Big monsters or small monsters?

[The Burgomaster]

In other words, does size really matter?

[Hammock Rider]

Depnds on my mood.

[Flick James]

Small monsters are less obvious and travel under the radar. They can sneak up on ya. Hence, they are scarier to me.

[akiratubo]

It depends on the nature of the movie.  Piranha 3D wouldn't have worked with giant piranha, Godzilla wouldn't have worked with a tiny, radioactive dinosaur.

That being said, I generally don't like monster movies that have swarms of small monsters.  I prefer one or a few human-sized or bigger monsters.  It seems easier to give the monsters personality, that way.

Truly giant monsters, like Godzilla, are in a whole other sphere.

[Doggett]

I like small monsters like Gremlins, Critters, those brain worm things in Slither...

[AndyC]

I prefer big monsters, because they do things on a much grander scale, they're more formidable and they're often more fun. Godzilla wrecks cities, shakes the ground, and shrugs off artillery fire. Of course, a big monster could include something the size of Godzilla, or even a monster of more modest size, but significantly bigger and sturdier than a person.

I do agree that smaller monsters are scarier, though. This is something I actually thought about when I was a kid, because horror movies scared me at that age, but giant monsters, although arguably more dangerous, never scared me. I think the difference is that smaller monsters represent a much more personal danger. When Godzilla stomps through your town, he's like a tornado. You see him coming, you stay out of his way, and you watch for debris. Godzilla isn't particularly interested in you or anyone else. His human casualties just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. On the other hand, something the size of a person will target you, and stalk you, and lay in wait for you, and attack you specifically, as an individual. It's much more personal and much more violent, which makes it scarier.

It's also much easier to imagine a small monster in the real world. There's no way Godzilla could be real, much less hiding in your closet or being the cause of a bump in the night. An overactive imagination can do a lot more with something small.

Small monsters are scarier, but big ones are more entertaining for me.

[JaseSF]

I like both although I think giant monsters people nowadays find less believable than in the past (still I'd imagine Them! scaring audiences in its day and certainly King Kong likely did)...still if convincingly told, they can still scare, thrill and chill. Smaller monsters are indeed a much more personal threat although a slow moving zombie or slow moving Mummy isn't as likely to squash you or roast you as quickly and effortlessly as Godzilla could. The Flesh Eaters were both very small and later very large. When it comes to movie monsters, well I love 'em all. 

[Jack]

Judging by my DVD collection, I guess I somewhat prefer big monsters.  I'm not a fan of Godzilla or King Kong, but I love giant spiders, snakes, alligators, ancient demons, whatever.  It mostly has to do with the general style of those movies - they're usually pure B movies that know their fake CGI creations are kind of silly so they throw in a bunch of T&A and...well, sometimes even entertaining characters too.

But I very much enjoy a good vampire or mummy movie as well. 

[Flick James]

Small monsters. Don't Be Afraid of the Dark is coming to mind.

[peter johnson]

I'm with whoever said "depends on my mood" - Heck, I loved that Korean giant monster movie a few years back, but gimme Chris Lee as a vampire almost any other day!

[RCMerchant]

I ike Big monsters. Though movies like SQUIRM and NIGHT OF THE CREEPS work-but they gotta gang up to be a menace. GODZILLA don't need no help! He could squash a whole hillbilly town full of ravenous sandworms! He'd pick up a bus and through it back down as he wades from the shore to the center of town...!

[Mr. DS]

I went with the "don't matter" option because I like both.  I like killer toys and whatnot but find giant creatures ripping apart cities fun too.

[claws]

Doesn't matter. Big or small monsters are all fine with me.
Last night I watched The Sea Serpent (1984). The creature was obviously a small rubber toy but made to appear big - so I got the best of both in one 

[Killer Bees]

I sat on the fence on this one - I voted doesn't matter either way.

That being said, I generally find oversized things creepy and scary.  Godzilla or King Kong or the monster from Cloverfield.  That usually scares the bejeebles out of me.

Little things like bugs and spiders are scary too but in a different way - at least you have a chance of killing them and triumphing over the danger.  But the bigger the things are, the less chance you have of escaping alive and vanquishing the thing.  On the plus side, it's easier to hide from a huge thing when you're much smaller than it.

Overall I find zombies and vampires and werwolves much scarier because they are strong and relentless and human sized (generally) and that somehow makes things worse.

[WildHoosier09]

I have never been afraid of Godzilla or "giant" monsters. I don't know something about them being so large/obvious/avoidable makes them actually less scary.

What you're defining as "small" monsters here (roughly human size) are much scarier. Of course going down even to bug size if there's large numbers of them they can still be scary (think like the "tooth fairies" in HellBoy 2).