While fans are preparing for the modern clashing of the Titans in Godzilla vs. Kong by watching the connected films of Legendary’s MonsterVerse or the previous incarnations of the classic cinematic giant monsters, it can be easy to overlook some other great monster movies that don’t feature King Kong or Godzilla.
Over the years the monster genre has developed beyond the giant lizards and gorillas to include wild new monsters that have gone on to launch cinematic franchises of their own, while other memorable monster movies have explored similar origins and themes as the King of Monsters or the Eighth Wonder of the World that monster fans will enjoy.
10 The Blob
There have been a few adaptations of The Blob, with the 1958 movie first introducing the legendary alien gelatinous monster as it arrived on a meteorite and began to invade a small town as it consumed the residents and grow more dangerous.
The 1988 remake gave the monster a twist by making it a biological weapon created by the government that was accidentally unleashed on home soil and features some incredibly gruesome kills that quickly turned it into a cult favorite.
9 Eight Legged Freaks
Following in the same vein of radioactive monsters like Godzilla, 2002’s Eight Legged Freaks is a horror-comedy that homaged classic 50s monster movies about giant animals after spiders are exposed to toxic waste and mutated into giant monsters that descend on a small Arizona town.
While the film doesn’t have the same serious tone as the modern MonsterVerse, the mutated spiders are terrifying toxic monsters that are still sure to creep out fans of movies like Arachnophobia and Kingdom of the Spiders.
8 Tremors
1990’s Tremors took place in the town of Perfection, Nevada as the residents found themselves under attack by what was determined to be a number of giant “underground goddamn monsters” that were known as Graboids within the movie’s continuity.
The success of the movie spawned six more direct-to-video sequels (Tremors: Shrieker Island was released in 2020) that introduced new cycles of the Graboid monster that spawned other well-named threats like Shriekers and Ass-Blasters that soon extended across the globe.
7 Pacific Rim
The kaiju genre was given an action movie upgrade by visionary director Guillermo del Toro in 2013’s Pacific Rim, which homaged fan-favorite anime series like Neon Genesis Evangelion by introducing giant human-piloted mechas known as Jaegers that were designed to battle against other-dimensional giant monsters.
The epic Jaeger vs. Kaiju battles escalated throughout the film and introduced bigger and better monsters with each attack. The kaiju-filled world was further explored in the 2018 sequel, Pacific Rim: Uprising.
6 Colossal
Anne Hathaway and Jason Sudeikis starred in the uniquely delightful Colossal in 2008, which explored a unique take on the classic kaiju monster movie that explored a woman’s struggle with alcoholism and relationships after she discovers she can control the actions of a giant monster that appears in South Korea.
Colossal is not the typical giant monster movie, which only adds to the overall charm of the black comedy from writer/director Nacho Vigalondo that is sure to surprise viewers and make new fans due to the great performance from Hathaway.
5 Deep Rising
1998’s Deep Rising followed a crew of mercenary thieves as they attempted to rob a cruise ship using an unwilling boat crew, though they soon discover that the passengers aboard the cruise ship have met with a grisly fate after the ship was sabotaged and left adrift.
The mercenaries and crew members encounter a number of giant worm-like creatures that attack and consume their prey whole, which are eventually revealed as tentacles connected to a larger sea monster known as the Octalus.
4 The Mist
Frank Darabont directed 2007’s The Mist that adapted Stephen King‘s novella of the same name and followed a group of survivors trapped within a supermarket as strange mist filled with a variety of dangerous hidden monsters that envelops a Maine town.
As the monsters begin to pick them off one by one, the tense supermarket survivors find themselves divided and at war with each other. The movie may keep the giant monsters largely hidden in the mist to amplify their terror, but the monsters inside the store and the gut-wrenching ending made this an unforgettable King adaptation.
3 Trollhunter
2014’s Trollhunter/Trolljegeren from writer/director André Øvredal is a Norwegian mockumentary-style film made by a documentary team as they set out to learn more about a suspected bear poacher, though they soon discover that he is actually hunting mythological trolls.
As the documentary team finds themselves under attack from the trolls they begin to learn more from the troll hunter about the monsters and Norwegian cultural folklore that has made the surprising found-footage film a must-watch for monster movie fans.
2 Monsters
While Gareth Edwards brought the modern version of the King of the Monsters to the big screen in 2014’s Godzilla, his directorial debut explored another world besieged by giant alien lifeforms in 2010’s Monsters, which he not only wrote and directed but also created the visual effects.
Monsters followed an American photojournalist as he attempted to escort his boss’s daughter out of the infected zone of Mexico at the American border as the combined countries attempted to fight off the alien invasion that led to a 2015 sequel and rumored plans for a TV series.
1 Cloverfield
2008’s Cloverfield from director Matt Reeves was another found footage film that explored a monstrous attack on New York City as captured by a home video camera documenting a going away party that soon turns into a harrowing escape from the city.
The movie introduced an exciting new monster that attacked from the ocean nicknamed “Clover” that was able to terrorize the party-goers both during its battle with the armed forces and by the smaller parasitic creatures carried by the monster. The success of the film launched a loosely connected anthology series that has left fans wanting more of the monsters.
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