Monster Movies

The ABCs of 100 Monster Movies:

(I have seen the 55 movies in bold.)

Includes my top picks for 13 monsters of Spooktober – the 31 days of October leading to Halloween, plus two more days to add the Day of the Dead, November 2.

• • Imbolc (Candlemas) – February 1
  • Spring Equinox (Ostara) – March 20/21
  • St. George’s Eve – April 22
  • Walpurgisnacht (Saint  Walpurgis Night) – April 30
  • Beltane (May Day) – May 1
  • World Dracula Day – May 26
  • Summer Solstice (Midsummer / Litha) – June 20/21
  • Lughnasadh (Lammas) – August 1
  • Autumn Equinox (Mabon) – September 20/21
  • Devil’s Night – October 30
  • Halloween – October 31
  • Samhain (All Hallows) – November 1
  • Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) – November 2
  • Winter Solstice (Midwinter / Yule) – December 20/21

A: Ape

• • Merian C. Cooper’s King Kong (1933)
  • Universal’s Cheela The Ape Woman in Captive Wild Woman (1943)
  • Planet of the Apes (1968)
  • Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

B: Brute/Mad Scientist

• • Robert Louis Stevenson’s Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886 book)
    • Universal’s Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1913)
    • Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1920)
  • Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831 book)
    • Universal’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
    • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939)

C: Clown/Carnival

• • The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
  • Carnival of Souls (1962)
  • Batman’s Joker
    • Batman (1989)
    • Dark Knight (2008)

D: Demon

• • Disney’s Fantasia “Night on Bald Mountain” (1941)
  • Ingmar Bergman’s The Seventh Seal (1957)
  • William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist (1972)
  • The Ninth Gate (1999)

E: Evil Killer

• • Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (1927)
  • Fritz Lang’s M (1931)
  • Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho (1960)
  • Halloween (1978)

F: Frankenstein’s Monster

• • Universal’s Frankenstein (1931)
  • Universal’s Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1994)
  • Van Helsing (2004)

G: Ghost

• • Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow (1999)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
  • Stephen King’s The Shining (1980)
  • Ghostbusters (1984)

H: Hybrid Humanoid

• • H.G. Wells’ 1896 novel Island of Dr. Moreau (1932, 1977, & 1996)
  • The Fly (1958 & 1986)
  • DC Comics’ Swamp Thing (1982)
  • Marvel’s Man-Thing (2005)

I: Invisible Man

1. • Universal/H.G. Wells’ The Invisible Man (1933)
   • John Carpenter’s Memoirs of an Invisible Man (1992)
   • The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen (2003)
   • Universal’s The Invisible Man (2020)

J: Jurassic/Dinosaur

• • Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Lost World (1925 & 1992)
  • Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park (1993)
  • Jules Verne’s Journey to the Center of the Earth (2008)
  • Sid and Marty Krofft’s Land of the Lost (2009)

K: Kaiju

1. • Ishirō Honda’s Godzilla (1954)
   • Shin Godzilla (Godzilla: Resurgence) (2016)
   • Godzilla vs. Kong (2021)
   • Godzilla Minus One (2023)

L: Lycan/Werewolf

• • Universal’s The Wolf Man (1941)
  • An American Werewolf in London (1981)
  • Ginger Snaps (2000)
  • Underworld (2003)

M: Mummy

• • Universal/Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Mummy (1932)
  • Hammer Horror’s The Mummy (1959)
  • Universal’s The Mummy (1999)
  • Universal’s The Mummy (2017)

N: Nature Runs Amok

• • Them! (1954)
  • Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds (1963)
  • Stephen King’s Cujo (1983)
  • Arachnophobia (1990)

O: Orcish (Gremlin, Goblin, Ogre, Troll, etc.)

• • Twilight Zone “Nightmare at 20,000 Feet” (1963)
  • Gremlins (1984)
  • Labyrinth (1986)
  • J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings (2001)

P: Poe – Edgar Allan Poe

• • Universal’s Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
  • Universal’s The Black Cat (1934)
  • The Raven (1963)
  • The Masque of the Red Death (1964)

Q: Cthulhu/H.P. Lovecraft’s Necronomicon

• • The Haunted Palace (1963)
  • Re-Animator (1985)
  • Necronomicon (1993)
  • Call of Cthulhu (2005)

R: Robot/Golem

• • The Golem: How He Came into the World (1920)
  • The Golem: The Legend of Prague (1936)
  • The Limehouse Golem (2016)
  • The Golem (2018)

S: Skeleton

• • Ray Harryhausen’s Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
  • Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness (1992)

T: Titan

• • Hammer Horror’s The Gorgon (1964)
  • Ray Harryhausen’s Clash of the Titans (1981)
  • Clash of the Titans (2010)
  • Wrath of the Titans (2012)

U: Underwater Menace

• • Universal’s Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
  • Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1956)
  • Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975)
  • The Host (2006)

V: Vampire

• • F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu (1922)
  • Universal’s Dracula (1931)
  • Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
  • Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (1994)

W: Witch

• • Benjamin Christensen’s Häxan (1922)
  • Arthur Miller’s The Crucible (1996)
  • The Craft (1996)
  • The Witch (2015)

X: Xtra-Terrestrial Monsters

• • The Blob (1958)
  • The Thing (1982)
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)
  • Ridley Scott’s Alien (1979)

Y: Yeti (Sasquatch, Bigfoot, & Abominable Snowman)

• • The Abominable Snowman (1957)
  • The Legend Of Boggy Creek (1972)

Z: Zombie

• • William Seabrook’s White Zombie (1932)
  • George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead (1968)
  • 28 Days Later (2002)
  • Train to Busan (2016)