fannish5
What (or who) are your five favorite monsters?
In order from scariest to less scary.
1. The Aliens (The Alien Quadrilogy)- This is the monster of everyone's nightmares and has all the typical characteristics. It is uncontrollable, in numbers beyond knowledge, crawls in the dark and bears every squeamishy thing one needs to see. By that I mean... the facehugger is the arachnid, the chestburster is a snake/slug/worm and the adult has a mixture of things that normally wig people out. This isn't all just physical though. The way they can come up on you undetected and the acid. They have every aspect of the terror we fear in the night wrapped into one neat package.
2. The Alien Invaders (War of the Worlds) - I have always been terrified of these aliens. Admittedly, in the original movie they are fairly cheesy but in the book they are far different. We never see much of them but they are this looming menace under the surface of the entire plot. Through most of the book you go on believing that there is nothing to stop them, no salvation and the whole world is doomed to extermination. That feeling of hopelessness they instill without being in the forefront is absolutely perfect.
3. The Body Snatchers (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) - These are one of the few movie monsters that kept the fear factor in both the original(1956) and the remake (1978). True these are not the typical monster but the idea of being copied and replaced is a deep seated fear in everyone. The psychological terror of not knowing who is real and who is a clone, not even knowing if you are or not is the essence of horror. Monsters should drive the fear that is so deep in our unconscious that we can do nothing but be terrified.
4. Umbrella Corp. (Resident Evil) - This may not fit the traditional monster protocol but it has many of the aspects a monster should have. Most people fear corporations taking control of our lives or creating some deadly pathogen or toxin that will destroy mankind. Truly the zombies are secondary monsters. It is the corporation and the knowledge of what it has done (Stephen King's The Stand has this aspect to it as well) which truly hits the zone of instinctual fear. It is the unknown and the knowledge we could be infected and not even know it. That is terror.
5. The Terminator (The Terminator) - In the original movie the Terminator was much more terrifying than the others. When it is merely mortals against an unstoppable killing machine things are much more tense. I still remember that moment when just the torso is crawling after her in the factory.
I am definitely one for psychological terror. I'd take Psycho over zombies any day.
In order from scariest to less scary.
1. The Aliens (The Alien Quadrilogy)- This is the monster of everyone's nightmares and has all the typical characteristics. It is uncontrollable, in numbers beyond knowledge, crawls in the dark and bears every squeamishy thing one needs to see. By that I mean... the facehugger is the arachnid, the chestburster is a snake/slug/worm and the adult has a mixture of things that normally wig people out. This isn't all just physical though. The way they can come up on you undetected and the acid. They have every aspect of the terror we fear in the night wrapped into one neat package.
2. The Alien Invaders (War of the Worlds) - I have always been terrified of these aliens. Admittedly, in the original movie they are fairly cheesy but in the book they are far different. We never see much of them but they are this looming menace under the surface of the entire plot. Through most of the book you go on believing that there is nothing to stop them, no salvation and the whole world is doomed to extermination. That feeling of hopelessness they instill without being in the forefront is absolutely perfect.
3. The Body Snatchers (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) - These are one of the few movie monsters that kept the fear factor in both the original(1956) and the remake (1978). True these are not the typical monster but the idea of being copied and replaced is a deep seated fear in everyone. The psychological terror of not knowing who is real and who is a clone, not even knowing if you are or not is the essence of horror. Monsters should drive the fear that is so deep in our unconscious that we can do nothing but be terrified.
4. Umbrella Corp. (Resident Evil) - This may not fit the traditional monster protocol but it has many of the aspects a monster should have. Most people fear corporations taking control of our lives or creating some deadly pathogen or toxin that will destroy mankind. Truly the zombies are secondary monsters. It is the corporation and the knowledge of what it has done (Stephen King's The Stand has this aspect to it as well) which truly hits the zone of instinctual fear. It is the unknown and the knowledge we could be infected and not even know it. That is terror.
5. The Terminator (The Terminator) - In the original movie the Terminator was much more terrifying than the others. When it is merely mortals against an unstoppable killing machine things are much more tense. I still remember that moment when just the torso is crawling after her in the factory.
I am definitely one for psychological terror. I'd take Psycho over zombies any day.