It's no secret that creature features are one of the most beloved film genres of all time, with titles like Jaws and Jurassic Park winning Academy Awards and ranking in ‘Greatest Films of All Time’ lists everywhere.
Despite often being somewhat-cheesy, and not always aging well, there is something comforting and familiar, across generations, in seeing big stars fight big CGI animals, aliens and sea beasts.
‘Tremors’ (1990)
Kevin Bacon stars as Val Mckee – a handyman who has grown tired of his small town and decides to leave along with his friend Earl (Fred Ward). This western-come-comedy-horror follows the two as they discover that the locals are being killed by a mysterious predator that appears to strike its victims from below ground.
On horseback, Val and Earl search for help and come across Rhonda (Finn Carter)– an expert in earthquakes and related phenomena. The trio, along with survivalists Heather (Reba McEntire) and Gummer (Michael Gross), must then fight for survival against what they name ‘The Graboids’.
‘Arachnophobia’ (1990)
In Venezuela, a nature photographer is bitten by a venomous spider that quickly kills him. Unbeknownst to his colleagues, and his family awaiting him back home, his body is returned to America with the spider trapped in tow.
When the spider escapes the other end, it mates with a house spider which begins to spawn hundreds of deadly clones. Slowly but surely, the town becomes infested with the lethal creatures, and it's up to arachnophobe Ross (Jeff Daniels) to destroy them.
‘Anaconda’ (1997)
Jennifer Lopez stars as Film Director Terry Flores, as she leads her crew into the Amazon to shoot a documentary on the Shirishamas – an indigenous tribe. When snake hunter Paul Serone (Jon Voight) offers to help with their mission, the crew are cautious but accept.
Their mistake becomes obvious when Paul takes over their boat, and it is revealed that Paul is actually a hunter on the search for a giant green anaconda. Soon, everyone's lives are in danger as the snake begins to strike!
‘Eight-legged Freaks’ (2002)
In the small mining town of Prosperity, a number of insects are exposed to toxic waste. A local spider-lover feeds the infected bugs to his collection of arachnids, causing them to grow to a terrifying size with a hunger for more than just crickets and grasshoppers.
When Chris (David Arquette) returns to the town to stop the mayor from selling the mine that his father owned, he comes face to face with the giant spiders that are eating their way through the residents. Banding together with Sheriff Sam Parker (Kari Wuhrer), Chris must find a way to battle against the Eight-Legged Freaks.
‘The Host’ (2006)
When a giant amphibious creature emerges from the Han River and snatches snack-bar owner Park Gang-du's (Song Kang-ho) daughter Hyun-seo (Ko Asung), he and his remaining family are placed into quarantine for civilians who were nearby the attack. The Government and American Military believe that the creature has a fatal virus, and the family believes that Hyun-seo is dead.
However, when Gang-du receives a phone call from Hyun-seo and realises she has just been kidnapped to the sewers by the creature, he and his family plan to escape quarantine and rescue her. The premise may not be rooted in reality, but the authenticity of the familial bonds at the heart of The Host is enough to make it one of the best monster movies of the 21st century so far.
‘Snakes on a Plane’ (2006)
FBI agent Neville Flynn (Samuel L Jackson) is tasked with escorting Sean Jones (Nathan Phillips) to Los Angeles to testify in court after he is witness to a murder ordered by Mob Boss Eddie Kim (Byron Lawson). In order to stop Jones’ appearance in court, Kim arranges for a time-release crate of deadly snakes to board the plane, and for all the passengers to be sprayed with a substance that causes the snakes to become particularly vicious.
As the cabin is invaded by the killer reptiles, and the pilots are attacked, Agent Flynn must find a way to eradicate the snakes, protect his witness and the passengers, and ultimately land the plane safely.
‘Rogue’ (2007)
When Pete (Michael Vartan) joins a sightseeing trip down a river in Australia, he meets Captain Kate (Radha Mitchell) and a small group of tourists. On their expedition, they bump into two locals causing trouble for Kate, but when she later sees a flare go up in the distance, her conscience will not allow it to be ignored in case the men are in need of help.
In search of who set off the flare, the boat crashes and the group ends up stranded on a small piece of land where the water is rising at a rapid pace. Drowning isn’t the only issue they face though – there is a giant man-eating crocodile circling them ready to strike, and if they don’t find a way to escape the island soon, they’re dead.
‘Zombeavers’ (2014)
A film that is as ridiculous as it sounds, Zombeavers follows a group of college students as they head out to a lakeside cabin for the summer. Little do they know, the lake has been polluted by toxic waste, and the beavers that live there have been infected.
The group is attacked by beavers that have died and come back to life with a hunger for human flesh! Nothing suits the ‘Movies so bad they’re good’ genre better than this.
‘47 Meters Down Uncaged’ (2019)
Four teenage girls ignore warnings against diving in a ruined underwater city. When the ruins are mistakenly disturbed the group finds themselves trapped with a rapidly-decreasing oxygen supply and a hoard of deadly great white sharks.
It’s rare, but sometimes a sequel can far outweigh the fun of its predecessor. Despite a smaller scale release and a less prominent cast, 47 Meters Down Uncaged is an absolute riot – tense, frightening, violent, and over-the-top in all the right ways.