In Continuum.

So, Godzilla the monster rose out from the sea, right, and he tore through the city like bowling ball through a miniature science project made of ice cream sticks. He goes on a rampage through the city streets, in between office buildings, destroying all the roads and the cars and the street lamps and the apartments, usually for no apparent reasons at all. The pitiful little human beings would be running for their lives, trying to escape the burning city - usually Tokyo - to safety. The military would be engaged most of the time to stop this beast from destroying the rest of Japan, but it is usually to no avail. Godzilla is usually too strong for us humans, and he'd just step over the tanks and then swallow the fighter jets. After all, nobody can destroy the radioactive lizard from the sea, unless it is some alien monster from outer space, or some other radioactive monster from the sea. This is usually when another monster comes into play, another monster flying in from the clouds to destroy even more apartment and office buildings. They'd usually hate each others' guts, and they'd start blasting energy waves at each other. Then they'd go into a brawl, and we all know what happens when two really fat drunk men fight in a tiny bar - total annihilation. 

Though, to say that he rampaged through the city would be an over-statement, somewhat, since he usually moves at the speed of molasses. He doesn't move very fast most of the time, and I never really got to know why as a child. Now that I have grown up, though, he probably moved at that speed because if he moved any faster, the miniature set of the city would have been destroyed too quickly. It was, after all, filmed in the studios, and you really only have so much space to begin with. Of course the man in the giant zip-up costume moved that slowly, because it was all for economical reasons. Or maybe it was also because he couldn't really see through the rubber mask, and that is why he threaded his way carefully. Even his enemies never moved very fast either, which makes their ultimate showdown rather amusing to watch. Two giant lizards, pissed off at each other, takes the longest time to dash towards each other. It's ridiculous now that I think about it, but I enjoyed it as a child anyway. I was a fan of the monster movies, any by that I mean anything that wasn't human. I started from those cheap Godzilla movies back from the 70s and the 80s, and then even one of the later ones they made in the 90s. I even bought the Godzilla toy figurines in Taiwan, because I was such a fan. 

I suppose I just have a love for destruction, to see little plastic buildings crumble to the ground. Godzilla was known as the King of Monsters, and I suppose it isn't far fetched to have such a claim. Yet, there has been a lot of other movie monster which I'd prefer over our giant lizard friend. Most monster movies are pretty lousy though, and that has been the case for the most part. Good monster movies don't come by very often, though humans still harbor the secret love to see everything that they know being pulled down by a single mighty swoop. I was just reading a list of the most "half-assed" movie monsters ever to hit the silver screen, and let's just say that you can't help but lose faith in the genre of movie monster. That list only feature five monsters, but I am sure there are a lot more of them out there. You know, the kind of monsters that make you want to put your palm to your face and then give a loud sigh. We have the Gingerbread Man, a bed that eats people, a machine that eats people, a lift that kills people, and giant furry monster bunnies (who are really cute). There are a lot of movies out there that are as bad or worse than the above described monsters. I suppose it really goes to show how horrendous the genre is. 

To me, the genre can sometimes be a guilty pleasure though. I mean, I love my war, my dramas, my romance, my comedies, so on and so forth. But once in a while, you really want to give a monster flick a shot, because they are just fun. By monster, though, they need not be bigger than a car for the most part, because they could be small and still cause a lot of damage. The Gremlins is probably one of my greatest guilty pleasure, knowing that small furry animal could "give birth" to many other disgusting versions of itself, once water is applied. Everybody loved that little furry thing, and I even have a childhood friend that looks somewhat like it. Then for one reason or another, water always somehow finds its way onto its skin, and all hell will break lose. Humans are usually the victims in this case, and I loved the Gremlins movies. My favorite parts are almost always the transformations, especially when you are dealing with monsters that transform from one form to another. Like the protagonist in The Fly, when he transforms from a human being to a human fly. Bonus points if the movie uses minimal computer generated effects, and more on old school make-ups and animatronics. That movies was positively disgusting, but that's what a monster movie should be. 

I was asked in class the other day, if there was a movie I watched in childhood that disturbed me. It was Bob that asked me the question, and I mentioned to the class that the second Aliens movie really made me uncomfortable. I'd like to change my answer now though, but I will mention which other movie tops Aliens in terms of how much it disturbed me. You know, the scene from Aliens when the little alien bursted out of the chest of that poor woman, and she had to be torched to death and stuff. I've always preferred the xenomorphs though, over the Predator aliens somehow. I mean, just look at the xenomorphs, they are probably the most powerful alien life form every to be conceived for the medium. It's just the perfect killing machine, with that curious little mouth in that ferocious big mouth. Then we have the tail that cuts everything into half, and then the fact that it is covered in natural armor. Even if you shoot at it with a bullet, the acidic blood would probably burn your skin and, in turn, kill you. It doesn't get anymore awesome-er than that. I've never had much lover for the Predator though, probably because of all the weapons that it uses to defeat its enemies. You know, all the laser beams and the knifes and the blades, it just makes them less of a movie monster and more like a really pissed off E.T. I've never liked the Predator aliens, and no prizes for guessing who I rooted for in the Alien Vs. Predator movies. 

So, I prefer the xenomorphs over the predator aliens, though most people would disagree with me. I really only know of one other person who agrees, though I don't exactly mind, considering how special it makes me feel about myself. Anyway, perhaps I just love the idea of a whole colony of xenomorphs, kinda like a whole colony of really ferocious ants. Though, I must say, the way that they reproduce is just a little stupid and inefficient. I mean, you have a queen to lay all the legs, and then the face huggers come out and they supposedly attach themselves to a life form while they plant the seed into its body, right? And then the seed becomes an miniature xenomorph, and it bursts out of the chest. So, what happens when you don't have human beings just standing around for the face huggers anyway, what happens then? The movie next actually explained that, and it is something which just doesn't make any sense at all. Anyhow, I still love the Alien movies, even the one that everybody loves to hate - Alien Resurrection. I mean, the xenomorphs learned to swim in that movie, and it doesn't get any better than that. 

Now, moving on to bigger creatures. I love Godzilla, and even the American version was a childhood favorite of mine. With that said, though, there isn't a big market for big monster movies anymore. Cloverfield last year came out and made quite a killing at the box office. But let's admit it, that movie really wasn't very good, and the monster itself appeared for about ten minutes at best, all blurry and shaky via the handheld camera of the protagonist. The monster design was strange, and I really couldn't feel the adrenaline rush that I usually get from giant monster movies. I mean, the monster comes in the form of loud roars most of the time, for the majority of the movie. You don't see it very often, and supposedly it was done on purpose to give the audience a sense of mystery. But then again, this is a movie about a giant movie monster, what mystery do you need? Godzilla, the Japanese version, was upfront about what it was and what it did. It was a giant radioactive lizard that liked to smash things and blow things apart with its radioactive heat wave. That was it, and it has a small cult following of fans around the world because of that. Given the circumstance, the classic Godzilla would probably blow the Cloverfield monster out of the waters and into outer space. Hell, it already did so with the American Godzilla, I am sure Cloverfield's not going to be too big a challenge. 

So, drum roll, the greatest movie monster in my opinion - The Thing. Yes, the thing is called The Thing, and we are talking about the 1982 movie by John Carpenter. That movie probably has the most repulsive movie monster in human history. This monster can transform into anything he wants, and you can't exactly kill it unless you burn it with a flamethrower or blow it up with a dynamite, or something. As a scene in the film clearly portrayed, the thing is able to turn into a completely functional life form by itself even if you cut its head off. In one of the scenes, the thing gets torched by Kurt Russell on a surgery table, and the head separates itself from the body and then turns into this alien spider thing. You really have to see it to believe, and I think it is one of the greatest monster movie ever. Hell, make it one of the best movies ever made. No computer generated effects here, and everything is make up and animatronics. It doesn't get any better than old school filmmaking like that. The Thing still makes me feel uncomfortable, and the fact that the characters were trapped in some Antarctic laboratory makes it even more creepy. The blood testing scene is, in my humble opinion, one of the most tensed up scenes I have ever, ever, ever, witnessed. 

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