Creature features, aka monster movies, are sometimes seen as the (literal) ugly stepchild of the horror genre. Maybe it’s because their heavy costumes, makeup, or CGI can make them too unrealistic to be scary. Those who appreciate this maligned subgenre know that what makes monster movies work is that they often serve as a metaphor for deeply human issues.

Monsters represent our fears — of that which is different from ourselves, but also of our own base desires: for power, control, and revenge. But creature features can also provoke our empathy and challenge our biases.

Of course, these films also just provide a scary good time watching gruesome beasts rampage weak, unsuspecting humans. The best onscreen monsters give us a bit of both: something mythical and terrifying, and also something to feel compassion for. Whether you’re looking for human-made horrors or fantasy beasts, there’s a monster for every occasion. Check out these 11 creature features, and enjoy a break from the world you know.

Anaconda

Anaconda swam so Snakes on a Plane could fly. This cult hit relies on the premise that supersizing real animals makes them infinitely scarier. A documentary film crew in the Amazon makes the mistake of picking up a stranded snake hunter, Paul Serone (Jon Voight). The group’s anthropologist, Dr. Steven Cale (Eric Stoltz), is stung by a wasp and rendered unconscious, leaving it up to film director Terri (Jennifer Lopez) to get the group to a hospital. But Serone knows the river best, and he steers them directly to where a giant anaconda lives, hoping to trap and sell the beast. Now the crew has to survive both Serone and a ravenous water snake.

Anaconda

1h 29m   PG-13

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Damsel

This fantasy film starring Millie Bobby Brown starts like a fairy tale and ends like a nightmare. Brown plays Elodie, a young noblewoman who agrees to marry Prince Henry (Nick Robinson) in a neighboring realm to help feed her own people. Elodie and the prince connect, and she ignores her mother’s uneasy feeling about the arrangement. As part of the wedding ceremony, Henry carries Elodie across a mountain chasm — then he promptly drops her into the void. Surviving the fall, Elodie realizes she’s been offered as a sacrifice to an ancient dragon in the mountain. But this beast won’t be getting an easy meal — Elodie is determined to survive and have her revenge. 

Damsel

1h 49m   PG-13   2024

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Frankenstein

The master of creature features, director Guillermo del Toro (The Shape of Water, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth), takes on fiction’s most famous man-made monster. This adaptation of Mary Shelley’s gothic 19th-century novel stars Oscar Isaac as Victor Frankenstein, a tortured scientist determined to overcome death. He harvests body parts from fallen soldiers, stitching them together to form a new man, the Creature (Jacob Elordi), and harnesses the power of lightning to reanimate him. Rejecting his unnatural creation, Victor attempts to destroy him, but the Creature lives and makes his way out into a world that fears him. The movie is a vibrant, cinematic exploration of ego, ambition, and the pursuit of knowledge. It challenges the very notion of what makes us human.

Frankenstein

2h 32m   R   2025

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Godzilla Minus One

Godzilla is one of the world’s most recognizable onscreen monsters. The original kaiju, he spawned an entire subgenre and could be considered the founding father of creature features. A far cry from his first appearances in the low-budget Japanese films of the ’50s, this 2023 movie gives the radioactive colossus a makeover, distinguishing him from the American franchise started in 2014. In post–World War II Tokyo, kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) returns home to find that both his parents have died in a bombing. Shikishima takes in a woman, Noriko (Minami Hamabe), and an orphaned baby and gets a job disposing of leftover war mines in the ocean. Meanwhile, empowered by American nuclear testing in the waters outside of Japan, Godzilla awakens. He’s angry and ready to unleash his wrath on Tokyo. Shikishima and fellow war veterans devise a plan to take down the destructive beast.

Godzilla Minus One

2h 6m   PG-13   2023

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Grizzly II

Creature features often focus on large, angry animals out for blood (Jaws and Anaconda both fit that bill). Grizzly II: Revenge is generally what its title suggests — the story of a giant grizzly bear at Yellowstone National Park who seeks revenge for the killing of its bear cub. Add that a major rock concert is about to take place, bringing thousands of oblivious young people, and it’s a recipe for disaster. The campy horror will draw you to this film, as will actors Charlie Sheen, Laura Dern, and George Clooney — in some of their very first roles — facing the giant bear in the film’s opening scene. 

Grizzly II

1h 14m   TV-MA   1983

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Okja

In this film about a supersized animal, it’s the humans who are the real monsters. In South Korea, a young girl, Mija (Ahn Seo-hyun), lives with her grandfather, who’s raising a genetically modified “super pig,” Okja. Mija and her giant pet have a special relationship, so when Okja is declared the best of the super pigs and taken away to NYC, Mija follows her. Thus begins an adventure involving a run-in with an animal liberation group, a daring escape from an inhumane slaughterhouse, and a plan to expose wealthy business owner Lucy Mirando (Tilda Swinton). Directed by Academy Award winner Bong Joon Ho, Okja is a thought-provoking creature feature addressing animal rights and corrupt capitalism. 

Okja

2h 1m   TV-MA   2017

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Stranger Things

The technology of ’80s films ushered in a new era of monster movies. So it’s fitting that this nostalgic series about a group of kids in the ’80s would include some great creatures. In Hawkins, Indiana, 12-year-old Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) goes missing, prompting his school friends Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard), Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), and Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin) to search for him. The boys come across a psychokinetic girl named Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown), who escaped from a federal research facility that’s been conducting paranormal human testing. The facility inadvertently opened a portal to a hellish alternate dimension where Will is menaced by terrifying creatures. First, there are the Demogorgons with their mouth-heads full of sharp teeth, but each season of the series introduces new frightening creatures. The fifth and final season of Stranger Things premieres its first four episodes on Nov. 26.

Stranger Things

5 Seasons   TV-14   2016

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The Silence

This horror film introduces a terrible new threat to humanity, which is unearthed by scientists in a cave and released into the world. The “vesps,” as they are known, are blind flying creatures with super hearing that helps them track and kill humans. Hugh Andrews (Stanley Tucci) attempts to get his family to safety in the family van before realizing sound is what lures in the vesps. His daughter, Ally (Kiernan Shipka), lost her hearing in an accident, so the family is well-versed in sign language. As they set out for safety, staying as quiet as they can, they encounter all manner of dangers — both man and beast. 

The Silence

1h 30m   PG-13   2019

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Troll

This Norwegian film takes one of its country’s oldest folk myths and brings it to life. Paleontologist Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann) is brought onto a task force that’s researching the deaths of several mountain drilling operators. When she finds what appear to be giant footprints around the disaster site, she reaches out to her father, Tobias (Gard B. Eidsvold), who’s long believed the mountain troll is real. The team accidentally awakens the giant, and military intervention only further provokes its rage. Soon, the beast is headed toward Oslo, leaving Nora and Tobias to scramble for a way to stop the impending disaster.

Troll

1h 43m   TV-14   2022

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Under Paris

Anyone who watched the events of the 2024 Paris Olympics may easily understand the inherent horror of a triathlon taking place while a bloodthirsty shark is loose in the River Seine. Following in the footsteps of Jaws, this French action-horror film follows Sophia (Bérénice Bejo), a marine researcher whose research team encounters a massive shortfin mako shark nicknamed Lillith. Sophia’s husband, Chris (Yannick Choirat), attempts to take blood from the shark but dies in the process. Three years later, Sophia is in Paris working at an aquarium when she’s told that Lillith’s tracker places the shark in the Seine. Joined by a police diver, Sophia searches for Lillith, eventually discovering that the shark has adapted to fresh water and produced offspring with the same genetic mutation. With a — you guessed it — triathlon set to take place in the Seine, Sophia is in a time crunch to find the shark.

Under Paris

1h 44m   TV-MA   2024

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The Witcher

A show about a monster hunter promises plenty of scary creatures. Geralt of Rivia (Henry Cavill in Seasons 1–3 and Liam Hemsworth in Season 4) is a monster hunter for hire, blessed with supernatural powers that aid him in taking down even the most formidable of beasts. Traveling the Continent, he takes new jobs, eventually meeting and falling in love with the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg (Anya Chalotra). Destiny brings him to Cirilla (Freya Allan), the young crown princess of Cintra, who holds great magical potential. The three of them encounter a great many perils along their respective journeys and prepare for the bigger battles ahead.

The Witcher

4 Seasons   TV-MA   2019

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