Monster Movies

The A, B, C’s of Monster Movies:

(I have seen the ones in bold.)

Includes my top picks for 13 monsters of Spooktober – the 31 days of October leading to Halloween, plus two more days to add the Day of the Dead, November 2.

    • St. George’s Eve – April 22
    • Walpurgisnacht (Saint  Walpurgis Night) – April 30
    • Beltane – May Day – May 1
    • World Dracula Day – May 26
    • Devil’s Night – October 30
    • Halloween – October 31
    • Samhain – November 1
    • Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) – November 2
King Kong (1933)
King Kong (1933)

A: Ape

    • Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong
      • King Kong (1933) & Son of Kong (1933)
      • King Kong (1976) & King Kong Lives (1986)
      • Universal’s King Kong (2005)
      • Kong: Skull Island (2017), Godzilla vs. Kong (2021), & Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire (2024)
    • Universal’s Cheela The Ape Woman
      1. Captive Wild Woman (1943)
      2. Jungle Woman (1944)
      3. Jungle Captive (1945)
    • Planet of the Apes
      • Planet of the Apes (1968)
      • Planet of the Apes (2001)
      • Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
    • Michael Crichton’s Congo (1995)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)

B: Brute/Mad Scientist

    • Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886 book)
      • Universal’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913)
      • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
      • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931)
      • The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll (1960)
    • Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831 book)
      • Universal’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
      • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)
      • Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
      • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1997)
    • The Invisible Ray (1936)
    • Marvel’s The Incredible Hulk
      • Hulk (2003)
      • The Incredible Hulk (2008)
      • The Avengers (2012)
      • Thor: Ragnarok (2017)
Batman (1989)
Batman (1989)

C: Clown/Carnival

    • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
    • Carnival of Souls (1962)
    • Stephen King’s It (1986 book)
      • It (1990)
      • It (2017)
      • It Chapter Two (2019)
    • Batman’s Joker
      • Batman (1989)
      • Dark Knight (2008)
      • Joker (2019)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)

D: Demon

    • Disney’s Fantasia “Night on Bald Mountain” (1941)
    • Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957)
    • William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (1972)
    • The Ninth Gate (1999)
Jack the Ripper (1959)

E: Evil Killer

    • Fritz Lang’s M (1931)
    • Jack the Ripper (films)
      • Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
      • Man In The Attic (1953)
      • Jack the Ripper (1959)
      • Hammer Horror The Hands of the Ripper (1971)
      • Jack the Ripper (1976)
      • Murder By Decree (1979)
      • From Hell (2001)
      • Jack The Ripper: The London Slasher (2016)
    • Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)
    • Halloween (1978)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)

F: Frankenstein’s Monster

    • Universal’s Frankenstein (1931)
    • Universal’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
    • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
    • Van Helsing (2004)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)

G: Ghost

    • The Headless Horseman (1922) & Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999)
    • Universal’s The Phantom of the Opera (1925), plus The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
    • Stephen King’s The Shining (1980)
    • Ghostbusters (1984)
Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)

H: Hybrid Humanoid

    • H.G. Wells’s Island of Lost Souls (1932) & Island of Dr. Moreau (1977)
    • The Fly (1958) & The Fly (1986)
    • DC Comics’s Swamp Thing (1982) & Marvel’s Man-Thing (2005)
    • Species (1995), Species II (1998), Species III (2004), & Species: The Awakening (2007)
The Invisible Man (1933)
The Invisible Man (1933)

I: Invisible Man

    • Universal/H.G. Wells’s The Invisible Man (1933)
    • John Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
    • The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
    • Universal’s The Invisible Man (2020)
Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park (1993)

J: Jurassic/Dinosaur

    • Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1925)
    • Edgar Rice Burroughs’s The Land That Time Forgot (1977)
    • Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1993)
    • Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
Godzilla (1954)
Godzilla (1954)

K: Kaiju

    • Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla (1954)
    • Godzilla (1998)
    • Godzilla (2014)
    • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019)
The Wolf Man (1941)
The Wolf Man (1941)

L: Lycan/Werewolf

    • Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941)
    • An American Werewolf in London (1981)
    • Underworld (2003)
    • Cursed (2005)
The Mummy (1999)
The Mummy (1999)

M: Mummy

    • Universal/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Mummy (1932)
    • The Mummy (1959)
    • Universal’s The Mummy (1999)
    • The Mummy (2017)
Mary Shelley/Universal’s Frankenstein (1931)
Mary Shelley/Universal’s Frankenstein (1931)

N: Nature Runs Amok

    • Universal’s Frankenstein (1931) (villagers run amok as an angry mob with pitchforks and torches)
    • Them! (1954)
    • Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963)
    • Arachnophobia (1990)
Labyrinth (1986)

O: Orcish (Gremlin, Goblin, Ogre, Troll, etc.)

    • Twilight Zone “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (1963)
    • Gremlins (1984)
    • Labyrinth (1986)
    • J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001) & J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit trilogy (2012)
The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

P: Poe – Edgar Allan Poe

    • Universal’s Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
    • Universal’s The Black Cat (1934)
    • The Masque of the Red Death (1964)
    • The Pit and the Pendulum (1991)
Call of Cthulhu (2005)
Call of Cthulhu (2005)

Q: Cthulhu/H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon

    • The Haunted Palace (1963)
    • Re-Animator (1985)
    • Necronomicon (1993)
    • Call of Cthulhu (2005)
The Terminator (1984)
The Terminator (1984)

R: Robot/Construct

    • Gustav Meyrink’s The Golem (1921)
    • Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927)
    • James Cameron’s The Terminator (1984) & Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
    • RoboCop (1987)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

S: Skeleton

    • Ray Harryhausen’s The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
    • Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
    • Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992)
    • Disney Pixar’s Coco (2017)
Clash of the Titans (1981)
Clash of the Titans (1981)

T: Titan

    • Hammer’s The Gorgon (1964)
    • Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans (1981)
    • Clash of the Titans (2010)
    • Wrath of the Titans (2012)
Jaws (1975)
Jaws (1975)

U: Underwater Menace

    • Universal’s Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
    • Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1956)
    • Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975)
    • James Cameron’s The Abyss (1989)
Dracula (1931)
Dracula (1931)

V: Vampire

    • F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922)
    • Universal’s Dracula (1931)
    • Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992)
    • Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1994)
The Crucible
The Crucible

W: Witch

    • Georges Méliès’s The Witch (La Fée Carabosse ou le Poignard fatal) (1906)
    • Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan [Witchcraft Through the Ages] (1922)
    • Maid of Salem (1937) & Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1996)
    • The Craft (1996)
Aliens (1986)
Aliens (1986)

X: Xenomorph/Predator/Thing

    • Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)
    • James Cameron’s Aliens (1986)
    • Predator (1987)
    • John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982)
Exists (2014)

Y: Yeti (Sasquatch, Bigfoot, & Abominable Snowman)

    • The Snow Creature (1954)
    • The Abominable Snowman (1957)
    • The Legend Of Boggy Creek (1972)
    • Exists (2014)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Night of the Living Dead (1968)

Z: Zombie

    • William Seabrook’s White Zombie (1932)
    • George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)
    • Wes Craven’s The Serpent and the Rainbow (1988)
    • 28 Days Later (2002)

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