Wednesday 11 April 2018

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


J is for ...

We're up to J. I've always had a soft spot for the letter J, for no logical reason, maybe I just like the shape of it. So today I have some interestingly shaped monsters for you.

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)

Jack Skellington (The Nightmare Before Christmas)

Jack is the pumpkin king. Like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus are to Easter and Christmas, Jack is the patron spirit of Halloween. This makes him master of ceremonies and he is in charge of all the celebrations in Halloween Town.

He is basically a skeleton in a spiffy suit with an awesome collar. He can also remove body parts at will without any adverse effects for that extra Halloweeny look.

Just because he is a monster doesn't mean he lacks a heart and he's a genuinely nice guy. He is, however, very impulsive and doesn't get that not everything should be spooky.

The Nightmare Before Christmas is a fantastic animation from Tim Burton's imagination, so it's weird and wacky. Such fun.

Davy Jones (Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest)

Davy Jones is the curse captain of The Flying Dutchman and is introduced in the second of the Pirates of the Caribbean films. He was once human, but fell in love with Calypso and, when he thought she had betrayed him, turned to evil, becoming monstrous.

He enslaves dying sailors for 100 years to sail his ship and is the terror of the seas.

Because of his love for Calypso he carved out his own heart, placing it in The Dead Man's Chest and burying it.

With his monstrous form come supernatural powers. He can teleport within The Flying Dutchman and The Black Pearl, as well as walking through solid matter. He cannot be killed, except by stabbing his removed heart, and he can control the Kraken. He is a formidable monster indeed.

I really loved the first Pirates film, but I have to admit, I'm not overly taken with the sequels. I think they rather flogged a dead horse when they kept making them. However, they have some great effects. Davy Jones is all CGI over Bill Nighy, who wore no prosthetic makeup during filming.

Jimmy Angelov (Practical Magic)

Jimmy is the wild boyfriend of Gillian Owens, a descendent of Maria Owens, a young witch exiled to Maria's Island in Massachusetts. She escaped her own execution and her descendent are all known as witches like her.

Gillian is the wild child of her and her sister Sally, and Gillian has bad taste in men. Jimmy becomes abusive and when Sally goes to get Gillian they accidentally kill him with belladonna while he's trying to kill Gillian.

The really big mistake they make is trying to resurrect him with a forbidden spell. His demeanour has not improved and he tries to kill Gillian again, so Sally kills him again and they bury the evidence. Unfortunately, he's not quite gone. Jimmy's spirit comes back for revenge.

Jimmy is a monster in life and in death. In life he is an abusive asshole and in death he is an evil ghost on a path of vengeance. He's a great villain. If you haven't seen Practical Magic it is a joy of a film. It was one of the first DVDs I ever owned.

Jabba the Hut (Return of the Jedi)

Okay, so Jabba is not technically a monster, he's an alien, but he really isn't very pretty and he's a mafia style boss, so he's definitely monstrous.

He looks very slug-like, but he has something of a toad look going on as well because he has arms. He is greedy for money and other things, and enjoys power. He also seems to have a good side of lust - although one has to wonder why a slug-like alien would find the humanoid female form attractive given that his biology is completely different.

He is the epitome of all that is monstrous about those who love to take from others. That makes him a true monster in my book.

In other Star Wars spin offs and canon he seems to have more depth than in RotJ, but he gets what he deserves in the movie. I have to admit that Jedi is my favourite of the original Star Wars movies, probably because I was just the right age when it came out. Jabba was a big part of it in that I love to hate him. Hence his place on my list.

Q: Who did it better, Davy Jones with his CGI or Jabba with his foam and latex? Any J monsters I should add to the list?

AtoZ List of All Participants

18 comments:

  1. Hari OM
    woohooo, two here I actually really enjoyed - well, maybe 'enjoy' is not the right adjective for Jabba... but definitely for Bill Nighy's Davey Jones and that incredible creation added around him. Fabulous stuff. Another good-kinda-baddy might be Cyrano Jones; the bloke who brought the tribbles which caused trouble on Trek... YAM xx

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  2. I love Jabba! One of my favorite depictions of the space mob. Jason Voorhees is a classic as well, I'd even mark him as 5 red skulls

    Song a Day

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  3. I love Bill Nighy in anything he does....he has these mannerisms and he was so good as this octopus. Pizza the hut was so gross but most teenage boys didn’t even look at him as they were looking at their wet dream...Princess Leia

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  4. I know Davy Jones and Jabba....jack skellington looks creepy...the ones that can give some serious nightmare

    Tongue Twister for J

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  5. Davy Jones hands down. It's hard to take my eyes off his living beard.

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  6. Davy Jones is one of my favourites ever! I was half expecting Jeepers Creepers to turn up here. It's not something I've watched, but I know he's scary.

    Just Walk Away by Celine Dion

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  7. I think I was one of the few people who like the original PotC trilogy (including Davy Jones). They used a lot of classic sea lore, and I enjoyed it that the movies were pretty much like over-the-top sailor's tales :D

    The Multicolored Diary: Weird Things in Hungarian Folktales

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  8. Jimmy gave me nightmares for a while after watching Practical Magic -- definitely a scary monster.

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  9. I've seen RoTJ and The Nightmare Before Christmas, and loved them both. I have only seen the first Pirates movie, which was huge fun. If I had a streaming service or could still borrow from a video library I might check out the rest. I have to admit, of the two I have seen, I'd find Jabba scarier - Jack is a nice guy, who simply gets it wrong when he tries to combine Halloween and Christmas. Jabba is the one you get taken to when they want to ... freeze you in carbon? Feed you to his pets? And slimy with it!

    Aussie Children's Writers: J Is For...

    https://suebursztynski.blogspot.com.au/2018/04/a-to-z-blogging-challenge-j-is-for.html

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  10. Jabba is so iconic, although not really the scariest of monsters - just a big fat, slow slug!
    https://iainkellywriting.com/2018/04/11/j-is-for-jyvaskyla-finland/

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  11. I haven't seen Practical Magic - it sounds like something I'd enjoy
    Debbie

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  12. Such a fun series Tasha. I wondered who you'd come up with for J. I love Jack Skellington - I definitely have a love for animated skellies.

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  13. Jimmy Angelov looks the most evil of this lot. He definitely seems to be up to no good.

    Cheers,
    CRD
    Scripted In Sanity

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  14. What a fun idea to do interestingly shaped monsters! These are great Js. I agree with you about the Pirates films being overdone, especially Jack Sparrow. But Davy Jones was my absolute favorite character.

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  15. All great monsters.

    ~Patricia Lynne aka Patricia Josephine~
    My A to Z’s of Dining with IC
    Patricia Lynne, Indie Author

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  16. I love Jack Skellington and Davy Jones! My J post was about a famous literary monster-the Jabberwock! http://dustingthesoul.com/2018/04/j-is-for-jabberwock-atozchallenge/

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  17. The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my favorites! Jack is not very scary, but I'm glad you included him for the letter J!

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  18. The Nightmare Before Christmas is a great animated movie and Jack isn't so scary - as you note. As for Jabba, it depends who is wearing that slave-collar.

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Thank you so much for reading. I love to hear from people. Please leave your comments below.