Top 30 Scariest Movie Monsters of All Time

“Pumpkinhead” (1988)

When a grieving father makes a Faustian bargain with a local witch, he unleashes the hissing Pumpkinhead on the town. “Pumpkinhead” is a cult creature feature involving witchcraft and revenge that was pure nightmare fuel for kids of a certain age, who saw its unsettling cover art in the aisles of video stores. Personifying vengeance, Pumpkinhead’s acts of retribution inflict pain upon the man who summoned it. Directed by makeup master Stan Winston, it’s unsurprising that the practical effects on the title monster is the standout component. Its unforgettable makeup includes sharp teeth, reptilian features, and bulging white eyes.

“Malignant” (2021)

Cinematic twins tend to be creepy to begin with, but this movie takes things to a whole new level. “Malignant” leads us down several avenues as to who or what Gabriel could be, such as a standard deranged serial killer and an imaginary friend come to life. The real truth, though, is that he’s the parasitic twin of the protagonist, Madison. His brain still lives in her head, and compels her to kill, even taking control of her body at various points. Personified as a cloaked, disfigured figure, Gabriel’s a scarily powerful and over-the-top antagonist. But there’s nothing quite as bizarre and shocking as seeing archival footage of when he was still attached to Madison.

“It Follows” (2014)

It’s hard to describe the monster at the center of this innovative 2014 horror thriller actually is. Is it a curse? Is it a demonic entity? All we know is that it’s invincible, and that if a person has sex with one of its targets that person becomes a new target. Although Tall Man is probably its most memorable incarnation, it can take the form of any human being, even someone you know. And only the cursed can see it. The horror is almost like an endless game of tag. Once it catches you, it’s almost impossible to escape. The fact that we never really see what it does to its victims, only the mangled and bloody aftermath, leaves just enough to the imagination.

“Hellraiser” (1987)

Clive Barker’s original story didn’t name him or any of his merry band of hedonistic demons. They were simply the Cenobites. But Pinhead has that certain je ne sais quoi. Could it be his flair for poetry? Or is it his gentlemanly demeanor? No, it’s definitely the nails driven into his head and face. When you’ve experienced all the pleasure and pain that exists in this dimension and every other possible dimension, human suffering probably seems trivial. But all together, Pinhead’s clinical approach to and almost playful delight in suffering makes him a villain like no other.

“Cloverfield” (2008)

As with the shark in “Jaws,” the less seen of this monster, the better. Even in the brief glimpses we get, the bulging, tooth-forward villain of this found footage gem is horrifying. Leaping over the city with ease, Clover is like a deranged 10-year-old destroying an anthill, and we are the ants. Though never named in the movie, the creators affectionately called it Clover. Creature designer Neville Page likened the monster to a scared, newborn creature without reason or empathy, only fear and distress. Clover is clumsy, but efficient in bringing about destruction. By the end, we don’t know where or what it is, but we know what it's capable of.

“An American Werewolf in London” (1981)

Werewolves had certainly been done on screen before this movie. In those instances, usually some carefully applied furs on a human actor’s face, hands, and feet did the trick. But the ones featured in “An American Werewolf in London” are not just forest dwelling creatures who lurk in the shadows and kill theatrically and bloodlessly. They are unhinged beasts with anger and fury in their yellow eyes. They rampage through city streets, unbothered by being seen or known as they rip victims limb from limb. And when you turn into a werewolf in this movie, it’s a painful and grotesque transformation.

“Nope” (2022)

The best villains have a touch of the unexpected. The extraterrestrial threat at the center of Jordan Peele’s sci-fi horror is about as untraditional as it gets, and that’s what makes it so scary. Even when it reveals its true form, it’s kind of majestic and graceful. Just don’t look it in the eye. Its ironically cute nickname, “Jean Jacket,” belies its savage and merciless hunger. Disguising itself as a cloud, the creature doesn’t devour its prey individually. Jean Jacket likes to gorge. Engulfing its prey and any inanimate object in the vicinity, the alien allows its meal to live in its digestive system before crushing it, and spitting out anything that’s not flesh and blood.

“The Exorcist” (1973)

Based on the Mesopatamian demon of ill winds, this movie monster has such a massive presence that it took the work of three different performers to bring it to life. Linda Blair plays the little girl possessed by the demon. Academy Award winner and longtime smoker Mercedes McCambridge provided its bone chilling voice. Actress Eileen Dietz performed the more dangerous or obscene acts in Blair’s place, and perhaps most notably, provided the face of the demon. Makeup master Dick Smith’s designs for Blair were scary enough, but those glimpses of the white-faced Pazuzu in all its glory give viewers nightmares to this day.

“The Host” (2007)

Director Bong Joon-ho’s monster movie is a classic throwback tale with modern twists. Gwoemul is a mutant creature who lives in the Han River of South Korea, created by the illegal dumping of chemicals and a subsequent governmental cover-up. The man-made horrors and conspiracies of “The Host” have nothing on Gwoemul. With its gruesome mix of fish-like and amphibious features, Gwoemul is a terror on both land and in water. Though the result is less than scientifically accurate, it does kind of give you pause when you realize the movie was based on a real story of chemical dumping.

“Predator” (1987)

Cold War paranoia and the terrors of outer space come together in this Arnold Schwarzenegger vehicle from 1987. A U.S. military envoy is stalked and hunted down in a South American jungle by an alien creature equipped with thermal imaging and the very latest in weaponry. If that weren’t terrifying enough, the creature’s design, by master effects artist Stan Winston, is an unholy creation. It truly was a match for the normally unflappable Schwarzenegger. The lore of the Predator species has been expanded in media since, but its first unforgettable appearance had audiences recoiling in fear and disgust.

“The Conjuring 2” (2016)

Valak is the primary antagonist of the “Conjuring” series, and it takes its scariest form in “The Conjuring 2” as the Crooked Man. This is a bizarre creature with a very lanky frame, grayish skin, and a wide smile filled with sharp teeth. But perhaps the scariest thing about it is the way it moves. When appearing to Billy, the Crooked Man walks in a very erratic and supernatural manner. The creature is played by a Spanish actor named Javier Botet. Botet has been cast as numerous movie creatures owing to his height and hypermobility, which is a symptom of his Marfan syndrome. Botet does an exceptional job as the Crooked Man, creating what could be the scariest monster in a franchise full of them.

“Harry Potter” franchise (2001-11)

Introduced in “The Prisoner of Azkaban” and appearing sporadically throughout the franchise, the dementors are some of the freakiest monsters in young adult literature. What a dementor really is, no one really knows. All we know is they’re wraith-like creatures that guard the most notorious prison in the wizarding world. Their physical appearance is quite startling, but it’s what they do that’s most terrifying. With the help of their circular, gaping mouths, dementors glide towards their victims and quite literally suck out their souls. One dementor is terrifying, let alone a large group of them. There’s a reason even the most hardened criminals fear them with every inch of their being.

“Antlers” (2021)

The Wendigo is a mythological creature originating in First Nations folklore. It’s appeared in numerous pieces of pop culture throughout the years, typically as some type of large, beast-like creature that preys on humans. An absolutely terrifying iteration of the Wendigo appears in “Antlers.” The physical design of this monster is both imaginative and wonderfully realized. Toward the end of the film, Keri Russell’s character comes across the Wendigo in the dark and sees a human face is draped over its own head. That image alone is worth the price of admission, but the rest of the creature is equally terrifying. Suffice to say, this is the last thing we’d want to see inside a flashlight beam.

“Krampus” (2015)

We don’t know how people think of these things. Der Klown doesn’t get much screen time in “Krampus,” but its design is unforgettable. It consists of a very large, worm-like horizontal body. But the most imaginative element of the monster is easily its face. Der Klown has a face much like a vintage porcelain doll and a massive, fleshy mouth that opens wide enough to devour humans. The contrast between the fleshy muscle and porcelain face is marvelously grotesque. It looks revolting, and provides a tantalizing glimpse into the creature’s biology. The practical effects and sound design are also fantastic, making a scary monster even scarier.

“Insidious” Franchise (2010)

Despite his admittedly goofy name, the Lipstick-Face Demon is one of the most terrifying monsters of the 2010s. For one thing, he’s the central part of one of the most effective jump scares in modern horror history. The demon appears right behind Josh’s shoulder, accompanied by a startlingly effective growl in the midst of a tension-filled silence. Its design is fairly typical of devils or demonic creatures, complete with a red-and-black face and hooves. Regardless, its design is still very effective, and the Lipstick-Face Demon helped turn the “Insidious” franchise into the box office mega success it became.

“The Ritual” (2017)

Who knew that this little British film would produce one of the most effective monsters of the decade? Moder is another Wendigo-like creature, appearing in full at the very end of “The Ritual.” It doesn’t get much screen time, but the time it does get is both haunting and impressive. We don’t even know how to describe this thing. It’s like if a human, a bear, and an elk fused together into a grotesque mass of limbs that towered twenty feet into the air. The physical design of this monster is simply incredible, with its dangling human arms, torso-like antlers, and beady yellow eyes being particular highlights. We don’t know what it is, but then again, we don’t really want to find out.

The “Descent” Franchise (2005-09)

Caves are a frightening place to be. We instinctively fear them because they’re dark, deep, and labyrinthine. Oh, and there’s also the fact that we don’t know what’s hiding in their depths, watching from the shadows and waiting to strike. “The Descent” starts scary enough, but it gets even worse when the Crawlers get involved. These are humanoid creatures who’ve lived in the dark caves for an undetermined amount of time. This has turned them into territorial and cannibalistic monsters who violently defend their home from outside visitors - namely, spelunkers hoping for a taste of adventure. Finding a bear inside a cave is freaky - finding these is positively nightmarish.

“Annihilation” (2018)

With a story centered around intermixing DNA, we expected some imaginative creature design. Well, we certainly got that and then some. In what’s arguably the movie’s most memorable scene, a mutant bear arrives to sniff out the vulnerable protagonists. The creature is a horrific mixture between black bear and human. Its body is bear-like, but the skin on its face has rotted away, leaving behind an exposed skull. But the scariest part by far is its fusion with Cass. The bear’s roaring is intermingled with Cass’s human screams, and it looks like Cass’s skull has merged with the bear’s. Both the sound and physical design of this creature are masterful, combining to create one of the most unforgettable movie monsters in recent memory.

“The Babadook” (2014)

This horror movie from Jennifer Kent made major waves when released in 2014, with many calling it a modern masterpiece. There are a number of factors for its strong critical reception, including the creature design. The Babadook is a very creepy monster that appears with massive, claw-like appendages and a ghostly white humanoid face. It doesn’t help that the Babadook often sticks to the shadows, letting our imaginations run wild. Perhaps even scarier than its physical design is what it represents. The Babadook is a metaphor for Amelia’s grief, so his presence is palpably felt even when he’s not on the screen. It’s quite a dour movie, and it’s all thanks to its titular creature.

“A Quiet Place” franchise (2018-)

The first “Quiet Place” was one of the most popular horror movies of the late 2010s, and that’s thanks in large part to its monsters. Not so much their design (although it’s certainly effective), but what they do and represent. With the help of hypersensitive hearing, the monsters pounce on anything and anyone that makes noise. This causes everyone to live in constant fear and paranoia, forced to monitor each and every activity for even a modicum of sound. Their danger is horrifically established in the first five minutes of the movie, when a long-legged creature swipes young Beau before his family’s eyes. It’s an incredibly successful formula, and it’s led to numerous (and inferior) copycats.

The “Blair Witch” Franchise (1999-)

Despite initially never appearing on screen, the Blair Witch is one of the scariest movie monsters of all time. What we don’t see is always scarier than what we do. It lets our imaginations fill in the gaps, and our imaginations are always scarier than what can be conjured through practical effects. It also helps that “The Blair Witch Project” is so masterfully constructed. The inventive handheld camera work and strong acting had the world convinced that this was genuine footage - at least for a little while. We know hardly anything about the Blair Witch - its history, what it wants, etc. All we know is that it causes incredible paranoia in its victims, and that’s certainly enough for us.

“Jaws” (1975)

Steven Spielberg has long been regarded as one of the best directors in movie history, and he became a household name with “Jaws.” The movie’s filming process was notoriously awful, complete with a mechanical shark that never seemed to work. But Spielberg pulled it off with some imaginative filmmaking techniques. “The Blair Witch Project” clearly took a note out of Spielberg’s playbook, as he rarely shows the shark. The creature’s underwater POV shots and the accompanying music are iconic, and Spielberg didn’t shy away from the bloody carnage that it wrought. Of course, the movie works exceptionally well even when the shark is on screen. It still looks amazing to this day - one only needs to watch Quint’s excruciating death scene to realize that.

The “Jurassic Park” Franchise (1993-)

There’s no exaggerating it - the T-Rex’s appearance in “Jurassic Park” is one of the most iconic scenes in movie history. Spielberg strikes yet again, creating both the greatest and scariest on-screen depiction of a dinosaur. Credit also has to go to Stan Winston and his team of special effects artists. They created an animatronic T-Rex that stood twenty feet high and weighed over 17,000 pounds. The result is pure movie magic. Everyone who’s seen “Jurassic Park” has fond memories of the pounding rain, the shaking water, the approaching booms and shakes, and the face of the T-Rex appearing over the fence. And the roar. Oh God, that roar.

“Nosferatu” (1922)

It’s amazing how Count Orlok has stood the test of time. Conceived and filmed in the early 20th century, Orlok has nevertheless remained a haunting symbol of the horror genre. While the character is based on Count Dracula (or, more accurately, ripped off from Count Dracula), he shares little in common with other on-screen iterations of the iconic character. He’s far more demonic in appearance, complete with a tall, lanky frame, pointy claws, and that incredibly creepy face that’s caused a century’s worth of nightmares. We tend to think of silent films as crude predecessors of modern cinema, but Orlok’s design proves otherwise. It’s innovative, and best of all, it’s still disturbingly effective.

“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)

Guillermo del Toro is well known for his fantastical creature designs, but this has to be his masterpiece. Put crudely, this is one gnarly monster. Its white skin hangs in slabs off its torso, and most famous of all, its eyeballs are in the palms of its massive, clawed hands. It’s a masterclass in imaginative monster design. The Pale Man is played by a contortionist named Doug Jones, and he does an exceptional job with the creature’s slow and erratic movements. And worst of all - this thing eats children. The entire sequence is ripped straight out of a nightmare, from the design of the monster to the way it slowly chases Ofelia down a long corridor. It’s great stuff. Horrifying, but great.

“The Fly” (1986)

David Cronenberg is a master of body horror - a subsection of the genre that’s centered around the grotesque disfigurement of the human body. And “The Fly” is his masterpiece. In this one, poor Seth Brundle starts slowly turning into the titular insect thanks to a scientific experiment gone horribly awry. The creature’s effects were handled by Chris Walas, who won the Academy Award for Best Makeup. He turns Jeff Goldblum into a horrific monster, and Seth’s final transition from human to Brundlefly is truly one of the most disgusting things ever put on screen. The Brundlefly itself is a revolting work of art - an Oscar-winning work of art, to be precise. Who says the Academy doesn’t recognize genre movies?

“It” (2017)
The great thing about Pennywise is that it takes all sorts of different forms, ensuring that everyone gets at least a little creeped out. It’s the entire point of its character. Scared of creepy clowns with sharp teeth and weird eyes? Well, that’s its primary form! Scared of lepers whose limbs are slowly rotting off? Got that! What about headless corpses that chase you down dark hallways? Got that, too! Surely this movie doesn’t contain the greatest fear of all - a small cluster of intergalactic orbs that cause instant insanity and appear out of split clown heads? Well, guess what? Pennywise’s taunting personality is also gleefully unnerving, and Bill Skarsgård does a wonderful job with the character’s more malicious tendencies.

“The Thing” (1982)

We never actually see the Thing. It’s an alien entity that takes the physical form of those it assimilates, and in this case, a group of isolated scientists working in Antarctica. Even though we never see the monster itself, we see the grotesque abominations it creates. Rob Bottin handled the movie’s practical effects, and even to this day they’re heralded as some of the best in the business. His creatures are a delightful combination of inventive and disgusting, often accompanied by lots of tentacles and oozy goop. Take, for instance, the human head that dislodges itself from its body and turns into a spider. How they came up with this stuff, we don’t know. But we’re glad they did.

“The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” (2003)

While Shelob is little more than a giant spider, it nevertheless remains one of the scariest movie monsters in recent memory. It works thanks in large part to the tension that director Peter Jackson wrings out of the character. We hear about Shelob in “The Two Towers,” but we don’t get to her until well into “The Return of the King.” And even when we do, her appearance is preceded by an eerie cave filled with skeletons, hanging animal corpses, and massive webs. Shelob is also one of the most dangerous creatures in the trilogy, and she nearly ends the entire quest when she stabs Frodo in the gut. If it weren’t for Sam’s quick thinking, they would’ve been done for.

#1: The Alien