Best Movie Monster

[LostInAnomie]

[jobycom]

1. The Blair Witch.

Even if you hated the movie, you gotta love an unseen 300 year old witch capable of manipulating reality to lure her prey into her trap before they even know she exists.

[RandomThoughts]

12. People have thrown around the witch label for thousands of years.

Here is a comedy about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fr8DIg3oHFI

I know you are joking around, but it brings up an interesting topic.

Many simple average people, and many good women, with thoughts and good hearts were accused of such thing, many men were accused also. I believe they were sinners like the people that burned them, with different challenges and issues, but many tried to live good lives and help people.

But it seems it was a few people with their own problems making those accusations. I think those making such claims were often the ones gripped with evil, for they did not show love for their Lord God, nor did they show love for their neighbor. I try not to make accusations of people being evil, for that reason, and since I too am a sinner trusting in the grace of God, I think it is better to comment on the actions, and not say the person is evil, sometimes that shows that those same actions are done by the accusers. But the actions are important, not to destroy the person, but to solve the problems they cause. And it ends up that the actions of people lead to their own end, how they chose, and what they do, not accusations of what they actually are, but comments on what they do or do not do.

Many were tortured and burned as heretics, witches, and many other things, usually because of the fears, which is of evil, of a few people.

I remember a story of a man having stones piled on his chest, he was being told that he had to say he was evil, a terrible thing for an honorable man to say. Although a sinner, he did not say such a thing and instead said

"more weight"

and

Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

the lords prayer,

in my thoughts something said that is far more pleasing to our Lord God.

Far more beautiful also.

[jobycom]

15. You ever read "The Heretic's Daughter?"

It's a novelization of the Salem Witch trials. Not bad at setting the background.

I studied heresies of the Middle Ages in grad school. Witch hunts were complex social and political persecutions, involving everything from the need of those in power to control those around them to the petty squabbles of locals and their neighbors. Misogyny, changing cultural norms, changing morality, plain old fear of the Devil and the unknown, and even struggles between pagan and Christian and other religions all fed into them. The same is true of the persecutions of many heretics. If those in power hadn't had witchcraft to accuse people of, they'd have found something else.

Dark subject. We've moved on in society. We persecute women for other reasons now, and persecute gays and Muslims and terrorists and any other group we can define as different than us, whether our definition has any basis in reality, and whether our targets even exist. Sometimes religion is the justification, sometimes politics, sometimes the safety of our children. Same arguments. Same victims. Only the names have changed.

The Blair Witch wasn't an extension of witch persecutions, but just a tale of primal fears and primal monsters.

[RandomThoughts]

34. Good post, Although I have not read that book,

I understand the comments you made.

On another post about racism I posted this
Its not about the other group or their group. It is about something they think, some sense or need to feel superior, or some fear of feeling inferior.

So even if they did get what they think of as a bad group out of the world, they would still do the same thing to someone else. Because it is not about the group, it is about them.

I agree with you that many that victimize others do it for their own reasons or problems that they, for a rationalization, put onto others. Although I think many times they don't know they are doing that. And many smaller dislikes of other groups that everyone does in some ways may be part of the same thing.

That doesn't mean people can't comment on something they disagree with, but when it gets to attacking or hating people, it seems to be coercion, and ideas can not be shared by coercion, it seems a bit ridiculous.

[mix]

17. +1

5-0

[MajorChode]

2. Dwayne Johnson

[Drunken Irishman]

3. Are we talking original Blob or remake Blob?

Cause remake Blob is fuckin' badass.

[AllenVanAllen]

9. Yup

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beHnU1dNR9o

[PRETZEL]

20. Blobfest 2009

http://www.thecolonialtheatre.com/blobfest/

[RiffRandell]

4. I voter Other--Godzilla. n/t

[sakabatou]

26. +1

[NJmaverick]

32. Godzilla= King of the monsters

no one does it better

[nomorenomore08]

5. The titular "Thing" from John Carpenter's "The Thing."

I still wonder how they managed it without CGI...

[AllenVanAllen]

6. Alien would be first my choice

but I had to vote for Frankenstein. When it was released Boris Karloff's monster design and make-up were ground breaking.

[WillyT]

7. Charlton Heston

:evilgrin:

[Deep13]

19. I assumed there would be a headline when he died.

Gun Pried from Heston's Cold Dead Hands

Never saw it, though.

[EndersDame]

8. Godzilla who else can compete?

[csziggy]

10. Monolith Monsters! What is more terrifying than giant rocks that fall over on you?

Seriously, they made them really menacing.

[NewJeffCT]

11. King Kong?

the 8th wonder of the world.

[Forkboy]

13. Ahem...

[mix]

23. what is the tie between Godzilla and Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

hasn't someone discussed the cultural link between these events?

[Forkboy]

28. In the original movie Godzilla is a living metaphor for the bomb.

From "Japan, Godzilla and the Bomb"...

Godzilla attacks Tokyo for the second time and levels the city; the bomb is dropped. Ishiro Honda said of this section of the film, “What was most special was making radiation visual. By opening his maw and simply exhaling, Godzilla can vaporize an entire building.” Honda thought that “The destruction itself is not singular; as a tangible substance, radiation is probably much like {Godzilla’s breath}.” “Ever since those days,” Honda added, “I’ve felt that the ‘atomic fear’ would hang around our necks for eternity.” The hospital scenes after Tokyo is destroyed show exactly what it must have been like for the unfortunate survivors of the Hiroshima blast. For the first and only time in a kaiju film, the suffering of the innocent victims is depicted. Here we see the bodies of the dead, piling up in the halls of the hospital. We see a doctor, holding a Geiger counter to a young boy’s face and shaking his head, as the reading is far beyond the danger point. We are shown a group of children, watching, as a sheet is pulled over their dead mother’s head. They begin to cry as her body is carried away, Emiko holding the smallest of the children. “I wanted to say that after this disaster ,” Honda said, “no one could know what might happen in the world.”

Mirroring Japan’s failure to surrender immediately after the Hiroshima bombing, the threat of Godzilla still exists. However Dr. Serizawa is reluctant to use the Oxygen Destroyer, and when Emiko, the only person entrusted with his secret, informs Ogata of the weapon, the two visit the doctor to confront him. This confrontation between Serizawa, Emiko and Ogata near the end of the film, even after the destruction brought by Godzilla fails to convince Serizawa, clearly represents Honda’s questioning whether the atomic bomb should have ever been used. Although Honda had served during the war, he was opposed to all forms of military operation. “Bombs vs. Bombs, missiles vs. missiles, and now a new super weapon to throw upon us all!” Serizawa argues with Ogata. “As a scientist, no, as a human being I can’t allow that to happen!” Ogata sees no other way of destroying Godzilla and tries to convince Serizawa to use the weapon. But Serizawa is adamant, even if used in secret, the knowledge of its existence would get out. “Even if I burn my notes, the secret will still be in my head.” Serizawa explains. “Until I die, how can I be sure I won’t be forced by someone to make the device again?” Honda is clearly commenting on the proliferation of nuclear devices developed and built by both America and the Soviet Union immediately after the Second World War.

http://www.historyvortex.org/JapanGodzillaAtomicBomb.html

Also, in the opening scene a fishing boat gets attacked and sunk by Godzilla. This is a direct reference to the Lucky Dragon #5, a Japanese fishing boat that had been too close to an U.S. atomic test near the Bikini Atoll and was showered with fallout for hours (they had no idea what it was). This incident happened just before filming started on Godzilla, and was a huge deal in Japan. A nationwide tuna recall was ordered, and some called it the "latest atomic bomb on Japan". It was a major international incident between the two countries.

It's one of the earliest anti-nuclear movies that I know of (it was released in '54 in Japan), and is an excellent antiwar film. The American version that everyone is familiar with (with Raymond Burr) removed almost all references to the bomb (many think it was politically based, and I agree) and made it a typical "monster on a rampage" movie that was common in the 50's. But the original Japanese version, Gojira, is a somber, almost documentary like movie that makes it very clear what inspired the overall message. It's not my favorite movie of all time, but it's up there. :)

[mix]

29. thanks

i want to rewatch those films now...very interesting

[Mad_Dem_X]

14. The dragon from Sleeping Beauty

That thing scared the shit out of me when I was little.

Also, HAL from 2001, 'cause it was a machine, but it was evil.

[bikebloke]

16. Let the Right One In

Though maybe it's not quite "monster", but still great for the genre.

[mix]

24. one of the best vampires, for sure

i loved her fascination with the rubik cube

[Auggie]

18. There's intelligence and cunning behind those eyes that make this guy scary:

[LynneSin]

21. Where the heck is Darth Vadar

Nuff said!

[KansDem]

22. 'Fess up: Didn't you feel a little sorry for Frankenstein...

...when he was caught in that burning windmill at the end of the movie when all the town's folks were out to get him with their torches and pitchforks? :(



Didn't you feel just a little sorry for him when he was screaming as the burning beams were falling on him? :cry:

[mix]

25. i did

[redqueen]

27. That was the author's intention.

Mary Shelley's work was an inspired bit of genius for sure.



That said, if the poll had included 'vampires' instead of the particular "Dracula", it would have got my vote.

[One_Life_To_Give]

30. The Killer Tomatoes!!! nt

[Fire Walk With Me]

31. "W".

[Blue_Tires]

33. Audrey II... cooler and a better singer than the rest combined!!

[Orrex]

35. Cthulhu

[Mike 03]

36. Alien.

I was just thinking of this film today. It is a metaphor about cancer.

It's the best "monster" film ever.