What do we mean by
our favorite big bads? Don't be fooled, we're not listing our
all time favorite Kaijus, because we're not big kaiju fans. What
we are fans of are giant monsters, monsters that stomp, monsters
that destroy, and monsters with a point and purpose. Since "Cloverfield"
is going to be stomping into theaters January 18th with
incredible anticipation and mystery, we thought ringing in the
anticipated film with a list of our all time favorite giant
monsters would be a kick.
So we sifted through
our library of movies, we googled a lot of giant monsters and we
went through some of our favorites. In the end, even though we
liked Gamera, and Mothra, and Mechagodzilla, and even though we
passed on some like Voltron, and the beast from The Relic, we
couldn't help but feel a giant affection for these monstrous
furious baddies who took a small city and made it their bitch.
Some of these are commentaries on nuclear war, some of these are
commentary on space travel and disrupting our oceanic settings,
and some of these are just plain old mean and angry beasts who
take joy from eating helpless citizens and hapless police
officers.
"Cloverfield" and a
mysterious giant monster wreaks pure bloody havoc on New York
City soon, and we thought that it was the right time to invite
some contemporaries over in hopes that JJ Abrams' monster ends
up as horrifying as these fine individuals. Lock up your
children, call the army, and ready your tanks, these baddies are
on the prowl!
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One of the many themes of the
nuclear age was radiation. Many movies revolved around
paranoia of the nuclear age, the fear of radiation, and the
fear of the ill-effects of radiation and the nuclear bomb.
"Them!" is that product of that fear that explores giant
creatures spawned from the nuclear age and radiation that
turns them into giant ants wreaking havoc on the New Mexico
countryside. For its time, "Them!" is one of the more grim
and stern monster horror movies that, due to the budget,
only really features the giant ants as an evil presence
lurking in the shadows rather than always hogging the screen
for effect. The ants are often sighed but never shown and we
only gain a sense of their chaos, meanwhile we can only
really hear the rustling of the ants whenever they're around
and this adds a better sense of horror that these monsters
will inevitably attack and begin their blood thirsty
rampage. |
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When the path of destruction
becomes apparent and the source of the attacks making
clear that there are indeed giant monsters alive and
nesting nearby the film then becomes a man vs. animal
horror film that features the use of flame throwers and
the military along with a great many moments of ant
carnage as they murder victims with their strong
pinchers. The ants almost overpower humanity, which sets
the stage for an all out military attack on the queen
and the nest, and the ants make their potential seen to
all that cross their paths. "Them!" is really very much
a commentary on the dangers of nuclear radiation, and
like many films of its time, it's a firm warning and
message to the military that nuclear war is a
potentially dangerous and incredibly lethal form of
extinction for mankind if we're not careful. Though we
may not feature giant monsters, "Them!" is really just
symbolic of only one of the many possible results of
weapons of mass destruction. It's one of the rare mature
giant monster movies that set the stages for another
giant monster that rose from the ocean..
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Never has a
T-Rex been such an imposing and horrifying figure of pure
animosity, and evil. Never has there been such a grim and
powerful force of nature since "Jurassic Park" first
introduced its version of the T-Rex, which stomped its way
into theaters and traumatized many children. The T-Rex is a
pure monster of utter destruction and calculating to boot.
It made for some of the most rousing entertainment in the
sequel of "Jurassic Park" where it stomped through suburbs,
ate unsuspecting dogs, and strived to teach people that it
was the king. In "Jurassic Park" it was often a monster kept
in the dark for the first portion of the story. We knew the
T-Rex was near, we knew it loomed in its pit, and once the
electric gates were ripped to shreds, we knew it was on the
hunt for fresh blood. |
Spielberg presented us with
two different versions of the T-Rex for both of the
"Jurassic Park" films. In the first, the T-Rex was more
of an omnipresent sense of danger that lurked over our
victims heads and it was presumably a male. It was the
most feared genetic experiments of the park, and it was
also an erratic monster that could be anticipated in
behavior and attitude, but was hard to dodge and outrun
when it decided to attack. Take for the example its
curious investigation on the tour jeeps when the park
breaks down. Its curiosity was matched only by its power
and animal instinct, and when it lurked in the mud and
rain only succeeded by the thunderous rumble that could
be signaled by rippled in puddles of water, you knew
that our characters were in trouble. Spielberg opted for
the more familial T-Rex by showing two parent T-Rex
monsters that roamed around the forgotten island of
Jurassic Park with its baby in tow. The T-Rex's were
still pure harrowing animals, but there were two and
they had a reason for such chaotic attitude beyond
animal instinct. They were protecting their kidnapped
child, and they were out for blood. Either way, the
T-Rex kept its hold on the series and became one of the
most popular dinosaurs in the franchise rivaled only by
the Raptors. Sure we love those strategic foot soldiers,
but in the department of giant monsters, the T-Rex takes
the cake.
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The 7th Voyage of Sinbad brought
about one of the most interesting creatures of the
Harryhausen imagination that fans have seen and probably
never will see again. Harryhausen never really stuck
faithfully to mythology when it came to manifesting his
creatures into the world he was set to create, his UFO's
were different, his Kraken was different, and surely enough
his octopus didn't have the right number of tentacles. But
who cares? With the Cyclops, that only adds to the charm
since Harryhausen opts for a more Minotaur sort of beast
that acts as a calculating monster more than a mindless
creature. Greek mythology is fun, but for films like this,
Harryhausen really went for his visceral feelings and he
hardly ever failed. |
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Harryhausen added pep to a
veritable already interesting mythology and the Cyclops
adds to the appeal and overall atmosphere to the film
that "The 7th Voyage of Sinbad," a great swashbuckling
movie that's, let's face it, well known mainly for its
monsters. There's the snake lady, the incredible fight
scene with the skeletal soldiers, and of course there's
the Cyclops which adds to the overall obstacle and makes
for some of the best scenes including his attacks with
spears, his maiming of Sinbad's men and his quest for
the lamp that the character Sokurah steals from its
caves. The Cyclops is not only iconic, but a vicious
beast that manages to overpower the numbers in the
sailors who are forced to defend themselves against it,
and inevitably two more make their way to the warriors
later in the story which Sinbad skillfully stops. If The
Cyclops bears any resemblance to the Ymir, then it's not
just your imagination. Much of the same design was used
for the Cyclops, including the skeleton, and it works
without fault, as Harryhausen retreads, but makes it
feel like an entirely new creation, in the end.
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Following the
tradition of monsters destroying famous landmark cities, Ray
Harryhausen birthed one of his own monsters for the sake of
the monster sub-genre that started from a small creature
into a humongous beast that managed to take Rome and destroy
many of its monuments. "20 Million Miles to Earth" is that
Ray Harryhausen film that continues to remain an interesting
"King Kong" take off with the monster Ymir managing to
outgrow the popularity of the film itself. It was a stowaway
on a jettisoned space trip from the planet Venus, and
inevitably found its way into the oceans of Rome in
hibernated stage. Discovered as a gooey cocoon, the Ymir is
born as a small creature that remains confined to a cage,
until suddenly it begins gradually growing and slowly
improving in weight and strength. |
Suddenly the Ymir discovered
by a small boy is really another giant monster that
really only becomes vicious because it's consistently
provoked, especially when its attacked by a farmer's dog
which it then mauls in fright. Much like King Kong and
Mighty Joe Young, the Ymir's manifestation is only the
result of confusion and man made obstacles that turn
against it when it attempts to make sense of its
surroundings and own genetics. Like the aforementioned
monsters, it's only violent because civilization made it
that way, and every ounce of carnage is a product of
fear, confusion, and response to aggression. It tumbles
buildings, is attacked by scared onlookers with weapons,
and knocks down behemoths of animals like an elephant,
only to fall victim to manmade war machines.
Harryhausen's monster movie is another commentary on the
dangers of space exploration and, with a spiked tail and
a thunderous high pitched squeal, this once harmless
creature becomes a horrifying monster at the hands of
the aggressive man, the monster a true
classic in the Harryhausen legend.
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Would another remake truly
depict the carnage of the Blob? It's hard to say really. If
we're going for a hard R, then perhaps. Although at this
point I don't see what else they can do that both great
versions of the story haven't already accomplished. The
Blob, an alien organism from Mars, crash lands on Earth, and
is discovered by a hapless hobo and his dog. Little do we
know that by that small discovery, mankind faces an almost
unstoppable force of nature: The Blob. Born from pure heat,
the Blob is a faceless, formless beast that thrives on heat,
and grows only by the feeding of every living thing in its
path. Facing off against a small town, it displays a
mindless wave of a feeding frenzy that really has no method
to its madness. |
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It just lands on our planet,
lurks about, and feeds whenever it finds the chance to.
One of the best examples of its carnage was in the
eighties remake which successfully retold the tale with
a blob that was even more vicious than the first. It ate
children, women, and even massacred a theater of
movie-goers. Starting out as a small ooze which then
catapults into gargantuan proportions once it begins to
outwit and outrun humans and helpless animals, the Blob
is one of the more ambiguous monsters of the sub-genre.
It's almost senseless in its hunger, like a Crocodile
and doesn't spare a single soul, and all we really learn
is that it despises pure cold which humans can rarely
obtain. The blob, infamous for its red substance and
straightforward unpretentious origin really manages to
be a creature to reckon with that swallows everything in
its means and inevitably falls under the wrath of
subzero temperatures. In the original film, the blob is
dropped into the Antarctic in a frozen state and even
though it's stopped, it's far from dead. That's the
appeal to the blob. You can stop it in its tracks, but
the method to destroying it has yet to be discovered.
-
Felix Vasquez Jr.
1/16/08 |
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