Scariest horror monsters.

[Kryton]

For me personally it's either The Thing or the The infected from 28 days later or the first stages of the Alien from Alien.

The Thing is number one as far as I'm concerned, an affront to nature and evolution. A terrifying imitator of humanity. Is it some sort of parasitical life form (or as I kind of see it, a colonial lifeform, not too dissimilar to the siphonophore)? Either way the very concept of it worries me.
However I don't see the creature as necessarily malicious, more so just a survivor. In almost all cases in the film, the Thing generally wanted to remain hidden. It really only started its rampage in the American camp once it had been sniffed out by the dogs. Notice it didn't infect Clark before the kennel scene?

Carpenter's masterpiece as far as I'm concerned.

The infected from 28 days later are a close second. Everything from the 10-20 second infection time, the blood spewing rage, the adrenaline fueled strength, the ebola and rabies symptoms. The concept of an infected Britain is not one that's a million miles away either. We're only a small island. It really wouldn't take too long before the infection fucked everyone. What was it in the film? 8 days before the PM called a state of emergency? Fucked it.

And last but not least the Alien / Xeno from the Alien franchise but more precisely the facehugger. Geiger's designs are almost perfect aren't they? A super-strong, super-fast insect-like killing machine with acid for blood. But instead of this just being another forgettable monster in space, the designers decided to follow this up with a whole evolutionary pattern to the alien.
Infection, incubation, hatchling etc... All equally horrific.

The facehugger though... Yuck.

Other candidates include: The sexual parasites from shivers, Jeff Goldblum as the Fly, The Triffids, Romero's zombies from his first three zombie films, Tooms from the X-files (not strictly a monster, but he's a wrong 'un), The Borg from Star Trek and of course the Daleks from Dr Who.

[bgmnts]

Xenomorph. Not even a contest. Still shit me right up to this day. The whole life span of the facehugger throat raping an egg down your gullet which hatches in your belly and bursts out your gut during dinner. Then it turns into a large, apex predator 'black penises with teeth' thing.

I dont tell people this but facehuggers are why I am still a bit grossed out by vaginas. You should never watch Alien before losing your virginity.

Cenobites are a distant second because of what they can do to you, not the scariest designs.


The Thing and 28 Days Later infected are scary though. I remember first seeing 28 Days Later (In a VHS 3 pack with Resident Evil and Dog Soldiers) and I thought "fuck me if zombies could run i'd shoot myself in the head wouldn't even try to stick it out". Not only are they terrifying generally they hit me where it hurts in the cardio/body fears/shame.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

The Alien is undoubtedly a work of twisted genius, but I think it has suffered from over familiarity. It isn't all that alien any more. 

[Dr Syntax Head]

Invasion of the body snatchers pod people. Hiding in plain sight, and fit in even more in our real life socially disconnected world.

Any doppelgänger. It would always know what you'd do to try and get away if it wanted to kill you.

The human brain aaaaahhhh

[Dr Syntax Head]

The creatures out of The Mist

Patrick Bateman. He is a monster.

Bob out of Twin Peaks

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

Man.

[thraxx]

Scorpio from Dirty Harry.

Those silent scalpel wielding pale cunts from Buffy.

The weird half-seen twitching creatures that hand around in Jacob's Ladder.

The spiders in Arachnophobia.

[Bhazor]

Not technically horror but the emotion sucking Polymorph always scared the shite out of me.

[newbridge]

The aliens from Fire in the Sky.

[BlodwynPig]

Baby
Brown Jenkin
Baal
Chimera

[itsfredtitmus]

the thing scary? PFFFFTT!!

[itsfredtitmus]

Baby
Brown Jenkin
Baal
Chimera

Jackie Brown

[Kryton]

the thing scary? PFFFFTT!!

Conceptually yes. To a younger me, yes. Ok it's a bit dated somewhat now, but the general setting of extreme isolation and paranoia is unmatched. Or maybe it isn't? Name a film that suggests a similar tone that surpasses it?

[bgmnts]

So we are taking into account the situation in the film where the monster appears, not just the monster itself?

Because yeah in the middle of the supermarket the Thing probably isn't that frightening.

[BlodwynPig]

Conceptually yes. To a younger me, yes. Ok it's a bit dated somewhat now, but the general setting of extreme isolation and paranoia is unmatched. Or maybe it isn't? Name a film that suggests a similar tone that surpasses it?

Ostrov (2006)

[Kryton]

Ostrov (2006)

Oh that looks quite decent. Thanks.

[itsfredtitmus]

Conceptually yes. To a younger me, yes. Ok it's a bit dated somewhat now, but the general setting of extreme isolation and paranoia is unmatched. Or maybe it isn't? Name a film that suggests a similar tone that surpasses it?

Isn't a matter of being dated; it just wasn't very scary. suspenseful, ya, very

A thing (ha) with a similar tone but surpasses? the x-files thing rip "ice" from season 1 got me way more than the thing

[Gregory Torso]

This cunt:

[Small Man Big Horse]

Klaus Kinski's Nosferatu, a terrifying performance made all the more disturbing by knowing what an abject cunt Kinski could be.

[Bhazor]

Aged terribly but Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 was fucking terrifying at the time just in how it broke all the established rules of Resi. A boss you have to run from, who chases you through loading screens, appearing in rooms you've already cleared, smashing through the damn ceiling.

[Claude the Racecar Driving Rockstar Super Sleuth]

They also did that in Resident Evil 2, with the Tyrant in Clair's campaign.

Speaking of implacable gaming baddies:

[Dex Sawash]

the big fluffy dog/dragon from neverending story

[bgmnts]

The Langoliers are also pretty fucked up.

[St_Eddie]

Xenomorph. Not even a contest. Still shit me right up to this day. The whole life span of the facehugger throat raping an egg down your gullet which hatches in your belly and bursts out your gut during dinner.

*adopts Partridge voice*

Stop getting Alien wrong!

Sigourney Weaver put it best, when she said (and I'm paraphrasing here)...

People always seem to get it wrong with the creature's life-cycle and say that it bursts from a person's stomach.  That's just a bad Mexican meal, right?  No, it bursts from your chest, which is what's so horrific.  The thought of not been able to breathe, as this thing claws its way out of your chest cavity.

[Gregory Torso]

I was absolutely poo-and-wee terrified of Belial from Basket Case as a kid. I'd see the poster with him sticking out of his little picnic hamper waving his claw, on the wall of the video shop that stank of cigs and wet clothes. Lots of 80s horror film posters that seemed impossibly frightening to my young mind. I've never seen Basket Case. I bet he looks like a lump of Playdoh with boglin eyes.

[St_Eddie]

I've never seen Basket Case. I bet he looks like a lump of Playdoh with boglin eyes.

Pretty much...



I like Basket Case but it's more of a horror-comedy, with the emphasis on comedy, than a straight-up horror and that became increasingly clear in the sequels.

[bgmnts]

*adopts Partridge voice*

Stop getting Alien wrong!

Sigourney Weaver put it best, when she said (and I'm paraphrasing here)...

Ok but it has to burst through the gut to get to the chest no?

[Gregory Torso]

Pretty much...

See, even that shitty-looking melted latex Bib Fortuna halloween mask, on some level, still sparks a twitch of unease in me. Deep roots.

[bgmnts]

Its the blob of a hand with the fingernails that do it for me.

[St_Eddie]

Ok but it has to burst through the gut to get to the chest no?

Seeming as the embryo is planted near the lungs; no.

See, even that shitty-looking melted latex Bib Fortuna halloween mask...

Wow, good call.  Belial does look like a melted Bib Fortuna!