In search of monsters

[Andrew]

You know, I love monster movies.  Absolutely have to watch them all the time.

What I am a little depressed about is the lack of interesting monster movies being produced now.  Certainly, Stuart Gordon gives it a good try every few years, while Corman and Full Moon have/had their times.  Unfortunately, many of Full Moons and Corman's newer monster films stink.  Nothing like reused footage to make things boring.

There have been lots of films with "credible" monsters of late.  Giant sharks, huge pythons, cloned dragons, you got it.  I guess that I am looking for a bit more.  Here are some monsters that would be interesting, if used in a film:

Quickdeaths from the old scifi RPG "Alpha Dawn."  Set the movie on Voltronus too, with the Ul-mor.  It would probably seem like "Pitch Black," but, by gosh, a Quickdeath dashing across the landscape would rock.

What about a group of people trapped in a swamp (or on an island) with a giant snapping turtle?  I mean the size of a truck.  And, for once, how about the people not having ten different internal conflicts and arguments.

And an idea I have been tossing around for a long time is almost a remake of "Blood Beach" crossed with "Tremors," except set on the Carolina barrier islands.   This time insteal of a huge cornucopia, the beast looks more like a squid with barbed tentacles and a set of foward feet shaped like shovels.

Any other ideas?  Crusaders and priests fighting devils and demons in a doomed town (13th Century)?  A possessed human-shaped mass of straw that wanders the empty fields of the great plains?  Something from out space that looks like a ten meter centipede with claws and stingers taking up residence in subway tunnels?

[BoyScoutKevin]

Hardly modern, and hardly giant, but one of the deaths in one of my favorite creature features was by snapping turtle, and that would be "Frogs."

[Goon]

I've always thought it would be cool to remake "Creeping Terror" using giant cane toads.  (you see Bobby, when a toad and a small car love each other very much.)  

Amplexus.  It's one word, it has the letter 'x' in it, and ends with the '-us' sound, and has something to do with cane toads.  In other words, it would make the worlds most perfect title.

You could call it "Amplexus:  The Creeping (croaking?  Hopping?) Terror."

-----ooo-'U'-ooo-------Kilroy was here.

[Gecko brothers]

Yeah we neeed more better monster movies  well there are some that looks good
Bubba Ho Tep(a Bruce Cambell who is suppose to be Elvis battles a mummy)
Tremors: the Prequel(worms)
Starship Troopers 2(bugs)
Underworld(werewolf vs. vampires)
House of the Dead(zombies)
Cabin Fever(creature is  a virus I think)
The Order(something about some type of demons)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre(remake how many add ons is that)
 that's all I know

[JohnL]

>What about a group of people trapped in a swamp (or on an island) with a giant
>snapping turtle? I mean the size of a truck.

"Look, the giant turtle is coming this way. Ok, everyone, it's time to pack up your stuff and move down the road a ways. Hurry up people, we've probably only got about 30-40 minutes before it gets here..."

Sorry, I couldn't resist. :)

[wuggles451]

Take it one step further, a giant toxic snail. Easily defeated by salt

[Mofo Rising]

I like wuggles451's snail idea.  Question: How fast would it move?

It's been my dream for years to see a movie that takes Lovecraft's mythos and turns it into a giant monster movie without sacrificing (too much) of the creepy intelligence.  Let's see what the end of humanity really looks like when it's carried out by eldritch gods.  I mean, picture seeing Cthulhu destroy New York while you're standing at ground level as creepy bass-heavy music and chanting plays at top volume.

TREMORS in New York also sounds like a neat idea.

Here's one for Hollywood's infatuation with itself.  Aliens invade Earth by taking over our entertainment industry.  We could watch Hollywood's stars turn into giant killer versions of themselves.

Giant rampaging babies!  Clean them diapers!

Elemental golems representing the four horsemen of the apocalypse!

An apartment complex is slowly taken over by Khan-like brain worms!

And last but not least, killer cows!

[Andrew]

JohnL wrote:

> "Look, the giant turtle is coming this way. Ok, everyone, it's
> time to pack up your stuff and move down the road a ways. Hurry
> up people, we've probably only got about 30-40 minutes before
> it gets here..."
>
> Sorry, I couldn't resist. :)

Ah, but hence them being on an island or in a swamp.  Humans are at a disadvantage in those situations, ones which the turtle is well adapted to surviving.

And on the snail movie, years ago I read a short story about giant (big as a shed) man eating snails on an island.  Wish I could remember which book that was in and who had written it.

[wuggles451]

BEWARE! the vengefu,l man-eating, three towed sloth!

[Evil Matt]

Okay, so there's this gigantic, radioactive dinosaur sleeping at the bottom of the pacific ocean, and he's awakened by nuclear testing, and he starts rampaging all over Tokyo, and...what?  What do you mean it's been done?

[yaddo42]

I always wanted to see a movie inspired by the Frank Zappa song "Cheepnis" (sic) which includes a segment featuring a rampaging giant poodle dog. The song was about Zappa's love of old monster movies from the 50s and early 60s. The example he gave of what kind of films he like was "It Conquered The World".
Funny song.

Some friends and I used to talk about how instead of the usual "giant animal" movies with snakes, alligators, spiders, etc. they should make one featuring giant mutant catfish. Catfish feed at the spillways near a local dam and divers who have gone down there have reported fish in the 6 to 8 foot range. I've been told catfish have no genetic growth limit so monster sized fish could be vaguely possible, at least possible enough for a movie. They also have those whiskers which contain a kind of poison, so a giant catfish lunging at hapless swimmer victims could still be dangerous even if they miss.

Ever heard of gar fish? They're kind of like fresh water barracudas. We thought they might work in a monster movie as well, since they have nasty mouths full of needle sharp teeth and their sides are covered by lots of dense scales basically making them armored. So a giant one could be resistant to flank shots from bullets and small explosives in a movie.Trying to spear the real ones with a gig when I was younger was tough. Even when skewered they didn't die easy.

[wuggles451]

Has anyone seen the Eggo commercials or those juice commercials. They feature a man in a waffle suite and a tongue suite respectivly. I think it would be awsome to see some thing bizzare like  that destroy a city. A giant waffle oozing syrup and hurling atomic blue berries. In the climatic finally a bottle of Mrs Buttersworth is gigantasized and kicks some waffle ass.

[Deej]

Didn't someone do a flick with a machine-gun toting Kool-Aid man a few years back? I swear I saw that. I don't do drugs....I think it really happened. Giant Turtles on remote island...pretty creepy. The Gar idea is a good one. I used to work on a river boat on the Arkansas when I was a teen and we found ton's of gar skulls. The skulls alone are friggin spooky!

Living in the mid-west, the idea of a monster that looks like straw/wheat/tumbleweed is just damned frightening. Even more scary, a monster that looks like a dead possum or armadillo!

[Fearless Freep]

And on the snail movie, years ago I read a short story about giant (big as a shed) man eating snails on an island. Wish I could remember which book that was in and who had written it.

I've read probably that same story....

[gammaray117]

How about giant bats? The echolocation alone could shatter glass and have the same effect on a person as, say, a stun grenade. Kudos on the gar, catfish and snail ideas too.

"You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"-"Dr. Strangelove"