Monster Round-up

When I was a kid, my idea of monsters was probably off the beaten path of what a lot of people think. My first exposure to vampires (other than Seseme Street's Count) was Salem's Lot (the movie) which I saw when I was about 10. I'd seen the cartoon versions of Frankenstein... Oh, and there was Frankenberry, Booberry and Count Chocula... you see, Vampires, Werewolves, Mummies... not so scary when your primary exposure is Scooby Doo.

The monsters in my closet were... you know... MONSTERS! Entirely of my imagination, but consistent with... the Abominable Snowman (I was terrified of the Bumble from the Rudolph movie!) Ir Sasquatch! Or... you know.. MONSTERS! (not former humans or almost humans). They were FURRY. They had the wrong number of EYES or ARMS... or they were SLIMY! So I thought I'd review of couple now-beloved monsters...

The Monsters who lived in my closet were of the sort in Monsters, inc. I mean... I didn't know at the TIME they were just doing their jobs... I was REALLY scared... but that was the variety and sort...

Randall still scares me... he was there... under the bed. Sully was in the closet, but I didn't know he was nice... I would have hugged Mike... even then. Note this movie came out DECADES after my childhood, but they sure captured the Monster types.

I think the earliest identifiable monster I remember is The BLOB!!!

I remember watching this movie with my mom... we still had the black and white TV, so I was under 7. And the OOZING, could get EVERYWHEREness of it... And... YUCK FACTOR!


But then for YEARS I didn't encounter any real monsters that scared me... what scared me was more the stuff I will get into on the next couple days... Only in adulthood did really FRIGHTENING monsters come back...

Hello, Quintaped and Acromantula!!!

I recognize Shelob predates Aragog, but NOT in my experience. I read Harry Potter before Lord of the Rings, and I read both before seeing any movies (movie Shelob is the scariest of the lot... but book Aragog came first)--note the Basilisk is ALSO pretty darned frightening... but not nearly as bad as those multi-legged things who have little brothers living in my basement...

My late-day Favorite Monsters, though?

HP Lovecraft was someone I arrived at through Peter Straub (my favorite scary author). He is a huge fan and sometimes actively uses Lovecraft in his writing. So I decided to actively investigate... READ some from the father of the genre...

And while his writing style is sadly representative of the first decade of the 20th century (which is to say he TELLS instead of SHOWS and read a lot like a journal), his MONSTERS are HOLY FREAKING COW scary... he has aliens who have burrowed under the mountains and transmit crazy to the people who live nearby... he has necromancers (people who raise the dead)... And he has Cthulu...

Oh, look! You can make your own!

Most of Lovecrafts creatures 'came from other worlds' but they aren't the cuddly little aliens most later stuff brings... AT ALL.

Or if you are less skilled, you can just order one..

Do you have any beloved monsters?