Count Orlock

Count Orlok - Phantom of the Night that drinks the blood of his victims. Predecessor to Dracula. First appeared in 1922's Nosferatu. {googleads}


 Creaturefrom the Black Lagoon

Creature from the Black Lagoon - The "Gillman" was discovered during an archeological expedition at the headwaters of the Amazon. He's appeared in numerous sequels since. The Black Lagoon is supposedly a beautiful place, but nobody has ever come back alive to prove it. First appeared in 1954's Creature From the Black Lagoon.


Godzilla

Godzilla - Awakened by man's tampering with atomic power, Godzilla unleashes the wrath of a hundred earthquakes. But Americans need not fear, as apparently Tokyo is his favorite stomping ground. First appeared in 1954's Gojira.


Jaws

Jaws - This Great White Shark is not really a monster, but a ravenous flesh-eating creature just the same. His first appearance came in 1975's Jaws.


Rodan

Rodan - Another Japanese phenomenon... but this one flies. It measures an incredible 165 feet high. Appropriately, first appeared in 1956's Rodan.


T-Rex

Tyrannosaurus Rex - Spawned from the DNA of mosquitos and frogs, this reptile is 7 tons of SUV crunching future fossil fuel. T-Rex made her most significant appearance in 1993's Jurassic Park. {googleads}


Dr. Zaius

Dr. Zaius - A ruthless abuser of human rights who would just as soon shoot an astronaut as give him a frontal lobotomy. Dr. Zaius made his first appearance in 1968's Planet of the Apes.


The Fly

The Fly - Dr. Andre Delambre inadvertently swaps heads and an arm with an ordinary housefly. Not so bad until we learn how Dr. DeLambre must now eat his food. Although he made a later appearance as Brundlefly in 1986's The Fly, he is credited with first appearing in 1958's version of the movie with the same name.


Flying Monkey

Flying Monkeys - Even after 60 years, these creatures manage to give the heebie-jeebies to movie-watchers of all ages. The Flying Monkeys, led by Nikko, made their first appearance in 1939's The Wizard of Oz, yet continue to appear in children's dreams throughout the world.


Michael Myers

Michael Myers - Proved that a butcher knife and Jamie Lee Curtis are all that's needed to make a truly scary movie. Oh...and a William Shatner mask. Michael first appeared in 1978's Halloween.


Count Dracula

Count Dracula - The archetypal vampire born from Bram Stoker's 1897 Gothic horror novel Dracula. Originally inspired by Romanian General Vladd III the Impaler, the thirsty bloodsucker has been scaring film-goers and cereal-eaters for decades.


King Kong

King Kong - Despite all that flickering fur, Kong managed to scare the pants off our parents and grandparents decades ago. He first appeared in 1933's King Kong and then much later in 80's video games.


Frankenstein

Dr. Frankenstein's Monster - The scariest rendition of ol' Frankie came about in 1931's black and white classic Frankenstein, but without question his coolest rendition comes from 2004's Van Helsing. As bad as the movie was, that glass-encased beating green heart, and piston-driven leg are the best.


Hannibal Lecter

Hannibal Lecter - Although Hannibal the Cannibal is actually a human being, whether or not he is a monster can't be debated. His appearance in 1991's The Silence of the Lambs caused a spike in sales of fava beans and Chianti throughout the world. Here's to polydactylys everywhere!


Chils eating pale man

Child-eating Pale Man - From Guillermo del Toro's Pan's Labyrinth. Never eat grapes from the Pale Man's banquet. Few have done creatures as well as del Toro.


Zombies

George A. Romero's Zombies - No one does zombies better than Romero. And 1968's Night of the Living Dead kicked off an entirely new genre of filmmaking.


Wicked Witch of the West

Wicked Witch of the West - Made her first cinematic appearance in Kansas in 1939. Eeek! Seeing Miss Gulch ride that bicycle still brings chills.


The Wolfman

Wolfman - This lycanthropic creature has caused a fear of full moons for generations... and also a spike in sales of silver bullets. Though he first appeared in a 1924 silent film, then later in 1935's The Werewolf of London, it was Lon Chaney Jr.'s depiction in 1941's The Wolf Man that influenced so many Hollywood films ever since.


Freddie Krueger

Freddy Krueger - A more frightful version of Edward Scissorhands. Lurks in the corners of nightmares. Although he prefers to prey on the teenagers of Springwood, he can make quick mincemeat of anyone. Freddy made his first screen appearance in 1984's Nightmare on Elm Street.


hal 9000

Hal 9000 - Although not a living monster, Hal 9000 - the brains behind the Goodship Discovery on its mission to Jupiter - is as dastardly and deadly as even the most prolific human serial killer. Hal made its first appearance in 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey.


Clovie

"Clovie" from Cloverfield - While we don't get a very good look at him/her, what we do see is undoubtedly one of the most destructive of its type ever on film. It walks like a bat, breathes like a lizard, but destroys like Godzilla.


Gwoemul

Gwoemul from The Host - From the best Korean movie of all time comes one of the most menacing creatures to ever inhabit the sewers.


Trollhunter Trol

The Trolls from Trollhunter - Though we don't really know what a troll is supposed to look like, these guys are pretty convincing. And who says you can't get effective sf/x from a low-budget movie?


Kaiju from Pacific Rim

Kaiju from Pacific Rim - The only thing more fearsome than this Godzilla-like neon-goo spitting monster is Gypsy Danger, the Jaeger designed to kill it.


 

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