What Do You Think Makes a Good Monster Movie?

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

We've all seen monster movies at one point or another, so what do you think makes a good monster movie? I'm going to list my standards for monster movies, although they don't have to follow all of them it makes the experience much more enjoyable. The movies listed are the ones that fail the hardest at these criteria.



-Good video quality (Kraa! The Sea Monster)
-Good credit quality (Abominable)
-More than one action scene (House of The Dead)
-Good lighting (Sasquatch Mountain)
-Music that fits (Mimic)
-Monster must be seen in full view for at least once (Monster 79)
-Monster must constantly be involved in the plot (Cry of The Banshee)
-Plot holes must be to a minimum (Monster in the Closet)
-Monster must be cool (The Host)
-Monster must preform powerful abilities (The Man From Planet X)
-No humans interfering with monster battles (Boa vs. Python)
-Talking must be at a minimum whenever possible (Congo)
-Good climactic ending (Kingdom of The Spiders)
-Must be interesting through out (C.H.U.D.)
-Title Monster must never be the sub story (Dogora)
-Memorability (Mammoth)
-Fitting setting (Cerberus)
-Name of the monster (Sands of Oblivion)
-Monster must be brave (20 Million Miles to Earth)
-Monster must be fast with the exception of kaiju films (Shaun of The Dead)
-Monster must not die of something stupid, if at all (War of The Worlds)
-Camera must never be shaky (Route 666)
-No dumb weaknesses (The Car)
-No deceiving titles (Earth vs. The Spider)
-Ripping off other movies should be at a minimum (Eye of The Beast)
-Sequels must have a relation to previous installments (Spiders 2)
-No fake looking death scenes (Planet of The Dinosaurs)
-Basic plot must have some originality (Pumpkinhead)
-Human reaction must be as real as possible (Ghoulies)
-Pet casualties shouldn't be eaten (Man's Best Friend)
-No randomly skipping around (Dune)
-Decent editing (The Eden Formula)
-Minimal reality distortion (New Nightmare)
-No pausing during scene transition (Bog 83)
-Hearable audio (The Ape Man)
-Gore should not be tried too much (Slither)
-No scene repeats (Ticks)
-Very little, if any, corny humor (Transformers)
-No unintended transparency (Attack of The 50 Foot Woman)
-No credit repeats (Blood Freak)
-No splooge scenes (Feast 2: Sloppy Seconds)
-Good pacing (Exorcist 2: The Heretic)
-No typos (Star Crystal)
-Video quality must be consistent (Asylum of The Damned)
-Credits can not be too small (Flu Birds)
-Camera cannot move all over the place (Texas Chainsaw Massacre 74)
-No terrible grammar where it is not needed (The Last Dinosaur)
-No pointless time progression indications (Day of The Dead 2: Contagium)
-Some effort with effects (Razorteeth)

[Bomby von Bombsville]

Follow these tropes.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

What makes a monster movie good is the same thing that makes everything else good: Handling its elements well.

Handle the story/plot well.
Handle the monsters/effects well.
Handle the human characters well (if any).
Handle the music well (Akira Ifukube, for example).
Handle the editing/pacing well.
Handle the lighting/cinematography well (Gojira, Godzilla vs Mechagodzilla II).
Handle the cast well (Gojira).

[Defectron]

-Pet casualties shouldn't be eaten (Man's Best Friend)

Why not?

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Because it's just plain wrong.

[THE Hal E. Burton 9000]

I would argue that the most important thing is how plausible (or probable) the danger or peril this monster poses, whatever that monster may be or whatever universe the monster lives in

in short, what is at stake exactly? (i.e. the fate of the world, the fate of a small town, the fate of a pretty girl, etc.)

Because it's just plain wrong.

so that would mean The Lost World: Jurassic Park fits into the bad monster movie category?

[Defectron]

Because it's just plain wrong.

But that's the law of the jungle! The law of the jungle don't care if you think it's plain wrong IT WILL EAT YOUR FACE AND YOUR LITTLE DOGS FACE TOO!

-Monster must preform powerful abilities (The Man From Planet X)

Well a movie with a weak monster can be good if its handeled right. Like say for example the monster outsmarts its victims. Of course if that idea is done badly you'll get the chucky and sleepaway camp movies where the victims are incredibly dumb making them too easy to outsmart, but the point still stands.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

so that would mean The Lost World: Jurassic Park fits into the bad monster movie category?

Lets look at what I wrote:

although they don't have to follow all of them it makes the experience much more enjoyable.

[ZapX]

Good monsters.

[TehDonutKing]

A movie where Godzilla gets her ass kicked and Anguirus saves the day would be refreshing.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

A movie where Godzilla gets her ass kicked and Anguirus saves the day would be refreshing.

Wait, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla and Tomoyuki Tanaka's other monsters all in the same flick? That's just asking for a disaster.

[Shogo-Kun]

A movie where the monster is the victim as opposed to the humans would be refreshing. Imagine, a monster roams the city causing chaos and destruction. It kidnaps a little boy/girl and as he/she thinks he/she's gonna be eaten, the monster says "Help me..." Basically, a deconstruction of the monster movie genre.

[symbv]

If we want to talk about deconstruction of alien monster, mention has to be made of Parasyte the manga. Always think it is a great manga for RL or anime adaptation.

[TehDonutKing]

Wait, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla and Tomoyuki Tanaka's other monsters all in the same flick? That's just asking for a disaster.

I was referring to Gojira, not Zilla.

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

I was referring to Gojira, not Zilla.

I see. You just mentioned that Gojira was female and, as far as I know, Emmreich's film was the only one to suggest that with his mutant iguanasaurus rex monster.

[TehDonutKing]

'Twas a typo.

[Defectron]

Wait, Roland Emmerich's Godzilla and Tomoyuki Tanaka's other monsters all in the same flick? That's just asking for a disaster.

Wouldnt that be Godzilla final wars minus godzilla?

[FreakyFilmFan4ever]

Wouldnt that be Godzilla final wars minus godzilla?

I guess it would be.

[Trajan]

Shit getting wrecked. That is all.

And maybe a coherent plot, but I won't be picky so I'll consider that a bonus if included.