Note: Ten favorite monsters, part seven. Part six. To be clear, do to past confusion, these are not lists of monsters I’d bang. Adult-content creator =/= turned-on 24/7. ._. Sometimes I just like to talk about character design and review media I like.
I pretty much like every kind of dragon, from friendly to terrifying. If we’re going off of scary, my favorite’s maybe from The Mists of Avalon. A lot of my fave monsters are literary, but don’t have official art. :(
1. Cat in the Hat from The Cat in the Cat
The Cat in the Hat’s more enjoyable if you view it as demonic horror. There’s a lot of elements I like. Quirky architecture, jokes that go over kids’ heads, goofy magic companion, fun costumes. Yet it’s not a good movie, even by my standards. Audrey Geisel was so disgusted by it, any plans for future live-action adaptations of Theodor’s works were nixed.
I’m kind of glad TCITH was the bad live-action, early ‘00s Seuss movie instead of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Imagine how horrifying they could have made the Grinch.
2-4. “Girly girl” dragons
- Barbie As Rapunzel: I have the Penelope plushie, whose design I actually prefer to the movie’s.
- Dragon Tales: Before FIM Fluttershy, Cassie was THE shy pink and yellow creature. Dragon Land’s just one of various portal fantasy realms I wanted to visit so badly as a tot. Still do.
- Raya and the Last Dragon: People were way critical of Sisu’s design, calling it Elsa’s scalesona. Like Disney hasn’t reused/referenced old designs, jokingly or not. Not that their human(oid) designs are always unique… But Ghibli gets more leniency in that regard. (Haku’s a great dragon design, btw.)
5. the Moving Finger from Nightmares & Dreamscapes
Horror doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.
6. Jean Jacket from Nope
Take elements of UFOlogy, meteorology, marine biology, and animal exploitation, then produce the most terrifying movie monster ever.
7. Stuff from The Stuff
Metaphor for frozen yogurt? Diet food craze?
8. Scary Lion from The Teletubbies
A good example of how audio can determine whether something is cute or terrifying.
9. Wild Things from Where the Wild Things Are
One elementary art class, we got to make our own chimeric Wild Things. Wish I knew where mine was. They’re grotesque, like to party, and actually pretty wholesome.
10. subway station from The Wiz
The Wiz is an interesting localization of The (Wonderful) Wizard of Oz. Garland!Dorothy is taken from Kansas to a mostly unfamiliar fantastical land. (I say “mostly,” because some of the Ozians have Kansan counterparts.) Ross!Dorothy is taken from NYC to fantastical NYC.
Originally, I considered using the book Kalidahs ‘cause I love mix-’n’-match critters. Then I watched this scene. That and the Munchkins coming out of graffiti like ghosts out of chalk outlines was oneiric as fuck. Anyway, the station isn’t just a liminal space, but another architectural monster. The train itself never appears, but we see trash bins and columns advance on Dorothy and co. There’s seemingly non-automated gates and prehensile electrical wires. Also, that peddler with his growing marionettes…
Note: The pic for “The Moving Finger” is actually from the show Monsters, but I only found out it was adapted after deciding to include it. Nightmares & Dreamscapes has one of my favorite covers, even if it’s deceptive. No scarecrow stories.
Unfortunately, the last gif can’t convey the awesome liminal horror that is the Ozified Hoyt–Schermerhorn Streets station. Fun fact, it was also used in The Warriors.
“The Wild Things themselves are simultaneously horrid and silly, giant babies once we get to know them, their claws and fangs and sickly yellow eyes notwithstanding; their anxious faces betray fears of their own. Appropriately enough, since they are in some sense Max’s creations, they are monsters with the souls of children.” -Wild Things: The Joy of Reading Children’s Literature As an Adult by Bruce Handy
(I disagree with a lot of Handy’s criticism in that book so far, but what an adorable description.)