Films built around a large animal, monster, or thing that should not exist. The creature feature lives or dies on restraint: the effect is most convincing before it is fully shown, and the best entries understand that the reaction shot does more work than the monster. The reviews here cover stop-motion, practical effects, and digital creatures, with attention to how each generation solved the same problem of making something enormous share a frame with a person.
Adventure
Creature FeatureThe Blob exists in two memorable versions. Irvin Yeaworth directed the 1958 original.
Creature FeatureTed Sherdeman wrote, from a story by George Worthing Yates. The film made approximately two million dollars at initial release on a two hundred thousand dollar budget.
AdventureDavid Koepp and Michael Crichton adapted Crichton's 1990 novel. The film made approximately one billion dollars worldwide on a sixty-three million dollar budget.
Creature Feature20 Million Miles to Earth is the Harryhausen film set in Italy. William Hopper plays Colonel Robert Calder, an astronaut.
Creature FeatureMighty Joe Young is the film where Ray Harryhausen learned what he would spend the rest of his career doing. Willis O'Brien, the stop-motion pioneer who had created King Kong in 1933, was the credited animator.
Creature FeatureThe Beast from 20,000 Fathoms is the film that invented the modern atomic-age monster movie. The third act involves the rhedosaurus, a fictional dinosaur, attacking lower Manhattan and eventually being killed at Coney Island.
ActionMonster Hunter is one of the more enjoyable action camp productions of the early 2020s and a genuinely fun watch despite its substantial commercial disapp. Anderson had been working primarily on the Resident Evil franchise before Monster Hunter.
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