Good monster designs

[Thomas]

I was just listening to the Gremlins theme, and it struck me that the Gremlins themselves are brilliant looking monsters. They're like roasted Papillons.



Of course, this is chiefly about monsters from film, but I feel I should also give special mention to the Ripper from PlayStation's MediEvil 2 -



Go on, then. Good monster designs. Rubbish ones too, if you like.

[Hangthebuggers]

Apparently Clive Barker sketched most of his monsters from dreams and nightmares. This one ^^ I think is utterly perfect as a monster and not too detached from reality. I think forces us into horror via pity and revulsion rather than fear.

Nightbreed was a fantastically under-looked film for special effects alone.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

Bad effects monsters are more ghoulish for their plastic sheen or stilted movements somehow. Even Harryhausens monsters retain an unearthly monstrosity because of their distance from the realism the creator was trying to emulate, they are monstrosities as much by accident as by design. With cgi you often get neither.

[Thomas]

I agree. I'm no hater of CGI - I think its strength, and its usefulness in conjunction with a physical model, is demonstrated in this scene from Jurassic Park - but it does detract greatly from the effect of a ghoulish beastie. Remaking The Thing with CGI was a horrible misstep.

[Hangthebuggers]

The Thing for me is the most perfect conceptual monster in cinematic history. Simply because of what fear it invoked in me as a 'wet-behind-the-ears' young 'un. An utterly alien yet perfect lifeform that emulates and destroys its host through cellular contact and then mimics it. The real horror lay in its adaptation of the human form. A near-perfect adaptation, only for it to be fooled by clever human thinking.... and then suddenly spider legs erupt and flower-like appendages burst out spitting acid and .... well yeah...

The notion that it's pretending to be a colleague or loved-one... eurgh. Nasty.... 10/10 for me.

[Thomas]

I seem to recall that the monster in not-very-good The Faculty is a pretty good non-CGI villain, but perhaps I'm just remembering it as such because it disguised itself as a naked lady and I was but a wee boy when I saw it.

[Hangthebuggers]

Wasn't the monster in the faculty fully CGI? Besides the human forms I mean..

[Thomas]

Maybe I've remembered it all wrong. I've sought out a clip, and it seems that you are right. Though it does appear to be a physical thing in the closeup at the end of this clip -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LekZbZ0ksyA

EDIT - Ah, and it's real a bit here (complete with naked lady).

[El Unicornio, mang]

Also, the Alien and Predator

[Hangthebuggers]

Notice how almost all featured cinema classic monsters are mostly bipedal. Our fears manifest themselves in forms that we can just about cope with. In literature, H P Lovecraft tried to turn all that on its head, with maddening forms of alien monsters....



Yith.

[Glebe]

Er, I think Wes Craven and his FX team deserve the credit for that one (it's an intentional in-joke, of course). The Medievil games are fantastic.

The little stories for the characters in that are brilliant, it's better than the book or the film.

[Blumf]

Lynch's Dune:


Third Stage Guild Navigator


Sand Worm


Sting in his space grotts

[Thomas]

Er, I think Wes Craven and his FX deserve the credit for that one (it's an intentional in-joke, of course). The Medievil games are fantastic.

Of course, but does Freddy wear a waistcoat, top hat, and green skin? Nuh uh.

That reminds me of another jolly good - and green - PlayStation monster -



A very fine boss level theme tune, too.

[Glebe]

Of course, but does Freddy wear a waistcoat, top hat, and green skin? Nuh uh.

Yes, once at a posh do. When he had a bad tummy.

[Bored of Canada]

Super obvious but HR Giger's Xenomorphs and the Facehugger designs. Super disturbing, though most effective when you don't see them at all and let your imagination put the rest together. I think quite a lot of the most effective genuinely disturbing designs of monsters and such are the ones that use genitals as a basis.

Say what you will, penises and vaginas are a bit odd looking at times. It's the combination of the Sexual and the Horror. HR Giger. All the Cronenburg stuff plays into that too. The vaginal stomach, the phallic fleshy Television set. The typewriter beetle from Naked Lunch. Don't even get me started on that bloody flipped up bit with the guy in the cage in Naked Lunch[nb]Yeah, I know all this stuff stems from the Burroughs novel but it's still Cronenburg and his talented crew who brought those to life.[/nb]...Christ. Horrific.   

Those things are the only real monsters that actually disturb and scare me. Perhaps it's just because I'm a massive prude though. Also, Brundle Fly in terms of Cronenburg, though not overtly sexual...Unless you count puking the spunky acid everywhere. Flippin' hell. I'm so glad that David Cronenburg exists.

Although this is all me talking in regards to effective horror monsters.

In terms of just interesting looking designs of things, I agree with the Gremlins. Gizmo is immediately heartwarming and loveable. Everything about him is designed to tickle the cuteness bone in your heart, which ramps up the tension when he's in danger.


Also, everything to do with Silent Hill 2 (The Game). The monster designs are incredibly clever as they're all subtle reflections of James Sunderlands' etc.
The disturbing, twitching faceless nurses that reflect his repressed sexual aggression and libido in not having his wife anymore. And Pyramid Head...who in the same context, is just this fucking raw horrific monster of pure hyper-masculinity who goes about raping things and dragging about a huge phallic sword about.

Nothing is scarier than your first unexpected encounters with Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2, before he became just another mascot they trot out in every old Silent Hill thing.

[Swoz_MK]

[PAGATRON]

Into the mind of Chris Cunningham...

Actually I think the images are NSFW, so just GIS 'Rubber Johnny' and you'll see.

[ZoyzaSorris]

I think that there has to be some familiarity in there to really tap into our primal fears, along the lines of the uncanny valley concept, i.e. our hackles are most raised when something is not quite right.
Obvious point but the more left to the imagination the better too really, hence why cgi usually has next to no emotional effect in this sort of scenario (despite firing up the uncanny valley receptors in other less useful ways).

[doppelkorn]

I think quite a lot of the most effective genuinely disturbing designs of monsters and such are the ones that use genitals as a basis.

Reminds me of the hive mind monster thing in Starship Troopers.

[Consignia]

Nothing is scarier than your first unexpected encounters with Pyramid Head in Silent Hill 2, before he became just another mascot they trot out in every old Silent Hill thing.

Yeah, one of the scariest bits of video gaming I've ever experienced was that bit near the beginning where Pyramid Head just appears standing behind some bars in the appartments. Just standing there doing nothing. It's effective because you go past the bars several times without incident, but when you have to progress, he's there. Sending your radio into madness and glowing.

Sorry, wasn't really about monster design, but I'm sure his unique design did help.

[Sexton Brackets Drugbust]

Yeah, one of the scariest bits of video gaming I've ever experienced was that bit near the beginning where Pyramid Head just appears standing behind some bars in the appartments. Just standing there doing nothing. It's effective because you go past the bars several times without incident, but when you have to progress, he's there. Sending your radio into madness and glowing.

Sorry, wasn't really about monster design, but I'm sure his unique design did help.

I think there's something uniquely scary about a threat that currently can't reach you. The anticipation of the event is what builds the tension, so an encounter like the one you describe, gives you a real taste of the danger that you're likely to meet later on.

[SteveDave]

Reminds me of the hive mind monster thing in Starship Troopers.


[/quote

"It's afraid!"

[Urinal Cake]

I've liked the demon design from Persona/SMT. They're  take on traditional 'monsters' and give them a twist is quite good:

[Consignia]

I've liked the demon design from Persona/SMT. They're  take on traditional 'monsters' and give them a twist is quite good:

And then there's this beast (also from SMT/Persona):

[AsparagusTrevor]

I have to agree with The Thing, just a perfect idea executed brilliantly. Jeff Goldblum's metamorphosis in The Fly is another example of some great physical effects. Of course, there's the classics like the Alien and Predator, which have become a bit diluted in their overuse but you can't argue the fact that they're brilliantly designed creatures.

Wading into the murky water of CGI, I always liked the Cloverfield monster design, though we never get a decent look at it fully it just seems very alien. Plus the fact it just seems like a massive crazed animal rather than a malicious killer makes it all the scarier.

The prawns in District 9 are an interesting one, since they're not scary and the well-executed CGI gives them real personality.

[Kolba]

A ReDead

An emaciated corpse with a wooden mask is already creepy on sight. But conceptually they're executed brilliantly. You know they're near because of their constant low-pitched groaning. They stand perfectly motionless, staring at the ground; that is until they sense your close proximity, at which moment they start turning slowly towards you. If you're caught in their line of sight your character's transfixed on the spot with fear, and you can do nothing as they shuffle - oh so slowly - closer towards you.

Real moments of dread and horror in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask.

[Urinal Cake]

And then there's this beast (also from SMT/Persona):

At least with Mara there is some background context but with this guy (whose name means 'fierce lion') it seemed, 'Let's get as Freudian as we can get'. That being said it's brilliant- scary and hilarious. The ear/breasts, mouth/vagina,  the short arms with one puny sword and the helmet- you can interpret any way you like. 

[Black Ship]

Not just the evil monsters. Always thought MAX's collection in "Flight of the Navigator" looked pretty good. Especially the one which was basically a giant eye floating in a tank. Also I'm surprised nobody has mention James P. Sullivan yet[nb]Animated hair, motherfuka[/nb].

[clingfilm portent]

Abstract Daddy from Silent Hil 2. Horrific concept, and the sound it makes tops it off.

Edit: I just realised this was in the movies subforum

[ZoyzaSorris]

computer game-wise, the shamblers in quake were always an unpleasant surprise. I think humanoid things without proper eyes are always good value.