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Monster Movie (also can be referred to as Creature Feature or Monster Film) is a name commonly given to movies, which center around the struggle between human beings and one or more monsters.
While there is no specific academic genre classification of that name, the term is usually applied to films sometimes labelled as horror, fantasy or science fiction genre that involve fictional creatures, in most cases it is applied to films that feature more oversized monsters despite its history starting withadaptations of horror folklore and literature.
In Japanese cinema, such monsters are referred to as Kaiju. Typically, movie monsters differ from more traditional antagonists in that many exist due to circumstances beyond their control; their actions not entirely based on choice, potentially making them objects of empathy to film viewers.
Delivering action, adventure, chills and thrills, this
precedent-setting monster movie tells a timeless tale of man vs. beast.
While shooting in the jungle, filmmaker Carl Denham (Robert Armstrong)
discovers an awe-inspiring marvel of nature: a 50-foot gorilla dubbed
Kong. Subduing the mighty beast, the crew returns to New York with the
primate, who promptly escapes, spreading mayhem and going ape for the
production's leading lady (Fay Wray).
A legend in the history of B-movie fare. How many female scientists
travel the Amazon bedecked in bikini-wear calculated to charm an
anaconda off a branch? That's what happens when Julie Adams and fellow scientist Richard Carlson
happen upon the black lagoon and the amphibious creature inhabiting it.
Casting a gimlet eye on Adams in backstroke, it's love at first sight
for the scaly beast.
Clive Barker's directing debut follows the tale of a couple (Andrew Robinson, Clare Higgins) who move into an old house and discovers a hideous creature (Oliver Smith)
-- the man's half-brother (and his wife's former lover) -- hiding
upstairs. Having lost his earthly body to three demons, the man's been
brought back to life by a drop of blood on the floor. Soon, he's
forcing his former mistress to bring him human sacrifices to complete
his body.
Dracula, the Wolfman, Frankenstein, the Mummy and Gill Man descend on a
tiny town in search of a diabolically powerful amulet. Only 12-year-old
Sean (Andre Gower)
and his gang of monster-obsessed misfits can save the day in this
overlooked 1987 horror comedy. This 20th-anniversary edition also
includes new interviews with Gower and co-stars Ryan Lambert, Duncan Regehr, Tom Noonan and writer-director Fred Dekker.
This
double dose of horror capitalizes on our fears of apocalyptic
destruction. In Panic in Year Zero (1962), a tight-knit Los Angeles
family flees their home just before the city is hit by a hydrogen bomb.
In The Last Man on Earth (1964) -- a film that's said to have inspired
George Romero's Night of the Living Dead -- Vincent Price is the only human left alive after a deadly global plague turns its victims into vampires.
In Revenge of the Creature, Gill-Man returns after surviving multiple
bullet wounds, but is captured and put on display at an aquarium. Two
scientists (John Agar and Lori Nelson) help Gill-Man, who eventually
turns on his captors. In The Creature Walks Among Us, Gill-Man's gills
are severely burned. A scientist (Jeff Morrow) finds a way to enable him to breathe oxygen, but tragedy strikes, and Gill-Man faces a monumental decision.
According to many film fanatics, The Thing belongs in the pantheon of
science fiction classics. This celluloid chronicle follows a team of
scientists and researchers who discover an unclassifiable creature
frozen in a block of ice. When the ice thaws, it unleashes a powerful,
destructive creature that's bent on annihilating everything in its path.
You'll want your mummy when you spin this action-packed thriller from
Universal Studios (the dream factory that produced the 1932 original).
This remake joins the Indiana Jones series in the pantheon of great
adventure flix. With strong performances by Brendan Fraser and Rachel Weisz, and a treasure trove of extras -- including a primer on Egyptian mythology -- The Mummy is a scream.
A charming doll collection turns into an unstoppable army of killers in
this terrifying tale. When circumstances force a nervous salesman, two
pathetic punkers, an obnoxious couple and their daughter to stay with
an elderly couple who make and collect dolls, everything seems fine at
first. But come nightfall, the dolls decide to get rid of their new
houseguests…permanently. Stephen Lee, Guy Rolfe, Hilary Mason and Ian Patrick Williams star.
Years after his scientist father met a unique and gruesome end as a grotesque man-fly hybrid, Philippe Delambre (Brett Halsey) is determined to carry on his dad's dubious work. With the help of his uncle François (Vincent Price),
Philippe re-creates his father's matter transmission device. But the
machine still has a few bugs in it. Philippe soon finds himself sharing
his father's fate with horrifying results in this classic sci-fi sequel.
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