Discovery Channel has Shark Week. I want Nuketown to have a Monster Week. I thought about doing this last summer, but simply didn’t have the time with Luke having just been born. This time around though, I really want to due it.
The idea is that for one week, Nuketown will be all monsters, all the time. I’ll have written reviews of seven classic modern era monster movies, some editorials on what makes a good monster movie, reviews of a monster book or two, links to monster goodness around the web, a DVD-style commentary track for one lucky film, and perhaps an “Actual Play” session featuring adventurers battling some monstrous horror using the Savage Worlds rules. It’ll be an homage to the creature features of old … but focusing on flicks released after 1975.
My question for you all is what monster movies and books should I review? My criteria is pretty basic: the movie has to have been released after Jaws, and should focus on a true monster: no serial killers, no supernatural boogymen. Just good old teeth, slime and gore. I’m looking to span a variety of settings and environments, from oceans to deserts to deep space and to pick films that either establish or play with the archetypes of the genre.
The Movies
Here’s my tentative movie list, but note I’m more than willing to add/drop movies based on reader suggestions
- Alien
- Jaws
- Slither
- Tremors
- The Thing
- Deep Rising
- Predator
The Books
Books are harder, partly because I haven’t been reading much horror lately, and partly because you don’t see many creature features in novel form (or at least, I haven’t seen many). At this moment, nothing’s much is coming to mind, so please give me your suggestions!
- It by Stephen King