The Top 10 BIG Monster Movies of All Time
1. King Kong (1933): This movie still has magic. Is it dated? Yes, but it allows you a trip back in time to the Great Depression. Kong is still the most magnificent monster ever and even though he eats people, he has a tragic sympathetic quality to him. Robert Armstrong and the stunningly beautiful Fey Wray and King Kong, the Eighth Wonder of the World. Pure magic.
2. Jaws (1975): A great movie and one of the most terrifying of all time. That damn Great White Shark scared a generation of swimmers. The fact that this monster is essentially a real monster in the real world made this movie all the more scary. Great script and great direction by Steven Spielberg. The big four, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and that monstrous shark act up a storm.
3. Jurassic Park (1993): The first and best of the trilogy (though the others are fun) that will have you sitting biting your nails at that ending. Good all the way through with a great story, acting and direction. Sit back and go to the greatest never-to-be-opened theme park ever imagined. Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern and Richard Attenborough go head to head with the T-Rex. Another Steven Spielberg winner.
4. King Kong (2005): No magic in this remake but a fabulous movie with special effects that will blow you away and a damn good story that playfully adds some of the elements of the original movie. Good cast headed by Naomi Watts, Jack Black and Adrian Brody, plus an awesome King Kong make this a terrific movie.
5. Cloverfield (2008): Some reviewers hate this movie; some love it. I love it. This is the scariest “big monster attacks a city” movie ever made. It is a personal movie that follows several twenty-somethings as they try to handle the end of their world in Manhattan. It is shot as if the characters filmed it so it is sometimes a little jumpy. But go with it because it is one hell of a ride.
6. Mighty Joe Young (1949): A pretty young girl (Terry Moore), a cowboy (Ben Johnson), and Robert Armstrong of King Kong fame along with a giant gorilla that loves the girl as a friend. They bring the gorilla to the city to be a nightclub entertainer and what do you think? He goes ape. Fun all the way.
7. Mighty Joe Young (1998): Remake in name only. Again beautiful girl, giant gorilla and the need to bring Mighty Joe Young to an animal sanctuary to protect him and, yes, he goes ape again due to evil men looking to capture and slice him up to sell his body parts. Another great “great ape” story starring Bill Paxton and Charlize Theron.
8. Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953): It’s one of the first, if not the first, radiation turns a dinosaur into a rampaging monster that attacks New York City. The scene where the creature eats a policeman is stunning, even now. From a Ray Bradbury short story.
9. Godzilla (1998): My sons think this movie stinks; I think it is good. It is fun and except for a really annoying cutesy-girl leading lady, the film is fast moving and energetic. No character is realistic but the monster is – and that’s the important thing. It is the Beast from 20,000 Fathoms updated as opposed to an actual Godzilla movie like those silly Japanese flicks. Stars Matthew Broderick.
10. Them (1954): You think you’ve got problems with ants in your house or in your pants? How about ants eating your house, your pants and you too? That’s them. Usually giant insect movies are just stupid and could use a can of Raid. Not this one. What caused them to grow? If it’s 1954 it has to be radiation.
• Please note: I just couldn’t put any of those Japanese monster movies on this list because they aren’t good movies. They are fun for kids to watch and for adults to laugh over but they are nowhere in the league with the movies in the top 10.
• I really had a struggle about one monster movie that I loved, The Blob (1958). In the original movie you have Steve McQueen and a decent script and okay special effects. In the remake of 1988, the blob is a more fearsome creature and the special effects are excellent. Story is basically the same but it is another good film. Neither of these had the stuff to make the top 10 but they are both worth a look.
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