When Animals Attack: Horror's Most Blood-Curdling Beasts

Think evil spirits and haunted houses are the only things you need to worry about? Think again! Here's a collection of horror-movie animals you'll definitely want to keep away from...

The Story:

This is one of the few movies in this gallery that slants more toward actually being scary than gimmicky. The 1975 classic directed by Steven Spielberg made movie watchers think twice about stepping into the ocean or on board a small boat with a crude, limerick-spouting Robert Shaw.

Best Quote:

"You're gonna need a bigger boat."

The Story:

The horror-thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson became an Internet phenomenon in 2006, but failed to translate to much box office success, topping out at $62 million in grosses.

Best Quote:

"Enough is enough! I have had it with these motherf***ing snakes on this motherf***ing plane!"

The Story:

What's worse than a regular ole tornado? How about one that sucks up sharks from the ocean and drops them down on a bunch of actors reciting horrible dialogue? This Syfy insta-classic was a breakout hit on the cable channel and spawned a sequel (with more on the way).

Best Quote:

"We can't just wait here for sharks to rain down on us!"

The Story:

This 1980 monster movie finds Robert Forster trying to hunt down a giant alligator in the sewers of Chicago. Wait, what?! Apparently, Ramon the alligator was flushed down the toilet as a baby and grew into a gargantuan monster by eating the corpses of laboratory animals who had undergone dubious hormone experiments.

Best Quote:

"It lives 50 feet below the city, it's 36 feet long and weighs 2,000 pounds... and it's about to break out!"

The Story:

Featuring an all-star cast of Jennifer Lopez, Ice Cube, Jon Voight and Owen Wilson, this 1997 adventure-horror, while critically panned, managed to scare up $136 million at the box office and spawn three sequels.

Best Quote:

"This river can kill you, in a thousand ways."

The Story:

John Goodman stars in this 1990 comedy-horror about a newly discovered species of Venezuelan spider that manages to find its way to a small American town and breed with a common house spider. The new crossbred species begins to wreak havoc on the town... and it's gonna take more than a can of Raid to bring these suckers down.

Best Quote:

"The itsy-bitsy spider crawled up the water spout; down came the rain and washed the spider out."

The Story:

Shot entirely in the jungles of Thailand, Blood Monkey finds a group of six students studying primates in Africa under the demented Professor Hamilton. They find themselves under attack from bloodthirsty primates in the jungle. This movie was the first of 20 films in the "ManEater Series."

Best Quote:

"In the jungle, no one can hear you scream."

The Story:

Based on a play by the same name, this 2007 psychological horror-thriller movie finds Ashley Judd as a waitress living in a rundown motel in Oklahoma. Paranoia ensues as Michael Shannon's Peter Evans believes there's a bug implanted in his tooth. After he pulls the tooth out, their actions become increasingly erratic, culminating with the pair dousing themselves in gasoline and lighting themselves on fire.

Best Quote:

"The place is crawling with these things!"

The Story:

Not exactly an animal and yet not exactly human, C.H.U.D. features mutated vagrants who live in the sewers of New York City. The acronym stands for "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dweller," although "Contamination Hazard Urban Disposal" is also mentioned in the movie.

Best Quote:

"Are you kidding? Your guy's got a camera. Mine's got a flamethrower!"

The Story:

While chasing a rabbit, Cujo gets his head stuck in a limestone cave and is bitten by a bat. Now infected with rabies, the St. Bernard goes on a neighborhood killing spree. Needless to say, it's going to take more than some dog biscuits and chew toys to sedate this raging pup...

Best Quote:

"Cujo?... Oh my God, you're rabid!... NO CUJO!! NO!!"

The Story:

Starring David Arquette and an 18-year-old Scarlett Johannson, Freaks follows a collection of spiders that are exposed to toxic waste, causing them to grow to gigantic proportions and begin killing and harvesting.

Best Quote:

"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean people aren't following me."

The Story:

From the director of Spawn comes the story of genetically engineered fish in the Louisiana bayou. The movie ultimately boils down to a fight for survival with the voracious predators slowly picking off the humans.

Best Quote:

"So I guess we're having fillet of swamp monster."

The Story:

Brought back to life in 3D in 2010, the original Pirahna was produced by the legendary Roger Corman. His 1978 comedy-horror featured the same premise as the recent 3D gore-fest remake, with a swarm of hungry piranha attacking the young and dumb vacationers at a summer resort and, in the forgettable sequel, a converted water park.

Best Quote:

"People eat fish, Grogan. Fish don't eat people!"

The Story:

An 18-foot tall, man-eating grizzly bear is terrorizing a national forest and he's not looking for "pick-a-nic" baskets. Considered to be a rip-off of Jaws, this 1975 horror movie earned $40 million worldwide on a $750,000 budget. In 1983, an unreleased sequel was shot starring George Clooney and Charlie Sheen.

Best Quote:

"If ya feel a wet snout in ya face, whatever you do, don't move. And don't kiss it back 'cause it ain't me."

The Story:

A pair of entrepreneurs with more bravery than brains hit upon the idea of blood surfing: spreading chum in the water in order to attract sharks, then hopping on a surfboard and riding through the middle of the pack. As they're filming their promotional documentary, the fun gets interrupted by a 30-foot long salt water crocodile that begins snacking on everyone in the expedition.

Best Quote:

"Blood surfing... it's new, it's extreme, it's deadly!"

The Story:

This horror-comedy written by David E. Kelley features Bill Pullman, Bridget Fonda and Oliver Platt (among others) coming face-to-face with a massive crocodile that has decided to live in Lake Placid, New York.

Best Quote:

"I will NOT calm down! This is the second time I've been hit with a severed head and I DON'T LIKE IT!"

The Story:

Members of a college swim team take anabolic steroids to enhance their performance. While on a day trip to a local lake, a couple of the members pick up some leeches, which feed on the steroids in their blood. The leeches end up washed down a shower drain, where they grow to enormous size and return for more feedings. And, well, you can pretty much figure out the rest from there.

Best Quote:

"These things will bleed you dry!"

The Story:

One of Guillermo del Toro's early horror films finds Mira Sorvino as a doctor who created a genetically modified insect that killed cockroaches infected with a virulent disease. But now that the roaches are all gone, the insects are out to destroy their only predator: humans!

Best Quote:

"They mimic us. We mimic them."

The Story:

Surrrre, they look all cute and huggable, but that's just what these killer rabbits want you to think! Then, when you least expect it, they attack! This 1972 sci-fi horror is so over the top that only the National Guard (and a group of drive-in theater patrons) can take down this band of killer rabbits.

Best Quote:

"Attention! Attention! Ladies and gentlemen, attention! There is a herd of killer rabbits headed this way and we desperately need your help!"

The Story:

Captain Nolan catches marine animals to pay off his boat's mortgage. His crew is looking for a great white shark for a local aquarium, but a scientist named Ken (Robert Carradine) is being targeted by the shark. A killer whale kills the shark, saving Ken, and switching Nolan's target to the killer whale.

Best Quote:

"It is known that they have great memory and even after many years they will always remember the human being who has tried to harm them."

The Story:

More a story about haunting spirits than animals, Pet Semetary, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name, does feature Church the cat, who is killed by a semi truck, but then brought back to life as a killer kitty. The subsequent sequel featuring a killer dog failed to scare up much money at the box office, despite a then all-star cast of Anthony Edwards and Edward Furlong.

Best Quote:

"Go on, lay down, play dead, be dead!"

The Story:

The poster pretty much sums it up, although the creatures on the next page are probably the worst way to go. Rattlers features a bunch of rattlesnakes who have been poisoned in the desert with nerve gas thanks to military experimentation. Naturally, they decide to attack humans and it's up to Sam Chew Jr. to save the day!

Best Quote:

"They're waiting to slither you!"

The Story:

It's Robo-dog! The movie follows a prisoner named Dante (William Miller) on the run from a Rottweiler, which has been beaten at a young age and is out for gruesome revenge as it becomes an indestructible cyborg. You might prefer the cooler Japanese title for this movie even more - Terminator 2018.

Best Quote:

"There is only the hunter and the hunted."

The Story:

Admittedly, getting killed by a swarm of slugs is a pretty lame way to meet your maker. But when it's a strain of black slugs spawned from a toxic waste dump, well then... yeah, it's still a pretty lame way to go.

Best Quote:

"You don't have the authority to declare happy birthday!"

The Story:

An action-horror movie inspired by the Samuel L.Jackson plane flick, this version features more violence and gore and includes supernatural elements for added scares.

Best Quote:

"We have a runaway train. I repeat. We have a runaway train."

The Story:

Easily the worst way to go, Squirm begins with a freak storm that causes the power lines of Fly Creek, Georgia to collapse and surge thousands of jolts of electricity into the rain-soaked soil. This disruption causes the inhabitants of the soil, a mass of common worms, to go berserk. They attack the locals by infesting in their heads and eating their brains.

Best Quote:

"You gonna be da' worm face!"

The Story:

This 1978 movie about a killer bee invasion of Texas features Fred MacMurray in his final role. Michael Caine spends the movie trying to figure out why the bees are clustered together while trying to dissuade the miltary from attacking the bees.

Best Quote:

"By tomorrow there will be no more Africans... at least not in the Houston sector."

The Story:

The 1955 sci-fi horror movie follows a tarantula kept in an isolated desert labratory that experiments with giantism. The spider breaks loose, grows super huge and attacks the locals. This film is probably most notable now for the appearance of a 25-year-old Clint Eastwood. We all gotta start somehwere, right?

Best Quote:

"The desert... it gives people wonderful ideas!"

The Story:

Alfred Hitchcock's classic about a massive flock of birds overtaking a town and tormenting Tippi Hedren won the Best Special Effects Oscar for 1964 and earned Hedren the "Most Promising Newcomer - Female" Golden Globe. Hitchcock, known for his superb use of music, shows us how terrifying silence can be.

Best Quote:

"Why are they doing this? They said when you got here, the whole thing started. Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? I think you're the cause of all this. I think you're evil! EVIL!"

The Story:

It's going to take more than a giant fly swatter to bring this guy down! This 1958 movie about the atoms of a fly and a man merging together led to two sequels, a 1986 remake starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis, and an opera loosely based on the movies.

Best Quote:

"You've commited murder just as much as Helene did. You killed a fly with a human head. She killed a human with a fly head."

The Story:

Once again hitting on the theme of nuclear testing in the desert, this time mankind is facing an onslaught from giant irradiated ants. Released in 1954, Them! was the very first "big-bug" movie ever made.

Best Quote:

"THEM! THEM! THEM!"

The Story:

Tara Reid and Corbin Bersen are tracking some vipers that have gone missing and are raising hell in the jungle. What could possibly go wrong?

Best Quote:

"Homeland Security? This isn't terrorism, these are snakes!"

The Story:

A remake of the 1971 version with more emphasis on suspense, Willard stars Crispin Glover (George McFly from Back to the Future) as a young man who has an unusual connection with rats and uses them to cause psychopathic chaos.

Best Quote:

"Willard! There are rats in the basement!"