Originally published in 2010 our "The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television" series proved to be one of the most popular in the history of Monster Island News. It only seemed like a no-brainer to dust it off to help launch our month long celebration of horror and movie monsters for Halloween.
100. GIANT RABBITS
Night of the Lepus, also known as Rabbits, is a 1972 American science fiction horror film based on the 1964 science fiction novel The Year of the Angry Rabbit. Released theatrically on October 4, 1972, it focuses on a group of people in a small Arizona town battling thousands of mutated, carnivorous killer rabbits. The film was the first science fiction work for both producer A.C. Lyles and director William F. Claxton, who both came from Western film backgrounds. Various character actors from Westerns the pair had worked on were brought in to star in the film, including Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Rory Calhoun, and DeForest Kelley. Shot in Arizona, Night of the Lepus used domestic rabbits filmed against miniature models and actors dressed in rabbit costumes for the various attack scenes.
Before its release, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) renamed the film from its original name of Rabbits, and avoided including rabbits in most promotional materials to try to keep the mutant creatures being featured a secret. However, the studio itself broke the secret by releasing rabbit foot themed promotional materials before the release. Widely panned by critics for its premise, bad directing, stilted acting, and laughable special effects, the film's biggest failure was considered to be the inability to make the rabbits seem scary. The film has gained cult status for its badness, and was released to home video for the first time in October 2005 when it was released to Region 1 DVD. (From Wikipedia)
99. THE GIANT CLAW
The Giant Claw is a 1957 sci-fi film about a giant bird that terrorizes the world. Produced by Clover Productions under the working title 'Mark of the Claw' and released through Columbia Pictures, it starred Jeff Morrow and Mara Corday, and was directed by Fred F. Sears. The film has been a staple of the bootleg video market with only two official VHS releases (one in the USA through Goodtimes Home Video and the other through Screamtime in the United Kingdom) to date. Columbia Pictures finally released the film officially to DVD in October 2007 as part of the two disc four film set Icons of Horror Collection.
Mitch MacAfee (Jeff Morrow), while engaged in a radar test flight, spots an unidentified flying object. Jets are scrambled to pursue and identify the object but one goes missing. Officials are initially angry at MacAfee but are forced to take his story seriously after several other planes disappear. A gigantic bird, purported to come from an antimatter galaxy (and then later from the year seventeen million B.C.), is responsible for all the incidents. Mitch, along with his mathematician girlfriend Sally Caldwell (Mara Corday), Dr. Karol Noymann (Edgar Barrier), and generals Considine (Morris Ankrum) and Van Buskirk (Robert Shayne), works feverishly to develop a way to defeat the seemingly invincible enemy. The climactic showdown takes place in New York City, with the bird attacking both the Empire State and United Nations buildings. (From Wikipedia)
98. REPTILICUS
Reptilicus, a giant monster film about a fictional prehistoric reptile, is a Danish-American co-production, produced by American International Pictures and Saga Studios, and is upon close examination two distinctly different films helmed by two different directors.
The original version, which was shot in Danish was directed by Danish director Poul Bang and released in Denmark on February 25, 1961.
The American version, which was in English with a nearly identical cast, was directed by the film's American producer-director Sidney W. Pink; this version was initially deemed virtually unreleasable by American International Pictures and had to be extensively reworked by the film's Danish-American screenwriter, Ib Melchior, before being finally released in America in 1962.
Resembling a giant dragon-like serpent with webbed wings, Reptilicus, with near-impenetrable armor-plated skin, had the ability to regenerate itself from any segment as well as fly (a feature obscured in the US version, when AIP removed the flying scene). In the US version, an effect was added (albeit randomly and clumsily) where Reptilicus shot a neon-green acid slime from his mouth. (From Wikipedia)
97. GAPPA
Daikyojū Gappa (大巨獣ガッパ?, "Giant Beast Gappa") is a 1967 tokusatsu kaiju film. The film was produced by Nikkatsu Corporation, and was their only film in the giant monster genre. The international English title for the film was Gappa the Triphibian Monster. The international English print was reedited and retitled Monster from a Prehistoric Planet, for its original release in the United States.
An expedition from Tokyo heads to Obelisk Island, which a greedy entrepreneur (Mr. Funazu, the President of Playmate Magazine) wants to turn into an island resort. The natives of Obelisk welcome the expedition, but when two members, Hiroshi and Itoko, venture into the forbidden part of the land, they skeptically venture ahead, despite the pleas of a native boy named Saki. They enter a cavern (which was blocked by a statue that had collapsed) and find a giant egg, out of which hatches a baby monster, a "bird-lizard", referred to as a "Gappa" by the natives, who plea with the scientists not to take the baby away, lest they anger the baby's parents, to which the scientists react with skepticism. Sure enough, they take the baby away, and soon, inside the caverns, its two larger parents rise from the underground waters! They rise from beneath the island volcano, destroying everything in their path, with Saki being the only survivor left on the island (rescued by an American navy fleet and brought back to Japan).
Meanwhile, back in Japan, the baby "bird-lizard" monster makes world headlines, not to mention being experimented on by scientists. But to the shock of the expedition members, they hear news of two giant flying creatures appearing over Sagami Bay. The Gappa parents ravage cities looking for their offspring, and are impervious to military weapons. Hiroshi, Itoko and Professor Tonooka (a scientist from the expedition) have figured that the "Gappas" aren't a legend after all. They, and Saki, try to plead to the headstrong Mr. Funazu to let go of the baby and return it to its parents. Will they convince him before the Gappas destroy Japan and perhaps the world? (From Wikipedia)
96. KONGA
Konga is a 1961 British science fiction film directed by John Lemont and starring Michael Gough, Margo Johns and Austin Trevor.
British botanist Charles Decker goes insane after he discovers a serum that turns his cuddly chimpanzee subject Konga into a ferocious gorilla-sized ape. To further his hideous experiments, Decker mesmerizes the chimp and sends it to London to kill all his former enemies, including the lover of the woman the doctor wants for himself. This doesn't set well with Margaret, the botanist's assistant and current girlfriend, who attempts to get even by giving Konga an enormous amount of the strange serum and turns him into a Godzilla-sized monster, though she becomes his first victim. Just before going on a deadly rampage, the super-sized ape grabs Decker in one of his enormous hands. His rampage comes to a stop when he and Decker are killed by the British army. Upon his death, he reverts back to a chimpanzee. (From Wikipedia)
95. GREEN SLIME
The Green Slime (ガンマー第3号 宇宙大作戦, Ganmā Daisan Gō: Uchū Daisakusen?, aka Gamma 3: Operation Outer Space) is a 1968 science-fiction film produced by MGM in the United States and shot in Japan at the studios of Toei Company by director Kinji Fukasaku. The film was spearheaded by the same creative team who produced similar Italian outings including Wild, Wild Planet, Ivan Reiner and Walter Manley.
A group of astronauts set out to stop a giant asteroid on a collision course with the planet Earth. They land on the asteroid, plant explosive charges and destroy it. Afterwards they return to the staging area, a space station called Gamma 3 in orbit around the Earth. Unfortunately, a scientist from the mission has unwittingly carried a luminous-green substance on the leg of his spacesuit which quickly mutates into one-eyed, tentacled monsters with the ability to discharge lethal bolts of electricity. The Gamma 3 crew fend off the alien creatures with their laser-based weaponry, only to discover the creatures feed off the energy which, in turn, allows them to multiply rapidly, sprouting the new creatures from their blood. As the creatures overrun the station the crew continues to fight back against overwhelming odds. (From Wikipedia)
94. GIANT LEECHES
Attack of the Giant Leeches is a low-budget 1959 science fiction film from American International Pictures. It was directed by Bernard L. Kowalski, produced by Gene Corman, and the screenplay was written by Leo Gordon. The film is in black and white, and runs for 62 minutes. It was one of a spate of monster movies produced during the 1950s in response to cold war fears; in the film a character speculates that the leeches have been mutated to giant size by atomic radiation from nearby Cape Canaveral.
In the Florida Everglades, a pair of larger-than-human, intelligent leeches are living in an underwater cave. They begin dragging local people down to their cave where they hold them prisoner and slowly drain them of blood.
One of the first people to be so taken is the local vixen, Liz Walker, played by Yvette Vickers. After a couple of gratuitous displays of flesh (Yvette appeared as the centerfold in the July 1959 issue of Playboy), and some running around on her husband (Bruno VeSota), Liz finds herself a prisoner of the leeches along with her current paramour. Game warden Steve Benton (Ken Clark) sets out to investigate their disappearance. Aided by his girlfriend Nan Grayson (Jan Sheppard) and her father, Doc Grayson, he discovers the cavern.
The giant leeches are unrealistically portrayed by men in rubber suits, but they do provide suitably disgusting scenes when attacking their victims. The monsters are finally destroyed when Steve, Doc, and some state troopers blow up the cavern with dynamite. (From Wikipedia)
93. RAIGA
The second theatrical film directed by Shinpei Hayashiya, a rakugo master (comic storyteller). Raiga, the evolved version of the deep-sea aquatic dinosaur “Reigo” from his first film Deep Sea Monster Reigo, runs rampant in the town of Asakusa! …
It has been over six decades since the battle of Deep Sea Monster Reigo and Battleship Yamato. As global warming worsens, throwing the ecosystem off balance, a disaster approaches Japan. A mysterious, massive creature emerges from the nearby ocean and a fishing boat encounters an ominous deep-sea creature in Tokyo Bay. Then a giant monster “Raiga” lands in Asakusa, Tokyo! The Taito Guard is called out at the request of the government, and a cut-throat battle beyond all imagination begins…
92. MOORWEN
Outlander is a 2008 science fiction film directed by Howard McCain and starring James Caviezel. Caviezel has described Outlander to be a light combination of Braveheart and Highlander.
Outlander begins when a spacecraft tears through the atmosphere and streaks across the sky, crashing into a Norwegian lake in 709AD. From the wreckage emerges Kainan, a soldier from a faraway planet, and a deadly alien stowaway called a Moorwen. Before he has a chance to track down the alien Kainan, the Outlander, is captured by a Viking warrior and held prisoner in the local village led by King Rothgar. Gradually, as the Vikings come round to accepting his story about "hunting a Dragon", he is accepted into their society. Flashbacks reveal his history where man and monster both seek revenge for violence committed against them.
As the Moorwen "Dragon" ravages the Viking lands, killing everything in its path, Kainan forms an alliance with the primitive but fierce warriors. The Moorwen devastates the rival village, triggering war with its surviving warriors led by King Gunnar, who assaults Kainan's village. However, Gunnar's forces are repulsed, and as the enemy Vikings retreat into the forest, the Moorwen strikes leaving the Vikings no choice but to run back for refuge to their former foes. Together, the two sides attempt to destroy the Moorwen and its newly spawned off-spring. The village takes massive casualties, including both of the tribal kings. With the warriors demoralised, most of the Vikings leave the village in search of a new home and safety.
Kainan, his friends, and the King's feisty daughter Freya, stand together to destroy the Moorwen. Kainan assists the Vikings by salvaging pieces of his crashed spacecraft and forging weapons capable of harming the creature. After a harrowing journey, the Vikings and Kainan confront the Moorwen in caves under the village where the alien monsters are finally defeated. Only Kainan and Freya survives. As the movie ends, Kainan destroys a homing beacon triggered when his ship crash-landed, deciding to remain on Earth rather than return to his home in the stars. He marries Freya and becomes the new King of the tribe. (From Wikipedia)
91. THE 50 FOOT WOMAN
Attack of the 50 Foot Woman is a 1958 American science fiction feature film produced by Bernard Woolner for Allied Artists Pictures. It was directed by Nathan H. Juran (credited as Nathan Hertz) from a screenplay by Mark Hanna, and starred Allison Hayes, William Hudson and Yvette Vickers. The original music score was composed by Ronald Stein. The film was a take on other movies that had also featured size-changing humans, namely The Amazing Colossal Man and The Incredible Shrinking Man, but substituting a woman as the protagonist.
The story concerns the plight of Nancy Archer, a wealthy heiress whose close encounter with an enormous alien being causes her to grow into a giantess. She uses her new size and power to seek revenge against her philandering husband Harry and his mistress, Honey Parker.
A TV Announcer (Dale Tate) tells of people around the globe spotting a floating red ball. Nancy Archer (Allison Hayes) is a wealthy but highly troubled woman. She's speeding along the desert roads at night, fleeing her problems. A glowing ball settles on the highway in front of her. A giant reaches for her, but she runs back to town. No one believes in her story because of her drinking problem and having been institutionalized before. Her shifty husband (William Hudson) is more interested in his floozy (Yvette Vickers). Nonetheless, he pretends to be the good husband in hopes that Nancy will 'snap' and return to the 'booby hatch'. She convinces him to search the desert with her, looking for the "satellite". Eventually, they find it, and as the giant emerges Harry flees, leaving Nancy behind. Later, Nancy is found on the roof of her pool house. She's sedated by her doctor. Harry thinks to give her a lethal injection of sedative, but when he goes up to her room, he finds she's grown into a giant. The sheriff and Nancy's Butler find and explore the alien's spherical ship. Seems the giant alien needs diamonds, perhaps fuel. The giant alien interrupts, wrecking their car, so they walk back. Nancy awakens and breaks free. Determined to find her wayward husband, she breaks through the roof of her house, and stomps off to town. In town, she takes the roof off the bar. A beam falls on the floozy, killing her. Nancy picks up Harry and walks away, The sheriff shoots at her to no apparent effect, but accidentally hits a power line transformer. It blows up near Nancy and kills her, with Harry lying crushed in her hand. (From Wikipedia)
See Also:
The 100 Greatest Monsters From Movies And Television #81 - #90
