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Okay, so I watched this video where the Angry Nintendo Nerd picks his choices for the best monster movies in each genre.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-cWZ_v5wbc

You can agree or disagree with his choices, but I thought it was an interesting topic. So what follows are my choices. I encourage you to follow up with your own choices, and add new monster genres.

Zombies: I love George Romero's initial trilogy. I could pick Night of the Living Dead for starting it all off. I could also pick Dawn of the Dead, because I think that is still to this day the most fully realized zombie film. Then again, Day of the Dead had the best zombie effects. But if I'm going to be truthful, it has to be Return of the Living Dead. I love RotLD. I love it so much that whenever anybody asks me to make the best five films of all time, RotLD will always find its way onto that list. That is how much I love that movie.

Vampires: I can fully understand if people want to pick the Lugosi Dracula, but I'm going to have to with the grungy '80s Near Dark.

Aliens: To my mind, I have to go with The Thing. The Thing has a special place in my heart because I caught a snippet of it when I was very young, and it so terrified me that I did not actually watch the full movie until I was well past my teens. Now I just think it's a great movie on its own terms. You have to love a movie where a horrifying effect is so beyond the pale that the characters themselves comment on it. (A severed head grows legs and crawls across the floor. Character's response? "You have got to be f**king kidding me.")

Tiny Little Monsters: Gremlins 2. Gremlins 2. Always Gremlins 2. Not really a horror movie, just the best live action Warner Bros. cartoon ever made. I love the sheer anarchy of this movie to death.

So that's just three for me. What do you think are the best in the other genres? Wolfmen, Frankenstein Monsters, Giant Kaiju Maniacs? Feel free to add on or refute my choices.

.Vampires-this is a toss up for me...DRACULA (1931) and NOSFERATU (1922).
.Frankenstein-like the reviewer above-the SON OF FRANKENSTEIN (1939)
.Werewolf-hmmmm...geeez...this is a tuffy! Dam! AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON...but The WEREWOLF VS THE VAMPIRE WOMAN is right up there. Sorry Lon.
.Zombies-NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) and WHITE ZOMBIE (1932).
.Aliens-Carpenter's the THING and IT CONQUERED THE WORLD.
.the Mummy-Hammer's the MUMMY (1959) definitly.
.Giant Monster-KING KONG (1933) and DESTROY ALL MONSTERS!
.Sea Monster-REVENGE OF THE CREATURE and JAWS (yes-he is a monster.).

Giant monster--Godzilla. King Kong has the better story, but Godzilla, in all his incarnations, has far more personality and is just more fun. sorry, I don't think I can pick just one movie here.
Dinosaur (slightly different than just a giant monster)--The Valley of Gwangi. Just because I love saying "Gwangi." Dinosaurus also deserves a mention just for being so much fun. I know the Jurassic Park movies are better in a lot of ways, but these two just hold a very dear place in my heart.
Zombies--Return of the Living Dead. Romero's zombie movies just bore me for some reason. And Dead/Alive gets a very high rank also.
Werewolf--The Wolf Man. I'll give Lon Chaney, Jr.'s version the nod here, just because he did an excellent job portraying the remorseful monster.
Aliens--I want to say The Day the Earth Stood Still, but the alien wasn't the monster in that one; the humans were. So I'll go with the 1956 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. That one scared the ever-lovin' poop out of me as a teenager.
Frankenstein--The Bride of Frankenstein. Weird, funny, and all-around kooky. My kind of movie.
Sea Monster--The Creature from the Black Lagoon. Okay, so it's not exactly a sea monster, but it's close enough.

Hooray Monsters! :cheers:

The Giant Monster Genre
I love me some Toho but at this time I must go off-road and possibly upset a lot of people: Cloverfield (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1060277/)/Monsters (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1470827/). In a genre where the classic heavyweights reign unchallenged something new is almost unthinkable - something that works even more so. I really like the fact that, years after the genre was at its height, some huge monster can come crashing in and be successful.

The Alien Genre
The Alien series is an obvious honoree, as are The Thing and War of the Worlds, though for the latter two I leave it up to you to choose old or new. In recent years I have to go with District 9 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1136608/), I was just blown away by the aliens and their technology.

The Frankenstein Genre
Young Frankenstein (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072431/), nothing further. :drink:

The Sea Monster Genre (http://The Sea Monster Genre)
I have to mention Deep Rising (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118956/). Not only is it a great sea monster movie, it's a great monster movie, period. Also, props to Virus (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120458/). No, it isn't from the Alien category. Yes, the monster is hostile static cling from outer space but once the MIR shot it onto that ship it became a Sea Monster. There are boats and ocean and aft and portside. There's a monster on a boat and that boat is in water, therefore by transitive property I am correct in dubbing it a sea monster. What?

The Werewolf Genre
The two most important aspects of a werewolf movie are the transformation and the physical appearance of the werewolf. I've seen a lot of werewolf movies and nothing I've seen before or since matches the transformation in An American Werewolf in London (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082010/).

The Zombie Genre
Now this is a hard question. I'm modify the post when I can give an answer. :question:

OH! I forgot a very unique genre-
.The Mummy that turns into a Werewolf films.... :buggedout:

Ok...hmmm....this is a tuff one-ok-

FACE OF THE SCREAMING WEREWOLF!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T84YqvSrHyE
 All kidding aside   :wink: -heres a genre-for real..
.
Ok...beyond Werewolves-Man into Monster films aka The Jekyll/Hyde,or othe monsters aka Hideous Sun Demon, etc...

.Man into Monster-of course-gotta be the classic Fredric March DR.JEKYLL and MR.HYDE (1932)
.Tiny Terrors-The FLESH EATERS (1962)
.Man Made Monsters-beyond Frankenstein-ISLAND OF LOST SOULS (1932) and-yup-it's got to be said-the BRAIN THAT WOULDN'T DIE!...I LOVE the cone-head mutant!
(http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l79/RCMerchant/tumblr_m7pplehgeJ1qiko2ho1_500_zps0240e80d.jpg)
.Hunchbacks-The 1939 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME
.Funny Monsters-The EVIL DEAD 2
.Demons-the EXORCIST!!!!!
.Ghosts-the HAUNTING (1963)
.Mythical Monster-the 7th VOYAGE OF SINBAD.
.Dinosaurs-ONE MILLON YEARS BC

Ah interesting idea..tough to pick just one for many...

Vampire film: Nosferatu (1922), the scariest IMO. Top 3 Runners Up: Salem's Lot, Black Sabbath, Lugosi's Dracula

Frankenstein film: Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Runners Up: Frankenstein: The True Story, Frankenstein and the Monster from Hell, Frankenstein (1931)

Werewolf film: The Wolf Man (1941). Runners Up: An American Werewolf in London, The Howling, The Werewolf (1956)

Mummy film: The Mummy (1932). Runners Up: The Mummy (1959), The Mummy's Hand, Blood From the Mummy's Tomb

Phantom film: Phantom of the Opera (1925). Runners Up: Phantom of the Paradise, The Phantom of the Opera (1962)

Hunchback Film: Hunchback of Notre Dame (1939) Runners Up: Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923), Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Invisible Man film: The Invisible Man (1933). Runners Up: The Invisible Man Returns, Memoirs of an Invisible Man, Hollow Man

Giant Monster Film: Gojira (1954). Runners Up: King Kong (1933), The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, 20 Million Miles to Earth

Alien Movies: Alien (1979). Runners Up: The Thing From Another World, The Thing, The Blob, This Island Earth

Zombie Films: White Zombie (1932). Runners Up: Night of the Living Dead (1968), Dawn of the Dead, Return of the Living Dead

And a mixture of categories:

Space Vampire films: Queen of Blood. Runners Up: Lifeforce, Planet of the Vampires

Vampire: Dracula (1933) Lugosi is the man.

Aliens: Alien (1979)

Giant Monster: King Kong (1933)

Sea Monster: Jaws (1975)

I endorse this list.  :thumbup: Only two changes I would make: swap KING KONG for GOJIRA and NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD for WHITE ZOMBIE.