Monsters Movies

A beautiful vampire slayer held prisoner by a powerful, blood-drinking king prepares to do battle with a force that sends even the children of the night scurrying into the shadows in this tale of bloodlust and mayhem starring Sid Haig, Ken Foree, Jason Connery, and Victoria Pratt. Bound in the cellar of vampire king Pashek and surrounded by creatures who would drain her dry without hesitation, vampire slayer Carrie Reiger (Pratt) knows that the time of reckoning is at hand. Somewhere, far away, the dreaded vampire demon Vlad Kossel has been resurrected. Should Carrie fail to free herself in time to take on her hellish opponent one on one, it could spell the end of not just the vampire population, but the human race as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The background of the creature whose horrible smell is a harbinger of death comes into focus in this sequel set in the same "supernatural world" of its 2005 predecessor and starring Michael Muhney, Desmond Askew, and Valerie Cruz. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Consumed by rage after watching his family get viciously slaughtered by a demonic beast, an angry plumber receives a chance to redeem himself after inadvertently unleashing an ancient evil. As a young boy, Jack Brooks' entire life was forever changed during a fateful camping trip. Having survived the slaughter by simply turning heel and running as fast as possible, Jack simply cannot forgive himself for allowing his fear to take over. These days, Jack (Trevor Matthews) is a local plumber with some serious rage issues. One day, while attempting to repair some pipes for Professor Crowley (Robert Englund), the hotheaded handyman awakens an evil the likes of which this world has never seen. Later, Professor Crowley is drawn to this evil energy, and compelled to consume a black heart that possesses his soul, and transforms his body. Now the evil has spiraled out of control, leaving one hapless, haunted plumber to finally harness his all-consuming anger for the powers of good, and face the forces of darkness that once robbed him of his entire family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Ang Lee directs the live-action feature film The Hulk, based on the Marvel comic book created by Stan Lee and illustrated by Jack Kirby. Emotionally stunted Dr. Bruce Banner (Eric Bana) is part of a research team at the University of California at Berkeley. Corporate hustler Glenn Talbot (Josh Lucas) takes notice of the lab and makes plans to take it over. Then Bruce accidentally gets hit by an experimental ray and grows into a huge beast, destroying the lab in the process. A creepy janitor who claims to be his real father, Dr. David Banner (Nick Nolte), starts to secretly use the experimental ray on himself. He creates some mutant dogs and sends them after Bruce's lab mate and ex-girlfriend Betty Ross (Jennifer Connelly). After Bruce saves her life in the form of the Hulk, she lets her distant father, General Ross (Sam Elliott), take him to an abandoned army base in the desert. However, Glenn Talbot takes over the operation and wants to patent the creature's superpowers for his own profit, so he holds Bruce unconscious in an isolation tank. When provoked, Bruce turns into the Hulk and makes a break for San Francisco, leading to a desert chase sequence involving military aircraft, tanks, and bombs. Only the sight of Betty can make him turn back to his human form. When he is eventually captured, Dr. David Banner shows up for a final confrontation with his son and his old adversary, General Ross. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

French legend has it that a creature known as the Beast of Gevaudan -- a huge, wolf-like monster -- was responsible for the violent deaths of over 100 persons in the mid-18th century, and this horror fantasy blends the lore of this fabled beast with a story of two men who set out to capture it. After a number of mutilated corpses begin appearing across the French countryside, naturalist Chevalier Gregoire de Fronsac (Samuel Le Bihan) is dispatched by the King to find and capture the animal responsible for the killings. Mani (Mark Dacascos), an Indian from Canada and an experienced hand in the wilds, is hired to assist de Fronsac in his work. Gregoire's assignment earns him the acquaintance of Marianne de Morangias (Emilie Dequenne), the lovely daughter of the idly wealthy Count de Morangias (Jean Yanne), but Gregoire receives a much chillier welcome from her brother Jean-Francois (Vincent Cassel), who, despite having lost an arm to a lion in Africa, is quite the huntsman himself. As Gregoire and Mani arrive in the village of Gevaudan, they're drawn to a local house of prostitution, where the animalistic allure and supernatural powers of Sylvia (Monica Bellucci) prove to have a profound effect on the naive Gregoire. Jim Henson's Creature Shop provided the special-effects expertise for the creation of the Beast of Gevaudan. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This stop-motion animated fable was a big hit when it was released -- not only at the box office, but critically. It was praised for its stunning originality and for the excellence of its execution. In addition, it was praised for being a completely absorbing fable that both grownups and children can enjoy, so long as the children are able to its handle scary bits (beginning perhaps at age seven or eight). In the story, Jack Skellington (voice of Chris Sarandon) is the Pumpkin King of Halloweentown, a realm of reality where the inhabitants make it their life's work to scare humans on Halloween. He's good at his work, and is very popular around town, but it all bores him. In a funk one day, he wanders into a wood where every tree is the doorway to realms serving one or another human holiday, and falls through the doorway into Christmas. There, he sees scenes of such glee and good will that he is overwhelmed. He returns to Halloweentown with the inspiration to persuade his fellow citizens to kidnap Santa and do Christmas in their own Halloweentown way -- complete with snakes and shrunken heads. Despite strong arguments against this project by Jack's otherwise loyal girlfriend, Sally (voice of Catherine O'Hara), Santa (voice of Edward Ivory) is duly captured, and the townspeople prepare a very special Christmas for everyone. Jack is excited about the new plan, and at first doesn't notice that Sally isn't around much anymore. Meanwhile, Oogie Boogie (voice of Ken Page), a sinister opponent of Jack's, has re-kidnapped Santa and has captured Sally as well. Since Sally is the true love of Jack's life and (he eventually realizes) the only one who can be relied upon to tell him the truth in every circumstance, a confrontation with Oogie Boogie becomes inevitable. In addition to being a monumental work of animation (it took over 120 animators and many more technicians more than two years to film it), this show features ten very appropriate musical numbers by composer Danny Elfman, who also supplies Jack's singing voice. In October 2006, fans of the innovative animated classic got to experience The Nightmare Before Christmas in a whole new dimension when the film was re-released into theaters in Disney Digital 3-D -- a process developed to add remarkable new depth to films that were originally released in standard 2-D. ~ Clarke Fountain, Rovi

As the walking dead fill the streets of Los Angeles, filmmakers John Solomon and Grace Lee turn their cameras on the misunderstood flesh-eaters, their fierce proponents, and their staunch opponents to offer a glimpse of just how society has changed in the wake of the zombie uprising. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

The Mummy represented Boris Karloff's second horror starring role after his "overnight" success in Frankenstein. Brought back to life after nearly 3,700 years, Egyptian high priest Imhotep wreaks havoc upon the members of the British field exposition that disturbed his tomb (shades of the King Tut curse). While disguised as a contemporary Egyptologist, he falls in love with Zita Johann, whom he recognizes as the latest incarnation of a priestess who died nearly 40 centures earlier. Spiriting Zita away to the tomb, he relates the story of how he had dared to enter her ancestor's sacred burial crypt, hoping to restore her to life. Caught in the act, he was embalmed alive and his tongue was cut out for his act of sacrilege. Now that he has returned, he intends to slay Zita, so that they will be reunited for all time in the Hereafter. Despite its melodramatic trappings, The Mummy is essentially a love story, poetically related by ace cinematographer and first-time director Karl Freund. Jack Pierce's justly celebrated makeup skills offers us two Karloffs: the wizened Egyptologist and the flaking, rotting mummy, who though only seen for a few seconds remains in the memory long after the film's final image has faded. Best line: "It went for a little walk." The Mummy was followed by four stock footage-laden sequels, none of which approached the power and poignancy of the original. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A winter-resort town's oldest residents rise up for revenge in this supernatural chiller. It begins when a park ranger comes back from an excursion badly mauled by a mysterious beast. Ranger Sgt. Bill Whitman and his goofy partner begin investigating and soon learn that their coworker was attacked by the fearsome Winterbeast, the creature who protects the sacred Indian burial ground on which the town was built. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

When unexpected radiation raises the dead, a microcosm of Average America has to battle flesh-eating zombies in George A. Romero's landmark cheapie horror film. Siblings Johnny (Russ Streiner) and Barbara (Judith O'Dea) whine and pout their way through a graveside visit in a small Pennsylvania town, but it all takes a turn for the worse when a zombie kills Johnny. Barbara flees to an isolated farmhouse where a group of people are already holed up. Bickering and panic ensue as the group tries to figure out how best to escape, while hoards of undead converge on the house; news reports reveal that fire wards them off, while a local sheriff-led posse discovers that if you "kill the brain, you kill the ghoul." After a night of immolation and parricide, one survivor is left in the house.... Romero's grainy black-and-white cinematography and casting of locals emphasize the terror lurking in ordinary life; as in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds (1963), Romero's victims are not attacked because they did anything wrong, and the randomness makes the attacks all the more horrifying. Nothing holds the key to salvation, either, whether it's family, love, or law. Topping off the existential dread is Romero's then-extreme use of gore, as zombies nibble on limbs and viscera. Initially distributed by a Manhattan theater chain owner, Night, made for about 100,000 dollars, was dismissed as exploitation, but after a 1969 re-release, it began to attract favorable attention for scarily tapping into Vietnam-era uncertainty and nihilistic anxiety. By 1979, it had grossed over 12 million, inspired a cycle of apocalyptic splatter films like The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), and set the standard for finding horror in the mundane. However cheesy the film may look, few horror movies reach a conclusion as desolately unsettling. ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

The feminist horror film genre might not have very many prominent entries, but the critically acclaimed 2000 film Ginger Snaps was just that. A darkly humorous chiller that drew parallels between menstruation and a werewolf curse, the John Fawcett picture garnered several Canadian Genie Award nominations and a loyal cult following. Four years later, Brett Sullivan, the film's editor, made his feature directorial debut with this sequel, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed. Katharine Isabelle and Emily Perkins reprise their roles from the first film as sisters Ginger and Brigitte, respectively. This time around, Brigitte is found by the police after being attacked and taken to rehab when it's assumed that the wolfbane serum that keeps her from turning into a monster is a narcotic. Once inside the facility and denied the substance, Brigitte must strike deals with one of the orderlies to obtain it; meanwhile, she is pursued by another werewolf, and escapes with Ghost, another female patient, to that girl's vacant old house, which sets the stage for a brutal showdown -- made even nastier when the orderly, a hospital doctor, and the elderly Barbara show up and decide to intervene. Also starring Tatiana Maslany, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed was followed only a few months later by Ginger Snaps Back. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

Producer J.J. Abrams teams with writer Drew Goddard and director Matt Reeves for this frenetic tale of a powerful destructive force that descends upon New York City, and the four desperate people who put their lives on the line to embark on a perilous rescue mission. Rob Hawkins (Michael Stahl-David) is a young American professional who has recently been offered a coveted new job in Japan. Eager to send his older sibling off in style, Rob's younger brother, Jason (Mike Vogel), and his girlfriend, Lily (Jessica Lucas), organize a surprise going-away party to take place the night before Rob boards his Eastern-bound flight. As the party gets underway, Rob's longtime friend and current love interest, Beth (Odette Yustman), shows up with another man as the dejected guest of honor's best-pal Hud (T.J. Miller) encourages partygoer Marlena (Lizzy Caplan) to wish him an on-camera farewell despite the fact that they barely know one another. Moments after Beth storms out following a bitter skirmish with Rob, the entire New York City skyline goes dark. Power is quickly restored, prompting partygoers to turn their attention toward the news, where they learn that a freight tanker has been overturned in New York Harbor. Racing to the rooftop in hopes of getting a better look at the situation, the group is terrified to witness a massive explosion that rains debris across midtown Manhattan, causing mass chaos and unparalleled destruction. But the worst is yet to come, because it soon becomes apparent that this is not the work of a terrorist or an act of war, but a massive creature beyond human comprehension. Now, as the military moves in and the streets of New York City become a virtual war zone, Rob, Lily, Marlena, and Hud race to rescue Beth and get out of the city before the powers that be unleash the ultimate weapon of mass destruction on one of the most populated cities on the planet. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi