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[levyjl1988]

Just watched this youtube video:


and couldn't agree more, all the monster designs, whether it be on TV and video games all feel the same.
Nothing strikes me as a different or inspired look.

It's true when you don't see the monster on screen your imagination does all the brainstorming on how terrifying it is, but when you see it in person it becomes somewhat of a disappointment.

Are there any monster designs that you feel are different from the typical things you see?

 

[ClanOfNone]

Ah, another thread for me to pimp Oats Studios excellent short film Zygote. It is a homage to The Thing, and the monster design is horrifying in an awesome way.

 

[AJUMP23]

I want my monsters friendly and non threatening.

 

[Cravis]

I want my monsters friendly and non threatening.

 

[thefool]

 

[ultrazilla]

Totally agree. While the iconic ALIEN design by HR Giger is the ultimate creature design ever made, other special effects studios
and artists all tend to base their monster designs on ALIEN and show very little originality.

I'm always down for a great monster design and here's a few:

The "White Spikes" creature design from "The Tomorrow War" movie which I highly recommend. Fucking awesome design!

Upcoming creature design "tease" from "Antlers" movie:

"The Ritual" movie creature:

Those are some really original IMO creature designs from 3 different films. Cheers!

 

[Kenpachii]

Don't really see the problem here. Some have the same kind of monsters but that's about it.

 

[Pagusas]

Totally agree. While the iconic ALIEN design by HR Giger is the ultimate creature design ever made, other special effects studios
and artists all tend to base their monster designs on ALIEN and show very little originality.

I'm always down for a great monster design and here's a few:

The "White Spikes" creature design from "The Tomorrow War" movie which I highly recommend. Fucking awesome design!

Upcoming creature design "tease" from "Antlers" movie:

"The Ritual" movie creature:

Those are some really original IMO creature designs from 3 different films. Cheers!

All those examples look like the same tired stuff as always still. I think the problem is lack of any sort of grounding. Nothing about any of those creatures posted make me think they can live in any world but the imagination. The scariest monsters to me are the ones that feel like they could exist, that obey the laws of nature or physics and some how still make you fear them.

 

[TheDreadBaron]

Remember when it was just guys in rubber suits?

 

[AJUMP23]

Remember when it was just guys in rubber suits?

I do

 

[MaestroMike]

what makes a monster a monster?? monsters gotta eat can't hate on them if they like to eat humans we like to eat cows and chickens they probably think we're monsters

 

[Revolutionary]

Remember when it was just guys in rubber suits?

It still is sometimes...

See Neil Blomkamp's newest movie lol

 

[PSYGN]

I think the Japanese are great at this part.

 

[Heimdall_Xtreme]

I think the Japanese are great at this part.

Great and originals.

 

[Burning Blade]

I thought Arrival did a good job with their aliens.

 

[poppabk]

Edge of tomorrow designs still stand out. The rank and file monsters I can't even say what they look like, they move and act in a manner that is alien, and there weird time skip movements link in with the overall idea of the species. Even the more generic panther like one kind of moves by 'flowing' to new locations.

 

[Spukc]

I thought Arrival did a good job with their aliens.

This is one of the most realistic alien encounter movies imo

excellent pick sir mister gentleman bro

 

[Fbh]

Not sure if it falls into the same category, but while it's not the most crazy of designs I think the bear monster from Annihilation was one of the more upsetting and memorable monsters from recent years

Though to be fair it was more because of the audio design than the visual design.

 

[AJUMP23]

I thought Arrival did a good job with their aliens.

These aliens were interesting and I think really added to the story with their design.

 

[Keihart]

Edge of tomorrow designs still stand out. The rank and file monsters I can't even say what they look like, they move and act in a manner that is alien, and there weird time skip movements link in with the overall idea of the species. Even the more generic panther like one kind of moves by 'flowing' to new locations.

Perfect example of why monsters in movies all feel the same, Edge of Tomorrow movie has such a crap visual design comparing it to the source material, the mecha suits and the monsters have really distinctive silhouettes in the manga but in the movie it's all undescriptive stuff.

 

[carlosrox]

Return of the Living Dead's Tarman is one of the GOAT.

(Bonus fun fact: ROTLD invented the entire "BRAINS" thing for Zombies)

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

 

[Clear]

Part of the issue is that when you make a monster in CG you can basically make it do anything and use it extensively, which means it not only has to be somewhat functional in terms of movement, but as a consequence is going to be seen from many angles.

This is bad.

A key component of fear is the unknown and unknowable. The mystique of Lovecraft's elder gods was based on the idea that these were beings barely glimpsed and even then in only in part due their cosmic scale.

What you really want is a monster that looks like something you've never seen when viewed from a certain angle. If you show it in whole the viewer's mind will map its physiology onto something familiar (like a man in a rubber suit) and rob it of its mystique.

You can see this in Giger's alien design and how Ridley Scott shot it for the bulk of Alien. The focus and framing isolated the least familiar elements; the mouth-within-the-mouth, the phallic skull shape, the twisted spine/horn things on the back, the biomechanoid textures etc. The one time we see the thing in full (apart from the climax) is when Ripley is trying to escape the ship and practically runs into it in a corridor, and there the creature is shown in only briefly, and then hidden by flash alarm lights, smoke, camera jitter, and most importantly posed statically.

Of course when Ripley ejects it into space we do get to see it as a whole and... yeah. The jig is up. And that's a hell of a thing considering how inspired and unique Giger's artistic sensibilities are, it makes you realize that no amount of design genius can get you past bad staging.

 

[Dr.Morris79]

Return of the Living Dead's Tarman is one of the GOAT.

(Bonus fun fact: ROTLD invented the entire "BRAINS" thing for Zombies)

Good god! A mate and me were hooked on this shite in the early 90's, couldnt get enough of it. Always down Volume 1 book shop checking out the horror VHS section, being under age and getting the girl in school with the massive hooters to buy us them as she looked older

.."Your brains, so spicy!"

.."Okay, no more brains, FOR NOW!"

 

[Loke]

The Thing still has one of the most memorable monster designs in any horror movie IMO.

 

[Ballthyrm]

I want my monsters friendly and non threatening.

 

[joedan]

Perfect example of why monsters in movies all feel the same, Edge of Tomorrow movie has such a crap visual design comparing it to the source material, the mecha suits and the monsters have really distinctive silhouettes in the manga but in the movie it's all undescriptive stuff.

I like the Edge of Tomorrow movie monster design.

I don't think the manga version would have looked good on film

 

[ClanOfNone]

Edge of Tomorrow Manga aliens look like the Langoliers, I can dig it.

 

[Spaceman292]

Perfect example of why monsters in movies all feel the same, Edge of Tomorrow movie has such a crap visual design comparing it to the source material, the mecha suits and the monsters have really distinctive silhouettes in the manga but in the movie it's all undescriptive stuff.

Those are just anime langoliers bro. They look dumb. The movie creatures are so much more interesting.

 

[Whitecrow]

This is how I imagine monsters

Spoiler

Or better...

Spoiler

 

[Scotty W]

Strange that among the infinite shapes and forms of horror, they are bounded by a strange finitude, as though there was a limit in infinity. Whatever surpasses this limit draws this limit after, and loses its power to shock. There is no transcendence for the representable.

 

[StormCell]

This is how I imagine monsters

Spoiler

Or better...

Spoiler

Can we trap that second one on an island and open a sight-seeing park around it?

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Annihilation definitely had some cool designs.

I also thought that Chris Pratt movie had interesting monsters...

 

[triplestation]

i guess designs can look copy pasted

but also the behaviors of monster designs feel copy pasted

you always know what to expect

if you are faced with a dangerous creature in the real world there is a feeling of unpredictability

shark won't come at you straight away

even if the monster is fierce there is also an element of cautiousness

motherfucker wants to eat you but it also is concerned for it's own safety

movie production should take a much closer look at the behaviors of predatory animals because if mimicked correctly i think it will make for a properly suspenseful experience

 

[BouncyFrag]

 

[Kamina]

 

[Patrick S.]

I loved the monster in Cloverfield.

 

[QuantumZebra]

Perfect example of why monsters in movies all feel the same, Edge of Tomorrow movie has such a crap visual design comparing it to the source material, the mecha suits and the monsters have really distinctive silhouettes in the manga but in the movie it's all undescriptive stuff.

God what an awesome movie, but I agree the monster design had the "Michael Bay Transformers" vibe going... I literally had to squint to see wtf was going on w/ them.

I loved the monster in Cloverfield.

Wtf happened with the sequel? I really liked it, a lot. Are they going to make a third? The second film seemed like they were setting up an alien invasion monster-verse.

 

[Husky]

Guys. Don't tell him about the third Cloverfield.

 

[nkarafo]

The worst thing about movie/videogame monsters is that they all have to stop, strike a pose and roar before they kill you. No exceptions. 100% of the time. They have to.

This trope is so intergrated deep into the mainstream's minds, they literally can't do without it. To the point even sea monsters have to roar, underwater.

Whenever i see a monster do this, which means all monsters basically, they stop being scary or intimidating and the movie/game stops being anything more that mainstream junk in my eyes.

Funniest thing about this is that real animals roar to scare their opponent from a fighting. They literally do this to avoid a fight because it's always a risk of getting damaged and that can be a death sentence even for the stronger alpha males.

 

[GymWolf]

I kinda liked the monsters in love and monsters.

Can't wait to see the monsters in elden ring.

 

[nkarafo]

What is it doing here?

Calling for her young ones? Or a mate?

 

[Peggies]

I like Guillermo's monsters

 

[kurisu_1974]

The starfish in the new Suicide Squad was pretty cool.

But yeah I also oticed a lot of monsters are very similar these days. Also a weirtd trend is that they are aliens, came to our planet somehow, yet seem to be more like carnivore animals. Sometimes we get a trhowaway line about i( like "they were the cargo" but I would really welcome more intelligent aliens (in my movies that is).

 

[INC]

The Thing still has one of the most memorable monster designs in any horror movie IMO.

The reason its so memorable, is because we have no idea what the alien looks like

It could of been a bacteria on the alien ship and thatsbwhy it crashed.........we have no idea

 

[Come On Tars]

Another vote for the Ritual

 

[Tschumi]

Just goes to show, z-brush chops = insta job