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

T is for ...

T is such a versatile letter and I had many, many monsters to choose from, so here are my favourite five. I do hope you enjoy them as we enter the second to last week of the AtoZChallenge.

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)

Terminator

It would be impossible to do a movie monsters for T and not mention the badest cyborg on the block, the Terminator himself. I am of course talking about the original article.

The 1984 film is a classic and much my favourite of all the Terminator films. Arnold Schwarzenegger play the Terminator, a cyborg assassin sent from the future to kill Sarah Connor and prevent the birth of John Connor, her son and leader of the resistance against the machines in the future.

He is cold, ruthless and focused solely on his task. And, if that isn't enough, it takes a hell of a lot to kill him. There is a reason this film spawned a franchise, and that's because the Terminator is such a great bad guy.

Thulsa Doom (Conan the Barbarian)

I've mentioned Thulsa Doom (James Earl Jones) on my blog before, but I have to mention him again for this A to Z because he is a monster of the first order.

He's human enough when we first meet him as he is slaughtering Conan's parents and tribe, but he's just as much a monster as later when he has mystical powers, a cult following and can change himself into a snake.

Doom values power above all else. He revels in the fact he can simply look at one of his followers and they will kill themselves for him. He demands complete loyalty and takes anything he wants. He is a monster who is ugly on the inside.

The Conan films are a fun romp for fantasy fans. They don't require a lot of brain power, but Doom is a great villain anyway.

Torok the Troll (Troll)

So I could have gone with Troll or Torok for today, so win/win. Torok is a troll with shape shifting abilities who wants the world of fairies to take over the human world.

He starts this endeavour by kidnapping Wendy Potter, a young girl who still has the innocence of childhood. He then transforms himself into the likeness of Wendy, terrorising her brother Harry (yep, this is one Harry Potter who predates JKR and, although he weilds a magical staff at one point, it's not his and he's not a wizard).

Going from apartment to apartment in the building the Potters have just moved into, Torok converts each and its occupant into fairyfolk and land.

This is a pre-CGI movie, so all the fairies and goblins and pixies are foam latex puppets or people in suits. It's old school, but it is a delightful film. It manages to make Torok a monster and sympathetic at times as well.

Time (Sapphire and Steel)

Time might seem like an unusual monster, but it is almost an entity and a monster in Sapphire and Steel. These interdimensional agents are sent in when time breaks through to various places on Earth, manipulating the environment, people and other forces to break down the barriers of reality.

It's never seen, only the effects it creates and the powers that it helps manifest, but it is still the monster in the background.

If you haven't seen Sapphire and Steel, I cannot recommend it enough. It is a TV show from the late 70s/early 80s and it is very clever. It doesn't need fancy special effects because it is so tightly plotted. Trust me, you'll never look at a nursery rhyme, a photo or an empty railway station ever again.

Triffid (Day of the Triffids)

Now I had to include Triffids because they involve a childhood trauma which means I remember bits of the TV show perfectly and I can never forget their rattle.

A Triffid is a carnivorous, mobile plant that humans farm for their oil. Unfortunately, when a meteor shower rendered almost everyone blind, they escape and take over. They have a long proboscis they can flick out and sting people with their venom, which can injure or even kill.

My trauma involved seeing a bit of one of the episodes of the 1981 series, then going to bed, looking sideways and discovering something moving on my pillow. It was a spider, so it was a double whammy, because not only was I thinking of triffids, I also hate spiders :).

Q: Do you have any trivial but traumatic memories from when you were young that had stayed with you because of their context? What are your favourite T monsters?

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