Paste's The 50 Best Monster Movies of All Time
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By Jim Vorel and Paste Movies Staff | September 29, 2022 | 10:27am
When you hear the term “monster movie,” you might think you know what to expect. A giant, irradiated bug stomping all over a modern metropolis, perhaps, or an inhuman beast stalking a group of campers foolish enough to blunder into its territory. The connotation of “monster” is a negative one, after all, but it’s also a term that reveals the inherent prejudice of those who use it. A “monster” is simply that which we find exotic, frightening and difficult to categorize—it’s an aberration in the natural order, and with that realization the fear comes naturally. We always fear what we don’t understand, as the likes of H.P. Lovecraft and Carmine Falcone have memorably opined.
A “monster movie,” then, is a bit wider term than one might initially realize, composed of everything from man’s battles against the natural world (as in Jaws) to struggles with the repressed self, as seen in almost any werewolf feature. There are beasts aplenty here, and a smattering of snarling aliens, but also lovable monsters and misunderstood creatures that never wanted to do any harm. Some are unabashed villains, while others are actually the protagonists of their films.
Here are the 50 best monster movies of all time, but first let’s discuss which movies you will and won’t see on this list.
Defining a “Monster Movie”
— The threat or focus of a monster movie has to be something inhuman. Human behavior can of course be “monstrous,” but a monster as we’re defining it here isn’t a human, unless that human has physically transformed somehow. By that token, an earthly animal (like the shark in Jaws, or the dinosaurs of Jurassic Park) can be “monsters,” per se, especially if they’re presented in unrealistically heightened ways, such as being bigger than normal, or operating with unnatural malevolence. A human can also transform into a monster, as in the case of a werewolf.
— Alien creatures, likewise, are also capable of being monsters, but they’re far more likely to qualify if they kill by physically attacking you with tooth and claw. The xenomorph of Alien? Monster. The ray gun-wielding, chattering martians of Mars Attacks? Not monsters.
— The monsters shouldn’t be supernatural in origin. By this token, a ghost is not a monster. Neither is a zombie, as they’re undead and not a flesh-and-blood creature. Disqualifying “undead” in general also keeps vampires off this particular list, but don’t fret: You can visit our list of the 100 best vampire films of all time, or the 50 best zombie movies of all time.
— In order to keep the list from being completely dominated by entries from specific franchises such as the Godzilla series, we will hold ourselves to a maximum of only two entries per franchise. Never fear, we’ve ranked every Godzilla movie in the past, as well.
Pssst, want to check out the Paste's The 50 Best Monster Movies of All Time list in our new look?
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1 new
The Thing
1982, in 20 top lists Check -
2 new
King Kong
1933, in 26 top lists Check -
3 new
Alien
1979, in 30 top lists Check -
4 new
Jaws
1975, in 28 top lists Check -
5 new
The Fly
1986, in 11 top lists Check -
6 new
Bride of Frankenstein
1935, in 19 top lists Check -
7 new
Gojira
1954 — a.k.a. Godzilla, in 12 top lists Check -
8 new
Jurassic Park
1993, in 23 top lists Check -
9 new
The Descent
2005, in 4 top lists Check -
10 new
Gwoemul
2006 — a.k.a. The Host, in 11 top lists Check -
11 new
Aliens
1986, in 24 top lists Check -
12 new
Frankenstein
1931, in 18 top lists Check -
13 new
An American Werewolf in London
1981, in 12 top lists Check -
14 new
Young Frankenstein
1974, in 14 top lists Check -
15 new
El laberinto del fauno
2006 — a.k.a. Pan's Labyrinth, in 33 top lists Check -
16 new
Shin Gojira
2016 — a.k.a. Shin Godzilla, in 0 top lists Check -
17 new
The Curse of Frankenstein
1957, in 1 top list Check -
18 new
The Shape of Water
2017, in 8 top lists -
19 new
It Follows
2014, in 5 top lists Check -
20 new
The Monster Squad
1987, in 2 top lists Check -
21 new
The Howling
1981, in 1 top list Check -
22 new
Dog Soldiers
2002, in 2 top lists Check -
23 new
Hellboy
2004, in 1 top list Check -
24 new
The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms
1953, in 3 top lists Check -
25 new
Monsters, Inc.
2001, in 14 top lists Check -
26 new
Predator
1987, in 9 top lists Check -
27 new
Them!
1954, in 3 top lists Check -
28 new
Colossal
2016, in 0 top lists Check -
29 new
Gremlins
1984, in 4 top lists Check -
30 new
King Kong
2005, in 6 top lists Check -
31 new
Mosura
1961 — a.k.a. Mothra, in 1 top list Check -
32 new
Tremors
1990, in 3 top lists Check -
33 new
Cloverfield
2008, in 3 top lists Check -
34 new
Pacific Rim
2013, in 1 top list Check -
35 new
The Wolf Man
1941, in 2 top lists Check -
36 new
The Blob
1988, in 2 top lists Check -
37 new
Little Shop of Horrors
1986, in 3 top lists Check -
38 new
Q
1982 — a.k.a. Q: The Winged Serpent, in 2 top lists Check -
39 new
20 Million Miles to Earth
1957 — a.k.a. The Beast from Space, in 2 top lists Check -
40 new
Attack the Block
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
41 new
Monsters
2010, in 3 top lists Check -
42 new
A Quiet Place
2018, in 4 top lists -
43 new
The Mist
2007, in 2 top lists Check -
44 new
Creature from the Black Lagoon
1954, in 1 top list Check -
45 new
Sora no daikaijû Radon
1956 — a.k.a. Rodan, in 1 top list Check -
46 new
Trolljegeren
2010 — a.k.a. Trollhunter, in 1 top list Check -
47 new
Werewolves Within
2021, in 0 top lists -
48 new
Sputnik
2020, in 0 top lists -
49 new
Basket Case
1982, in 2 top lists Check -
50 new
Prophecy
1979, in 0 top lists Check
Last updated on Sep 30, 2022; source