Monster movies have often been used to reflect our own worst fears back at us, in both timeless and topical ways. Sometimes, the "monster" is often a physical manifestation of a variety of the chaotic emotions we experience just by existing; grief, trauma, depression, and crippling anxiety. Other times, the monster is a fully developed character that through special effects, creature design, and convincing performance comes alive as a creature or being that feels as real to us an any emotion.
In the last decade, we've been terrorized by The Babadook, wondered where we came from thanks to the Engineers, and learned to be very quiet around the aliens from A Quiet Place. Films like Ex Machina even made us wonder if the AI was the monster or the people who engineered it. The monsters were so worthy of recognition in the 2010's, a film devoted to one even snagged the Academy Award for Best Picture. Here are the 10 best new movie monster characters of the decade, ranked.
LAURA (UNDER THE SKIN)
While not your typical monster, Scarlett Johansson's Laura conveys the terror that comes from facing an alien predator that looks like nothing more than a beguiling woman. Laura tours Scotland in a van, beckoning men into it with promises of intimate ecstasy.
Like a mixture of Jennifer's Body and Species, Under the Skin is not as obvious in its extraterrestrial references, but instead is a relentless, slow-burning horror sci-fi film that will keep you thinking long after the credits roll. Many of the scenes were shot with hidden cameras in Johansson's van while she cruised for actual men, not actors, under the watchful direction of Jonathan Glazer.
THE ENGINEERS (PROMETHEUS)
With Ridley Scott's Alien prequel Prometheus (as well as its sequel Alien: Covenant) we were introduced to The Engineers, aka the giant guy inside the "Space Jockey" suit. From what the films reveal, Engineers seeded life on other planets, their DNA becoming the building blocks of all biological life forms.
Their experiments created the xenomorph (though not entirely as we have come to know it), based on an organism they worshiped as a deity. The Engineers are fascinating creatures both for their capabilities of pure ruthlessness and self-preservation as well as their higher moral values. Sound familiar?
THE BABADOOK (BABADOOK)
Jennifer Kent's premier Australian film The Babadook is not only a masterfully sinister horror film, but also an analysis of grief in its rawest form. It takes the simple drawings of a child's storybook and transforms the title character into a monster that has since become iconic.
A young single mother and her son become tormented by "Mr. Babadook", a tall, croaking fiend in a top hat after the death of the boy's father. Kent employed puppetry as well as stop-motion animation to create the Babadook, who has emerged as famous a movie monster as Pennywise in the last decade.
THE ALIENS (ATTACK THE BLOCK)
Produced by the creative minds behind Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz comes Attack the Block, a wildly inventive film about a group of South London petty criminals who experience an alien invasion just as they're trying to mug someone. Their leader, John Boyega (of Star Wars sequel fame) becomes the unexpected hero of the block as he tries to man a defense against the monsters.
To take a line from the film, the aliens look like "big alien gorilla" creatures, all black hair and glowing green teeth. They descend upon Wyndham Tower, the council estate, the local pub, and the entire neighborhood, forcing the group of teens to participate in some truly hilarious and frightening mayhem.
THE CREATURES (A QUIET PLACE)
It can sometimes be difficult to make a new horror movie when it feels like all the tropes have been played out, but John Krasinki's directorial debut A Quiet Place proves that there are still plenty of creative ways to scare audiences in an atypical monster movie.
Emily Blunt and Krasinki lead the cast as two parents trying to survive in a world where monsters hunt by sound. Sound becomes both a character in itself as well as a weaponized force of fear, to such an extent that you'll find yourself holding your breath and avoiding eating crunchy snacks as you watch.
THE TROLLS (TROLL HUNTER)
This quirky, found-footage foray by Norwegian film maker André Øvredal is an amalgamation of wry humor, drama, and horror. It has a surprising amount of world building based on Norse mythology, focusing on a massive government cover up concerning trolls in the mountains.
The government sends specialized "troll hunters" to the mountains to keep the massive monsters at bay, a journey which gets filmed in the same first person POV and shaky-cam style as The Blair Witch Project without being as annoying as that film. There are thrills, chills, and laughs, as well as some pretty incredible shots of trolls that feel almost...real?
THE SKELETON BEAR (ANNIHILATION)
Annihilation boasts an impressive mostly female cast led by Natalie Portman, a former soldier and scientist who takes a team into Area X, a government-secure space and the last known location of her missing husband. A mixture of practical and CGI effects was used to create the strange world inside, inhabited by all manner of bizarre and beautiful creatures.
None of the creatures is as magnetic and intriguing as the team's biggest threat, the "Skeleton Bear", a creature that resembles a bear in its anatomy but with an exposed skeletal head. It sounds even more terrifying than it looks, mimicking the voices of its victims both in speech (to trick prey) and in their death throes (to mock them).
THE ROOMMATES (WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS)
Now a popular television series, What We Do In The Shadows began as a comedic monster film about four vampire housemates living together in Wellington, New Zealand. Each represents different vampire stereotypes, the Old World Vampire (think Vlad Teppes), the Victorian Romantic Vampire (think Dracula), Nosferatu (self explanatory), etc.
This "slice of life" film showcases the nightly excursions of the immortal monsters as they navigate their unlives, such as having run-ins with werewolves (not swear-wolves!), the general public, and the newly turned hipster vampires. It boasts Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and other noted comedians of Flight of the Concords fame.
AVA (EX MACHINA)
As Ava, the world's first fully-functioning artificial intelligence, Alicia Vikander infused an enigmatic mix of empathy, compassion, and terror into the cybernetic body of an efficient and ruthless machine. She is one part of an experiment involving Caleb, a young programmer who wins the chance to meet her at a remote retreat owned by Nathan, Caleb's reclusive CEO and engineer.
Ava has been created by a collection of the world's search engines, which have not only enabled her to know what people think, but how they think. She uses this knowledge to manipulate Caleb and Nathan, to the point where not one of them knows where the experiment begins and ends. It's a fascinating look at the triumphs and perils involved with AI progression. At the end of the film, you'll wonder who the monster really is; Ava, or the men who made her.
AMPHIBIAN MAN (THE SHAPE OF WATER)
For the top of the list, we chose the Amphibian Man from the epic film The Shape of Water, a monster movie that won the Academy Award for Best Picture in 2018. Guillermo del Toro, whose unique creature designs have been critically acclaimed in everything from Pacific Rim to Pan's Labyrinth were used to create a monster who is both sympathetic and unsettling.
When Elisa, a mute cleaning woman in a government research facility discovers the strange creature from South America, curiosity gets the better of her and they develop a strong bond during his captivity. The bond soon turns to love, and she plots to help him escape before the government can use him for fatal experimentation.