The 2014 version of Godzilla, directed by Gareth Edwards, stomps onto home video this week, which means it's a good time to cast a critical eye on other recent, reimagined movie monsters. Let's start with the most obvious target.
Godzilla (1998)
Roland Emmerich, hot off Stargate and Independence Day, seemed like a great choice to make a modern version of the legendary Japanese movie, but he wasn't able to nail down the right tone and the monster wasn't as big or as horrible as most fans demanded.
Pacific Rim (2013)
This is more like it! Guillermo del Toro unleashes gigantic, monstrous creatures from beneath the sea to wreck, well, the Pacific Rim, which devastates hundreds of thousands of people. The only possibility of survival? Giant robots, of course.
Grabbers (2012)
This Irish independent gem expertly married giant monster mayhem with raucous bar humor, resulting in a rollicking, surprising, yet still frightening adventure.
Trollhunter (2010)
What's that you say? You're not afraid of little trolls? How about a giant troll, one whose appetite for human flesh is as big as his body?
Cloverfield (2008)
The monster, big as a skyscraper, strikes suddenly and without warning, carving a huge trail of destruction throughout Manhattan that will never be forgotten.
The Host (2006)
Although Korean filmmaker Bong Joon-ho included comic relief in his horror picture, the focus remains resolutely on the monster, a horrifying creature that doesn't hesitate to treat children the same as adults, i.e. as a source of food.
Dragon Wars: D-War (2007)
This adaptation of a Korean legend plays like a variation on Japanese monster movies, with a giant dragon wrecking havoc upon modern-day Los Angeles.
Anaconda (1997)
Jon Voight is a hunter obsessed with tracking down a legendary snake that supposedly lives in the Amazon River. He commandeers a documentary TV crew to achieve his goal, which means that Jennifer Lopez and Ice Cube end up fighting for their lives against a giant creature that can swallow a man whole.
Jurassic Park (1993)
Steven Spielberg's dinosaur classic is a must-see for horror fans, providing far more suspense and thrills, if less explicit bloodshed, than might be expected. If you doubt that, just look again at the scene where two children are trapped in a Jeep at night, terrorized by a Tyrannosaurus rex.
What's your favorite big, horrible movie monster?
