Top 10 Scariest Movie Monsters You Never See
#10: The Creatures
Top 20 Scariest Movie Monsters of All Time
“Bird Box” (2018) This Netflix movie became a phenomenon due to its tantalizing premise. Well, that and the ill-advised blindfold challenge. In this movie, some type of unknown creatures begin terrorizing the Earth. One mere look at them is enough to cause instant insanity and drive someone to take their own life. As a result, survivors are forced to wear blindfolds whenever they venture outside. The genius thing about this movie is that we never see the monsters, which of course helps us sympathize with the characters and their plight. It not only places us in their shoes, but it helps generate an unbearable amount of tension. Like the characters, we’re not allowed to look at the creatures, and that makes them all the more terrifying.
#9: The Entity
Top 10 Scariest CGI Movie Monsters
“The Entity” (1982) Even the movie doesn’t know what this thing is. The title alone spurs the imagination. What is the entity? How does it work? What does it do? Well, it’s not pretty. The titular entity harasses single mother Carla Moran, plaguing her with poltergeist activity and violent assaults. Her psychiatrist doesn’t believe her paranormal reports. Instead, he thinks Carla is both delusional and deeply traumatized and wishes for her to have herself committed. But the truth is far more malicious. Audiences, like Carla, never actually see the entity. But, also like Carla, we know it’s there. At the end of the day, though, there’s nothing scarier than not being believed.
#8: The Boogeyman
Top 30 Greatest Giant Movie Monsters
“The Boogeyman” (1980) Every child fears the boogeyman. But, as we eventually grow to find out, the boogeyman isn’t real. At least, not as a physical entity. This movie has been criticized for copying “Halloween,” only replacing the corporeal Michael Myers with an invisible mirror ghost. Years earlier, young Willy killed his mother’s boyfriend. However, some kind of magical mirror captured the man’s spirit, and when the mirror is broken twenty years later, the spirit is set free to begin a vengeful killing spree. While we do briefly see the spirit in the mirror before it’s broken, all its evil deeds are done under the cover of invisibility. We always fear what we can’t see.
#7: The Cosmic Creature
Top 20 Powerful Horror Movie Monsters
“Resolution” (2012) A great cosmic movie from independent filmmakers Justin Benson and Aaron Scott Moorhead, “Resolution” does a lot with its meager $20,000 budget. Such is the magic of keeping the evil off-screen and its machinations creative. “Resolution” begins simply enough, with protagonist Michael attempting to get his friend Chris off drugs by isolating him in a remote cabin. However, things quickly go off the rails, and the movie veers hard into cosmic territory. Michael discovers that the area is plagued by some type of entity with the ability to bend reality. We don’t know what it is; all we know is that it has one heck of a roar. And that is plenty scary enough.
#6: The Mothman
Top 10 Real-Life People Behind Movie Monsters
“The Mothman Prophecies” (2002) This horror film starring Richard Gere and Laura Linney is based on John Keel’s book of the same name. A very popular work of cryptozoology, “The Mothman Prophecies” recounts the famous Mothman sightings that plagued West Virginia in the mid-to-late ‘60s. Keel famously linked the Mothman to the collapse of the Silver Bridge, and this becomes a major plot point in the movie adaptation. The Mothman itself is never really seen. Rather, its presence is depicted through creepy drawings, nightmares, and mysterious phone calls. What’s even creepier is that the events of the movie are never really explained. We, like the characters, are forced to work everything out for ourselves. That’s much scarier than some goofy CGI man-moth…thing.
#5: He Who Walks Behind the Rows
Top 20 Lesser Known Movie Monsters
“Children of the Corn” (1984) The titular children of the corn have killed all the adults in the remote town of Gatlin, Nebraska. After doing so, they flee into the cornfields and live as a cult worshiping a mysterious entity. They kill outlanders and anyone who turns nineteen as sacrifices to the unseen creature. All we see of He Who Walks Behind the Rows is some type of bright, supernatural light that envelops cult leader Isaac. We also don’t know much about him, though he does eventually appear in “Children of the Corn III: Urban Harvest.” Any monster that can convince children to kill their own parents is plenty scary in our book, especially when we don’t see it.
#4: The Ghosts
Giant Movie Monsters Origins: EXPLAINED
“The Haunting” (1963) The genius thing about “The Haunting” is that the evil might not actually exist. This movie is based on Shirley Jackson’s novel “The Haunting of Hill House,” whose ambiguity has remained tantalizing. A paranormal investigator named John Markway conducts a study at the titular Hill House, wishing to determine once and for all if it’s haunted. He invites a troubled woman named Eleanor Lance to stay in the house, and she begins experiencing harmful and frightening paranormal phenomena. Like most ghost movies, the entities in question remain invisible and off-screen. Of course, there’s also the possibility that there are no ghosts, as the mentally disturbed Eleanor may have imagined it all. The deliberate ambiguity has helped make “The Haunting” a horror classic.
#3: Death
Top 10 Movie Fates Worse Than Death
“Final Destination” Franchise (2000-) Death isn’t a traditional monster, but an intangible force that cannot be stopped. And in this series, it finds some really creative ways to claim its victims. In every film, the protagonist saves a group of people from a grisly demise after having a premonition. However, the survivors are now in debt to Death, and it has come to collect. Death remains entirely invisible throughout the series. Instead, it claims its victims by using elaborate, Rube Goldberg-esque machinations that make their deaths look like accidents. It’s a terrifying concept, and they’re maybe the only movies that have us living in constant paranoia for a while. There really are a lot of everyday things that can kill someone…
#2: Tobi
“Paranormal Activity” Franchise (2007-) The first “Paranormal Activity” is still the best, and that’s due to its simplicity. Forget the complex world building and family history of the sequels - this is just a simple ghost story that’s told and filmed effectively. Katie and Micah are tormented by a demon - later affectionately named “Tobi” - inside their home, and the latter sets up cameras to capture the paranormal activity. Said activity begins as the traditional bumps, door creaks, and flickering lights. However, it quickly escalates to biting, dragging out of bed, and even what looks like demonic possession. The most we see of Tobi are the creepy footprints it leaves behind in the baby powder. Even if you don’t believe in ghosts, this movie had you sleeping with the lights on.
#1: The Blair Witch
Top 5 Scariest Blair Witch Project Moments (Director Explains)
“The Blair Witch Project” (1999) Opinion on “The Blair Witch Project” remains firmly divided. Either keeping the witch off-screen was a genius and creative move by the filmmakers, or it was a massive letdown that left viewers scratching their heads. For eighty tense minutes, we watch through the cameras of Heather, Mike, and Josh as they’re seemingly stalked through the woods by a malicious entity. Supposedly it’s the Blair Witch, but who really knows. That however is the whole fun of the movie! We don’t know much about the story or the mythology. The filmmakers leave everything intentionally ambiguous, and we’re forced to make our own answers. Maybe some people don’t like that, but it’s scarier than any on-screen witch could ever be. The 2016 sequel proves as much.
