RATS!...and other qumulitive monsters. When crap piles up.

[Flangepart]

Got a question. Which do you prefer.... one big honkin' mass o' monster...or a whole bunch of lil beasties that put new meaning to the word "Horde"? Conciter: What menace would you rather deal with (As the potential monster poop). One big 500 pound creature, or a mess o' rats that equals 500 pounds? Each individual rat can cause hurt, but can't  muster the muscle to kill you (Super intelligance not included), where as the total jaw power of 500 lbs of rat can make you a science lab bone collection real fast! Think furry piranas. They can sneak into areas where small openings exist...but, a large steel door could bring them to a halt, unless they can get a crow bar, and a looooot of leverage. One big beast could likely pound that door to scrap, but only if the obsticle is smaller then a concreat missle silo. And, evasion could be easier, as the rats could cover a large area with scouts rats, but the one big guy has a more limeted sensor zone. Am i makeing sense? You see my point.....what kind of threat seems more scary to you? The Blob's ability to crawl under doors scared the underoos off me when i was a kid, but the big guys seemed more...um..".escapable? ". How about you?

[Jay O'Connor]

I'm kinda partial to the beasties in "Pitch Black".  A single creature could kill you very easily; and they *swarmed*

[Hairzilla]

 This seems to be the equivelant of a question that goes back to my childhood, Flange': If you had to make a choice would you rather drown or burn to death? [Don't young guys discuss the strangest things? Hahaha!] In this case it could be drowning in a sea of living protoplasm [Or oversized rats.] or being set ablaze by one well aimed shot from a three headed space dragon.

What would actually be more dangerous, an attack by a giant creature from which you could quite possibly escape, but since the monster is practically impossible to destroy there's always the chance that it may reappear and next time you won't be so fortunate? Or having to face a horde of nasty little critters that, although you might be able to overcome dozens at a time with the right weapons at your disposal, could ultimately follow you just about anywhere and overwhelm you by their sheer numbers?

Being the giant monster fan that I am I'd havta go with the first choice out of the coolness of it. [Plus the greater chance for survival.] I mean, admit it, even if you found yourself running away from any one of our favorite kaiju, wouldn't you want to stop for just a moment and look at it? [Sorta like when "Animal" chased after Amerizilla.] That would be as cool as actually getting to witness first hand, camera or no, any one of the proported lake monsters seen in different parts of the world for years.... Sorry, my cryptozoology fascination fit in here nicely.

But let me even suggest a third variable to this scenario. What about the monsters that somehow manage to go undetected until they're practically right on top of you? Now that's scary.

An interesting offshoot of this topic could be the question of what is the single most frightening creature concept ever thought up? [Which, if I recall properly, was the subject of a post started by someone else awhile back.] In my opinion it would be zombies, no doubt about it. There is just something about the idea of dead human beings [especially if they were friends or family members... brrr] reemerging, completely void of all that made them so, to prey on the living that is so outright chilling....'scuse me while I go turn on every light in the house.... No, really, I'm not scared.... Honest.

[chris]

I always found The Invasion of the Body Snatchers or John Carpenter's The Thing's concepts most frightening.  They are similar to zombies, except you're alive when the creature or force controls you.  I thought for the longest time that the creature in The Thing took you over completely, but one of the actors in the DVD documentary says he believes that the victim only suspects that he could be infected.  Also, zombies are easily identifiable (and cool looking as hell) whereas the previously mentioned creatures could be working alongside you.

Also, I would rather be attacked by a large creature because you only have to look out for one thing as opposed to millions.  I'd choose the shark over a school of pirahna, even though I wouldn't be very happy about it.

[Funk, E.]

I think the hordes whould represent a greater threat to me. Getting killed by Godzilla is a matter of probability like a tornado. If you're smart and chance is in your favor, you'll probably survive, unharmed even. But a s**t load of little hungry buggers are a lot harder to avoid and they typically effect everything in the area like an Earthquake. Another analogy. If you get one mortar shell or an extended clip on an uzi. I'll take may chances against the mortar shell.

[StatCat]

I'd say one giant monster because having Rats dumped on me with buckets has been a true fear of mine especially after watching Rats: Night of Terror which incites a lot of my trauma with giant rat men, guinea pig rats, and flour.

[Flangepart]

Good going, guys! Ya' know, the Zombie does have that particular horror in its favor. When uncle George tries to have your for dinner, two things come to mind....the monsterous dehumanisation thats happed to him...and the hope he forgot to put his false teeth in! The Giant monster is inherently cool, if for nothing else that fact that it exists! Where as the rats are just..well,rats. And, sure you can blast some of the cat eating rodents, get some payback, but if your gonna get Toykostomped, go for the gold, and give the King the middle didget. that way, folks can say, "Man, he sure is flat, but he got flat with style!" Humm...what kind of bird shot would you need to off a 20lb rat? And how many hits? Also, as a means to help me sleep....you might appreciate this, Hairzilla.....i listen to audio tapes of favorite Kaiju flicks. What can i say? The music and comforting familiarity of the tale (In the original Japanese!), helps me relax....i never said i was normal, just imaginative. Anyhoo, i like to build houses in my head, that would be Kaiju proof. Either blending into the landscape, to avoid detection......or being so kick ass, even Gorgo would say "let us not go there. it is a silly place". Weird, sure! But its cheaper then sominex!

[AndyC]

I'd have to say that giant monsters are cooler, but smaller monsters, done properly, are scarier.

Godzilla, for example, could kill thousands on a romp through the city, trashing buildings, trains, bridges, etc. He has awesome size and power, and causes spectacular damage. However, he takes little notice of individual people most of the time. As mentioned earlier, he's like a Tornado, although I'd say he's a little different, because he has intelligence, and can make it personal if he wants. Then again, tornadoes are often portrayed as though they have some sinister intelligence, and it's very easy to accept them as monsters. Big things that do large-scale damage make for movies that are exciting and fun to watch, but they're not scary.

The two things that make a monster scary, for me, are stealth and personal injury. A smaller (say man-sized) beast can get into your house, hide in your closet or behind your drapes, sneak up behind you. It can follow you into your hiding places, or lay in wait for you there. It also kills one person at a time. It singles you out for death, making for a more personal threat than a monster that might step on you and six other people by accident. The smaller monster plays on your most basic fears.

That's a single small monster, though the same could apply to a bunch of smaller monsters. Depending on the way they're presented, they can also be pretty spectacular too.

[C. Hill]

I'm of the opinion that 500 pounds of ANYTHING will kill you pretty effectively.  Although if I had to choose my demise at the hands, claws, or tentacles of any monster, I suppose I would like to be done in  by one of Godzilla-like proportions.  Sure, being squashed or vaporized by by nuclear fire breath is probably no picnic, but at least it's over pretty quick.  Plus you get to see something way f**king cool before you die.

[Bicuitrocious]

CORRECTION: 500 lbs of Deep South Trailer Trash is not exactly intimidating or dangerous. Just nasty. But a s**tload of tiny rednecks all encirlcing you... that's terrifying.

Think of the argument this way:

As you flee, the GIANT rat grabs a dude and his girlfriend (she tripped, he went back.. we all know the drill). Gnashing of teeth and a couple last screams.

As you flee, the HORDE of rats starts to overwhelm people all around you. Screams continue within the greasy, furry mass of death as you sprint your ass off for the nearest Orkin man.

The horde is way scarier. I'd rather take on the giant rat and just shove a hydraulic jackhammer into his forehead or pick his ass up in a compacting garbage truck.

 Normal rats are way too hard to kill individually (try living on Chicago's west side or near the river...) and they have balls the size of cantalopes (figurative balls, folks... you know... chutzpah.) I've had a rat actually dart towards me once because I was just another foreign object. They're mean as s**t. And dirty.

Read Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls" for a better glimpse at rat-style evil.

[Flangepart]

Good point. "The graveyard rats" was a short story with a similar tone. Yeah, the point about the smaller threats, is the feeling thats its "Personal". He,he...like to see PETA's Ingred Newkirk try to "Diologue" with a Chicago or New York wharf rat....."You poor, beset creature, here let me....GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF ME!" Yeah, rats is tough. And of corse, it don't have to be rats. Scarabs can do it (Mummy,oh mummy!), or cockroaches (Welcome to joes,apart-ment...it's our apartment tooooo..." or even small robots. ( Hey crow, hold this power line.)

[Funk, E.]

Fortunately the only thing real scarabs are interested in is camel dung. Neat effect though. One of my favorite hoards were the Borg. Big & lots of them!

[Jay O'Connor]

Fortunately the only thing real scarabs are interested in is camel dung.


Ahh!  But your forgot giant carniverous mutant space scarabs!

[Funk, E.]

Doh! Forgot about those, Always got to watch out for those!

[The Future Blob]

     And which really is scarier: The big maniac guy walking through doors to get to you, or seeing a flood of furry death coming at you? I pick the flood, because one big being out to get you is bad, but many little nasty minds all aimed at you is worse.

   Though a Blob-type thing with a brain would also be scary, something that was a total liquid shapechanger....I have dreams about something like that. a guy in a long coat, a cap so you can't see his eyes, a big white smile and black gloves with little yellow slashes on them.....ok I need to lay off the Nyquil....