The Top 10 Best Movie Monsters

5. The Crawlers- The Descent Films

Nothing beats a weekend retreat with the girls. That is until you run into flesh-eating, cave-dwelling monsters. When a group of women finds themselves trapped underground they manage to keep their wits about them and make plans to escape. Those plans go right out the window when they run into The Crawlers. Like the movie monsters in A Quiet Place, these creatures are pretty much blind, but that doesn’t stop them from being brutally efficient killing machines. As the film goes on these creatures prove to be Darwinism at it’s worst as they quickly pick off the women who stumbled onto their home turf. It’s one hell of a horror movie with some crazy movie monsters in it. It’s just too bad Ted the caver never took the time to watch these terrifying films.

4. Reapers- Blade II

Guillermo del Toro just can’t stop with the creepy movie monsters. While vampires might be classic creatures of the night, even they’re scared of the Reapers. Blade II presented the predecessors to what would eventually become Del Toro’s vision of vampires in The Strain, but for my money, they’ve got nothing on the originals. The Reapers drink blood just like vampires, but they’re a little pickier when it comes to the source and have a much more terrifying way of getting it. While vampires might have teeth, these guys unhinge their mandibles in order to take much bigger bites out of their prey. Not only are they absolutely terrifying, but they’re also what makes Balde II one of the best vampire movies of all time. It’s literally a movie that has something for everyone.

3. Cenobites- Hellraiser

While their boss might have made it onto the list of the Top 10 Supernatural Killers from Movies, that doesn’t mean I don’t have love for these horrifying hellspawn. It might be cheating to include a whole “species” in a slot, but it’s hard to choose between the likes of the Chatterer, Butterball, and… The Female? Seriously, that’s her name? While their boss might get all the glory that doesn’t mean that these creatures aren’t all kinds of terrifying. All of them have been tortured in hell and have gotten to the point where the line between pleasure and pain has blurred for them (I mean, can you imagine walking around in leather outfits all the time?). Because of this, they’ve become the premier torturers of hell and make me thankful I’m a bit more vanilla when it comes to the kinky stuff compared to them. While a lot of the movie monsters on this list might want to kill you, the Cenobites just want to force you to experience beautiful agony for all eternity.

2. Brundlefly- The Fly (1986)

Insects seem to make for some damn fine movie monsters and the Brundlefly is one of the most terrifying of them all. Once again, science screws the pooch and gives us the fly-Jeff Goldblum hybrid that inspired this entire list. At first, everything seems hunky-dory as Goldblum finds himself stronger and faster. Then he starts experiencing side effects such as pieces of his face falling off and acidic vomit. With his human mind still intact he sets out to try to fix his horrible mistake, but soon becomes so desperate to do so that the ends justify the means for him. I’m going to just go ahead and say it, Goldblum has looked a lot better in almost every other movie he’s been it. However, that doesn’t make me love the Brundlefly any less. I’m just not sure I’d call it my spirit animal.

1. Pale Man- Pan’s Labyrinth

Coming in at number one is Guillermo del Toro’s opus of terror, the Pale Man. Not much is known about this demonic creature other than the fact that he seems to have an appetite for curious children. The Pale Man is best known for having his eyes in his hands and the skin elasticity of a gastric bypass patient. Luckily, he doesn’t seem to be one of the monsters that can get around too quickly, but that doesn’t mean I want to challenge him to a foot race any time soon. The Pale Man is the stuff of nightmares which makes him the obvious choice for the number one slot on this list of movie monsters. More importantly, though, it secures Guillermo del Toro as the new king of movie monsters. Let’s just be glad that he’s a benevolent ruler, otherwise he might give us some creatures that would really keep us up at night.

Honorable Mention: The Ice Cream Man- Legion

Yeah, I know that Legion is an absolutely terrible movie, but have you see The Ice Cream Man? He’s 50lbs of NOPE in a 10lbs bag! Played by Doug Jones (who is one of the greatest “behind the mask” performers in all of Hollywood), The Ice Cream Man is what tricked me into seeing Legion in theaters. “There’s no way something with such a horrifying creature could be bad,” I told myself. That turned out to be a lie and the only thing scarier than Jones’ creature was just how ineptly Legion was cobbled together. Terrible movie aside, I still had to give this character an honorable mention among the rest of these movie monsters, since he is quite literally the stuff of nightmares. If not because of that face, but because of just how horrifying the damn thing moves. 

This was probably one of the toughest lists I’ve ever tackled for Stars & Popcorn. Which means I’m sure there are probably plenty of movie monsters you might have liked to have seen among these ten. So make sure you leave a comment below about what monsters you would have liked to have seen on this list and which monsters are your favorites from it. As always, be sure to check back from time to time to see if any new movie monsters manage to make their way on here in the future.