Monsters from outer space when it comes to creatures. Xenomorph, hands down. An organism born specifically to hunt prey like you.
By horrors beyond comprehension, you mean like Annihilation's mutants? The Thing? Not sure how to classify that.
I can't handle animals as we're too OP, and they get comical buffs most of the time. At which point I'd rather have something too alien to be incorrect. It's a bit like uncanny valley.
The Thing is probably my favorite creature feature. Hardly a controversial choice, I know, but it captures the isolation of not knowing. Not knowing who the monster is, not knowing who you can trust, not even knowing if you can even trust yourself.
If anyone hasn’t seen Pumpkinhead, that’s also a fantastic creature movie with some great effects.
I’ll also mention that there’s a ton of great, classic Universal monsters waiting to be rediscovered. Not just the classic original, but the sequels too. There’s some real gems in the later 30s-40s era (and some stinkers too).
I recently heard they're remaking Jeepers Creepers which I found odd because the creature from that was so obviously some person in a rubber suit that it destroyed my immersion in the film. And for some reason my brain insists that the star of Jeepers Creepers is not Justin Long (who must be much older than I think he is) but was Freddy Printz Jr.
I watched Meg 2: The Trench in the cinema and it's fun nonsense, but they're clearly trying to create a universe and a franchise and I wish film makers would just really lean into doing one great film and moving on to something new. Each new film will be more and more incomprehensible to people who are outside the universe. It ends up with characters giving whole reams of stuff that makes sense in-universe, but which is equivalent to tech the tech to the warpdrive and it's just not something I find fun. And because they need to keep upping the stakes they have to modify the creature - now there's not just one meg, there are three! There's not just one Alien ripping its way through the crew, there's hordes, or the Alien is the same but we're all space monk prisoners, or the Alien is a genetic mutant. It feels like incoherent monster-character progression.
Before that I saw Underwater which is much better than the low scores and bad reviews would have you believe. Suspension of disbelief was easier for this than the Meg. The reveal is pretty gradual, and Kristen Stewart is ace in this.
My favourite is Tremors, which is obviously great and it's a shame they keep dragging it out for another go, because they can't recapture that magic. The reboot was good, but still.
Another film I really enjoyed was the Australian Bait. I think it hits the right spots of horror, fun, and not taking itself too seriously for me.
Troll Hunter (2010) was quite neat. I really liked how it took a batshit insane concept and played it entirely straght. Or reasonably straight, at least. What I mean is that it would be so easy to to let it be just a comedy.
There is also The Host (2006) a South Korean movie filled with symbolism, political commentary, tragedy, dark humor and believeable characters. It's one of the few creature features which feel authentic and personal.
Honerable mentions to Demonic Toys and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Slip Second (1992) is worth a mention here. Its campy-horror-entertainment. But seriously, the movie had a good backdrop, story and creature. It could have been class A movie if someone like the types of Guillermo del toro would have helmed it. That's reminds me of another one Mimic (1997).
I'll try to avoid the easy picks. I love horror movies and creature features.
Splinter - (2008): Solid low-budget creature movie where a couple on a camping trip get tangled up with two criminals who try to carjack them, before the group encounters a bizarre creature that repurposes living tissue into other forms.
Prophecy - (1979): A bunch of environmentalist scientists get stuck in the wilderness fighting a giant mutant bear.
Orca - (1977): One of the better Jaws ripoffs. Kind of a mash-up of Jaws and Moby Dick.
If you're looking for something scary I recommend The Tunnel (2011) without giving too much away its a combination of a monster horror in the format of a found footage style documentary.
Monsters from outer space when it comes to creatures. Xenomorph, hands down. An organism born specifically to hunt prey like you.
By horrors beyond comprehension, you mean like Annihilation's mutants? The Thing? Not sure how to classify that.
I can't handle animals as we're too OP, and they get comical buffs most of the time. At which point I'd rather have something too alien to be incorrect. It's a bit like uncanny valley.
Not exactly horror, but I recent watched The Europa Report and thought it was pretty fun for a low budget film.
No creature feature is complete without mentioning Tremors (1990). An absolute gem.
The Thing is probably my favorite creature feature. Hardly a controversial choice, I know, but it captures the isolation of not knowing. Not knowing who the monster is, not knowing who you can trust, not even knowing if you can even trust yourself.
If anyone hasn’t seen Pumpkinhead, that’s also a fantastic creature movie with some great effects.
I’ll also mention that there’s a ton of great, classic Universal monsters waiting to be rediscovered. Not just the classic original, but the sequels too. There’s some real gems in the later 30s-40s era (and some stinkers too).
I recently heard they're remaking Jeepers Creepers which I found odd because the creature from that was so obviously some person in a rubber suit that it destroyed my immersion in the film. And for some reason my brain insists that the star of Jeepers Creepers is not Justin Long (who must be much older than I think he is) but was Freddy Printz Jr.
I watched Meg 2: The Trench in the cinema and it's fun nonsense, but they're clearly trying to create a universe and a franchise and I wish film makers would just really lean into doing one great film and moving on to something new. Each new film will be more and more incomprehensible to people who are outside the universe. It ends up with characters giving whole reams of stuff that makes sense in-universe, but which is equivalent to tech the tech to the warpdrive and it's just not something I find fun. And because they need to keep upping the stakes they have to modify the creature - now there's not just one meg, there are three! There's not just one Alien ripping its way through the crew, there's hordes, or the Alien is the same but we're all space monk prisoners, or the Alien is a genetic mutant. It feels like incoherent monster-character progression.
Before that I saw Underwater which is much better than the low scores and bad reviews would have you believe. Suspension of disbelief was easier for this than the Meg. The reveal is pretty gradual, and Kristen Stewart is ace in this.
My favourite is Tremors, which is obviously great and it's a shame they keep dragging it out for another go, because they can't recapture that magic. The reboot was good, but still.
Another film I really enjoyed was the Australian Bait. I think it hits the right spots of horror, fun, and not taking itself too seriously for me.
Troll Hunter (2010) was quite neat. I really liked how it took a batshit insane concept and played it entirely straght. Or reasonably straight, at least. What I mean is that it would be so easy to to let it be just a comedy.
There is also The Host (2006) a South Korean movie filled with symbolism, political commentary, tragedy, dark humor and believeable characters. It's one of the few creature features which feel authentic and personal.
Honerable mentions to Demonic Toys and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Slip Second (1992) is worth a mention here. Its campy-horror-entertainment. But seriously, the movie had a good backdrop, story and creature. It could have been class A movie if someone like the types of Guillermo del toro would have helmed it. That's reminds me of another one Mimic (1997).
I'll try to avoid the easy picks. I love horror movies and creature features.
Splinter - (2008): Solid low-budget creature movie where a couple on a camping trip get tangled up with two criminals who try to carjack them, before the group encounters a bizarre creature that repurposes living tissue into other forms.
Prophecy - (1979): A bunch of environmentalist scientists get stuck in the wilderness fighting a giant mutant bear.
Orca - (1977): One of the better Jaws ripoffs. Kind of a mash-up of Jaws and Moby Dick.
Just remembered another one Deepstar Six (1989). Similar to The Abyss. Low budget but still entertaining enough.
If you're looking for something scary I recommend The Tunnel (2011) without giving too much away its a combination of a monster horror in the format of a found footage style documentary.