The 5 Most Bizarre Monster Movies

Some monster movies can actually be taken fairly seriously. The original King Kong, The Mist, Cloverfield, Alien, and the suitably titled Monsters all serve as examples. The movies that follow aren’t those (though that won’t be the last time Kong’s name is mentioned).

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What does it take to be included here? There needs to be a monster, big or small, and there needs to be a tone and overall viewing experience that is really, really hard to watch with a straight face. The only exception was that it had to be a theatrical film, domestic or overseas. If this were to include movies from, say, Syfy or The Asylum, it could be 100 entries long.

Anaconda (1997)

Anaconda tries to be a straightforward adventure film, and it succeeds in that. But it isn’t quite a self-aware one, at least not in the way the forthcoming Jack Black and Paul Rudd-fronted reboot is very likely going to be. And the fact that it does seem to take itself seriously makes its sillier elements really stand out, though not in a bad way.

As ridiculous as the big screaming snake is, Jon Voight’s performance is even more so. He was able to pull off a Spanish accent as well as a real-life anaconda is able to actually scream. For that matter, while the animatronic snake still looks pretty cool, the CGI shots of it are pure comedic gold.

C.H.U.D. (1984)

C.H.U.D., which stands for cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers, is exactly what it sounds like. The narrative centers around a cop and the leader of a homeless shelter as they pair to find out just what has been grabbing up much of New York City’s homeless population. It’s a suitably goofy movie with memorable creature design, even if it occasionally has pacing issues.

What’s arguably even stranger than the cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers themselves is the cast that lined up to fight them. Home Alone stars John Heard and Daniel Stern are top-billed, Manhunter‘s Kim Greist has a substantial role, and there are a few brief appearance from some notable faces such as The Silence of the Lambs‘ Frankie Faison, John Goodman, and The Crow‘s Jon Polito.

Godzilla vs. Hedorah (1971)

While far from the best entry of Godzilla’s Shōwa era, Godzilla vs. Hedorah may very well be the most intriguing. It’s essentially the fever dream G-Film. When it isn’t showing off elongated trippy club dance scenes or anti-pollution animations, it’s about Godzilla taking on a massive creature brought to life by humanity’s excess and waste.

On the whole, it’s a divisive entry of Godzilla’s Shōwa era. Some appreciate the big swings it takes while others are thrown off by them. But, even for those who like their kaiju action straightforward, it ends with a fun clash. Godzilla vs. Hedorah came after the stock footage stuffed All Monsters Attack, the nadir of the franchise, which helps to emphasize just how much the IP needed some strangeness to shake things up.

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King Kong Lives (1986)

1976’s underrated King Kong remake was actually a pretty big deal at the time. It nearly quadrupled its budget and featured the likes of Jeff Bridges, Charles Grodin, and Jessica Lange (in her critically divisive film debut). It’s easy to see why Dino De Laurentiis and co. thought it was a good idea. The same can’t be said about King Kong Lives, a sequel which opens with one of the ’76 film’s final scenes yet wasn’t released until a full 10 years later, when any potential fans of the remake would have long lost interest. The plot follows The Terminator‘s Linda Hamilton as a doctor who has been keeping a comatose Kong on life support for a decade. He needs a heart transplant to live and, just in the nick of time, a female Kong is found in Borneo.

What follows is an entirely forgettable romp through the jungle, populated by massive monkey love, more heart scares, and a final clash with the military. It’s all quite baffling. And should you need another baffling Kong movie, Toho’s King Kong Escapes, which features a Mechagodzilla version of Kong, is also pretty outlandish.

Rawhead Rex (1986)

Clive Barker may be primarily known as the creator of the Hellraiser franchise, but his work has inspired other films as well. The most notable of the non-Hellraiser movies is Nightbreed, but the most ludicrous is Rawhead Rex. Both are worth watching.

The story follows a religious artifact researcher and his family as they travel across the Irish countryside. Unfortunately, a recently resurrected pagan deity’s murder spree is occurring in the same place. The monster’s design is absolutely nothing like what Barker wrote about in the third volume of Books of Blood, but then again, it’s difficult to get what amounts to a walking, talking, snarling phallus on the big screen.