AtoZ2018 - G is for ... #MovieMonsters #AtoZChallenge

G is for ...

Hello and welcome to the first day of the AtoZChallenge. My theme this year is movie monsters and I will be introducing everyone to some of my favourites.

Scariness Rating

The little skulls by their name are my scariness rating as to how monstrous and scary I think the creatures are when seen in their films.

•  1 skull (not scary at all) - 5 skulls (very scary)
•  and there is a special rating for a few - 5 red skulls (utterly terrifying)

Glaeken (The Keep)

From watching the film I have to admit I didn't even remember this chap's name, he's just the good guy. He's definitely a monster, but of the hero kind.

The Keep is set during the second world war, where the Nazi's come to a small village in Romania to occupy the large fortifications there. This keep is strange because the smooth stone is on the inside not the outside, and there are nickle crosses all over the walls. It is to keep something in.

Glaeken is the something's opposite number. He is the safeguard in case it gets out, and when the Nazi's release it and it starts killing them, he is called back to stop it. He's a calm, almost cold character, who, nevertheless craves human contact. He has formidable powers, but he is chained to his destiny.

The Keep is a great movie, but the book it is based on is better. The movie had lots of production problems and the end result is not quite what was envisaged. It also has two possible endings, but only one has been released on DVD.

Graboids (Tremors)

If you haven't seen Tremors you really should, it is a great movie. It's funny in places, but still shock scary in others.

A graboid is a worm-like creature, perfectly adapted for living underground. It has a huge mouth and, inside this mouth, are long tentacles with smaller grabbers on the end. Graboids are very sensitive to sound, hunting via vibration. They attack from below, sometimes leaving what looks like their whole victim sticking out of the ground, but everything below the surface will be gone.

In later films and the series, graboids are shown to be the first stage development of the creature's life cycle. Check out wikipedia for more details.

Grendel's Mother (Beowulf)

In Beowulf is it Grendel's mother who is the root of all the problems, because she is the monster who seduced Hrothgar to produce Grendel and then Beowulf to produce a dragon. She is beautiful and seductive and exploits the fact that these men don't seem to be able to keep it in their pants.

In the 2007 movie she is played by Angelina Jolie, and is all gold and incredibly beautiful. She is also incredibly dangerous. She uses feminine wiles, but it's quite obvious she just as deadly as her offspring. She is the one who slaughters Beowulf's men after Beowulf has killed her son.

Beowulf was one of the first movies I saw where they CGI animated over people and it is stunning to watch. The tech isn't quite there in that their faces don't quite move naturally, but it is so visually spectacular that I can forgive that. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

Grendel (Beowulf)

Grendel is the main monster in Beowulf, at least at the beginning. He is hideous and violent, but you have to feel sorry for him. He only attacks because the noise from the new feasting hall of King Hrothgar hurts his ears so much.

To begin with Grendel is huge compared to the humans, but he shrinks when Beowulf ruptures his ear drum.

He looks monstrous and he kills monstrously, but it's still heartbreaking when he dies. This is one monster that clearly feels all the emotions humans do.

As I mentioned above, Beowulf is a great film, well worth taking a look.

Gremlins

I couldn't really do movie monsters without mentioning gremlins.

Now these dangerous little critters start off as adorable mogwais, that a re cute and fluffy and sing beautiful songs. These adorably fluff balls cannot take bright light and there are two golden rules:

• don't get them wet
• don't feed them after midnight.

If a mogwai or a gremlin gets wet, they spawn more of their own kind.

If you feed a mogwai after midnight they become gremlins. Gremlins are still small, but they are reptilian with sharp teeth and long claws on their hands. They are also relatively intelligent and completely malevolent.

Gremlins are agents of chaos. They love to cause it and can be down right vicious. They wreck machinery, break anything they can and enjoy death and destruction.

Q: Would you rather face a Gremlin or a Graboid? Which G monsters have I left off that I should know about?

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