot Woman, the Creature Of The Black Lagoon and the like.
Now don't get me wrong. I think that MvA comes off with enough of the high quality wit and quips that we expect from this type of picture, but for some movie-goers who didn't grow up with double feature drive-ins and late night creature feature TV shows, it may feel like this science radiated farce, may have come out a fews years too late.

During the height of McCarthyism & the Red Scare,
comes yet another sci-fi film taking advantage of the attitude scoring across the country at this time.
A big red mass that keeps getting bigger & bigger, terrorizes a small American town, swallowing up innocent denizens of democracy.....
get the symbolism?
Or is that stretching a metaphor farther than the reach of an extended slimey flesh-distintigrating tentacle?

In the first Jurassic Park, modern science demonstrated it highest possibilities to date by genetically re-introducing the dinosaurs of the Jurassic era to our time. Then, it went about creating an island theme park in which to inhabit these prehistoric ganstas of giant monsters, in the speculative hope that the general public would eat them up.
As it turned out, it had the opposite effect. It was the park that began eating up the public.
So, in this 2nd installment of the series, we find out that there was a spawning ground for all those back-in-the-beasties before they were transported to the ill-fated amusement park.
Named "Site B", it's the setting for the prehistoric pandemonium that "naturally" ensues from the lessons not learned.

With the first chapter of the Harry Potter film franchise proving to be almost as successful as the book, the 2nd in the series is released (and in the nick of time considering that the movies must coincide with the age of the children actors) and solidifies that the kid with the lightning scar is worthy of the reputation of being "The Chosen One". Particularly when it comes to the tweener targeted box office.



And if there's one thing tweeners love to see, it's someone that they can relate to slaying a monstous dragonlike serpent "slitherin'" within the deepest, darkest depths of their school's basement. Then taking a selfie of themself with said slain serpent. But this is the wizardng world of Harry Potter, so that second part doesn't really make it into the movie. (Lame.)

Peter Jackson, the guy who was able to finally put The Lord of The Rings and the Hobbit series onto the big screen (at least, in a way that was successful), once again utilizes the latest in high-tech movie-magic to bring to life the most famous of big ass apes. With a story that endeavors to stay as close to the original as possible, it tells the tale of a super-king of simians as it travels over long distances, clashes with the modern culture of the 1930s and then rampages and terrorizes through the streets of depression era New York. And all for the heart of a woman.
Oh, and when I say "the most famous of big ass apes", obviously I'm referring to King Kong, not Jack Black.

  Godzilla, Minilla, Mothra, Rodan, Gorosaurus, Anguirus, Kumonga, Manda, Baragon, Varan, Andre the Giant.... oh wait... maybe not Andre.
Now Godzilla may be the only household name on that list, but when it comes to monsters with big rubber floppy feet, any hardcore kaiju fanatic can tell you that every name mentioned here is a heavyweight. The only ones missing is Gamera and the kitchen sink.
  Throw in an evil race of female aliens with mindcontrol powers (I know, I know... they don't have to be from another planet to be able to that...am I right, guys..??), and what we end up with is the original Monsters Versus Aliens epic. Not to mention, the battle royale of all battle royales! With cheese!

Chemicals get dumped into the Han River,
and several years later,
the result of man's disregard for the aquatic ecological balance surfaces in the form of a....a...
well, in this film they call it a host.
I say, it's more of a giant walking catfish with Olympic level gymnastic skills.
Whatever you wanna call it,
it's payback time for all the centuries that humans have been hoisting waterbreathing critters outta the water since back when we first learned how to bait a hook.
And as far as the Host is concerned, this is a case in which the law of catch & release does not apply.

The dead are starting to rise on the streets of New York. Well, moreso that usual that is. And at the center of it all, is the head ghost demon known as Gozer The Destructor. Who, even in marshmellow form, is still a destructor. So when ol' Goze decides to start giganticly rampaging down through the avenues of the Big Apple, who you gonna call....? The only guys around who know how to show this prehistoric b#tch how we do things downtown.

So when movie makers worked out a deal between the studios that owned the rights to Godzilla and King Kong, they decided to merge the two kings of monsters into one universe called the MonsterVerse. Of course, the obvious objective was to get them to eventully fight each other as Toho Studios did back in the early 60s.
However in keeping with the modern trend of putting the time, effort and money that is needed to make today's cinematic franchises profitable, these new MonsterVerse flicks have pretty much eliminated the big rubber feet style camp of earler kaiju and giant monkey movies. That doesn't guarantee that the stories of these new colossal creature features will be winning any awards any time soon, but the way they look could rack up a couple "Best Visual Effects" nom. And even if they don't, they will still most likely be pretty baddass.
And in King: Skull Island, which is really more of transitional film for the battle royale that is still yet to come, they are.

As a fan of the first Godzilla flicks, I used to watch those old Kaiju movies as a kid with the anticipation that one day the technology of special effects would catch up to grandness of giant monsters & robots duking it out in the midst of ill-fated Tokyo downtown districts.
And even though, because of modern movie audience's shrinking ability to suspend their belief for this kind of stretched out subject matter, it took longer than I would have liked, Pacific Rim finally came along and sated that almost life-long anticipation.

A movie about a big giant glob of pink snot that only gets bigger & bigger as the storyline progresses.
Could somebody hand me over a city-sized piece of tissue, please?

   As anyone can see from this list, King Kong made his debut way back in 1933 by smashing his way outta film screens everywhere. Then, later, in 1954, Godzilla was introduced to the world by Toho Studios over in Japan. Since then, the two towering terrors collectively have been considered the “Kings” when it came to giant monster movies. 

Throughout this list, I keep talking about modern film technology catching up with the "giant" concept of giant monster cinema. These How To Train Your Your Dragon films are a very good example of the extent of how Hollywood has been able to do that. Many of the CGImagers of today, particularly those from frontrunners like Pixar, seem to have developed this craft beyond just the visual element of making the impossible look possible. They understand that when you create a creature of such voluminous mass, you cn't take the elements of "normal size" and digitally display them as big. You've also have to incorporate those aspects that result from a living thing whose physiology has evolved beyond the point of it's average size. For example, you can't just the creature masive teeth. You have to give it numerous rows of teeth in order for the science behind animals grinding and ingesting their food to work. The same with spikes. It can'tjust have a bunch of spikes sticking out it's body. They gotta stick out in those parts of the body you normally see nature place spikes on and, instead of just big, you have to position a whole bunch of smaller ones spread in-between. These are little details that need to be designed into any fictional behemoth's body if it is to be believed by the viewer of the film.
The Bewilderbeast, a massive dragon with the power to "ignite" ice instead of fire, is an excellent example of this. The makers of HtTYD made sure that all the little details that were required to make the audience go "Wow!" were utilized and in the end, it's just one of the things that, IMO, makes the How to Train series one of the best fantasy franchise in modern animated cinema so far.

Modern science demonstrates it highest possibilities to date by genetically re-introducing the dinosaurs of the Jurassic era to our time. Then, it goes about creating an island theme park in which to inhabit these prehistoric ganstas of giant monsters, in the speculative hope that the general public will eat them up.
Now, is it my imagination, or is it pretty obvious what the ironic twist is that's gonna result from this grand delusioning venture?
Oh, when will those zany scienctists learn?

Whenever an immigrant from anywhere in the world comes to New York, the first thing they tend to see is the Statue Of Liberty. It has always been a welcoming beacon to any alien from any part of the world. But when an alien from outer space comes to town, what's the first thing it does when it sees the statue? It breaks it. I mean, that damn thing was made in France and it was a gift.
See, this is why New York City can never have anything nice.



Cloverfield may not depict any fields of clover in it but it is a movie that gets an extra point just for the surprise factor of how much I ended up enjoying it. I really didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I saw this flick with my brother-in-law, and remember that when the lights in the theater came on, we both looked at each with an expression of "Whoa" on our faces.
As an adult, one of my absolute favorite things about going to the movies is when I see a film that brings back those feelings that I used to experience as a kid whenever I saw something that was too fantastic that it was beyond the realm of our realty and yet here I was watching it come to life on the big screen in front of me.
Watching a giant alien monster ragin' through the streets of the Big Apple in a manner of disbelief that at the same time is believable is a pretty good f'rinstance of that experience.