Nothing gets the blood pumping like a good horror movie. There are many aspects that can make or break a horror film, the most important being the monster. To strike fear into the hearts of the audience and make the film memorable, the monster has to be well displayed and seen as a genuine threat. The audience's belief that the creature stalking a band of teenagers or haunting a house is unstoppable is essential to the viewing experience.
While there are plenty of movie monsters that fall short of expectations, on special occasions, a truly chilling creature comes to life on the big screen as a conjoined mass of horrific visages. Eldritch horror has a prominent place in the horror film community that, when executed properly, leaves a lasting impression. Here are some truly terrifying eldritch monsters in movies.
7 Summa-Varinoth – Solo: A Star Wars Story
Star Wars isn't a franchise known for its monsters. While there are numerous races in intergalactic space opera, monsters are few and far between, especially those of the eldritch relation. However, in Solo: A Star Wars Story, fans got a peek at a terrifying creature trapped within a space storm on the planet Kessell.
While on the run in an attempt to escape from Tie-Fighters, Han Solo delves into the vicious maelstrom to lose his tails. Unfortunately, the presence of the Millennium Falcon awakens a full-grown Summa-Varinoth, which begins to attack Han and his crew. The Summa-Varinoth is a gargantuan monster with electric tentacles and a single giant eye. Han trapped the creature in the largest black hole in the system, known as "The Maw."
6 Moder – The Ritual
The Ritual was a very well-put-together horror film filled with suspense and dread. A group of best friends take a trip to Scandinavia after one in their group passes away. A simple trek on a high-distance trail turns sour when the group gets lost in a forest.
The strange occurrences lead to the group being captured by a nomadic people and being offered as some sort of sacrifice. Initially, the remaining men in the group think the people are insane until they see the monster: a huge, four-legged beast made of bone and rotting flesh with a skull and a human-like torso for a head with antlers. Only one member of the group manages to escape, but just barely, as the monster gives chase.
5 The Core – Event Horizon
Event Horizon was a horror film ahead of its time that pushed the boundaries of gore and depravity with its potent visuals that depicted torture and dismemberment. On a mission to investigate a resurfaced spaceship called the Event Horizon, which disappeared almost a decade earlier, captain Miller and his crew accompany the ship's creator on an expedition. What follows is a mind-bending journey of discovering where the ship traveled to and what it brought back with it.
The monster of this film is unlike any other, and resembles eldritch monsters in the sense of its omnipresence. The warp engine of the Event Horizon has come alive after returning from a hell dimension. It is a cold, unfeeling machine that wishes only to cause the most intense suffering possible, making it truly terrifying.
4 Pumpkinhead
The Pumpkinhead franchise is a niche horror saga that takes place in modern-day. The story centers around a small hick town that has gone through a tragic and controversial death of a child. The main character, Ed Harley, seeks revenge for the death of his son and makes a pact with a swamp witch that summons a demonic beast of pure vengeance to get revenge on those who took his child from him.
Pumpkinhead is taller than any man, thin, mainly composed of thick, bubbling flesh and an exposed ribcage. Pumpkinhead can not be stopped, killed, or sent back to the underworld until he has claimed the lives he was summoned to take. He is an unstoppable force that can only be destroyed by killing the person who summoned him.
3 The Behemoth – The Mist
Stephen King’sThe Mist is one of the most disturbing films to come from the master of horror, which is saying a lot. A group of civilians is trapped in a local supermarket, when a supernatural mist envelopes the entire city. Trapped inside by strange creatures that begin devouring those that venture too close, the small group attempts to survive with no way to call for help. Eventually, a small fraction of survivors make it to a vehicle and try to escape whatever is happening.
Unfortunately, there is no escape as the mist is everywhere. An elderly couple, a young woman, and a man and his son sit together at a loss for words until the ground begins to shake. Finally, their eyes shoot up to a massive creature with several appendages protruding from its body and countless tentacles. The beast pays them no mind and continues on its way, but the sheer vision of the monster robs the group of the last hope they had.
2 Octalus – Deep Rising
Deep Rising is an action horror film that follows a newly built cruise ship as it takes off on its first voyage straight toward its impending doom. Setting sail across the Marianas Trench, the Argonautica awakens a centuries-old sea monster of colossal proportions that becomes housed within the cruise liner and begins devouring the voyagers whole.
The beast that attacks the ship is called the Octalus. It mostly resembles a giant octopus because of its numerous tentacles, but has a body similar to the Kraken.
1 Parasite Queen – The Faculty
The Faculty was a phenomenon of teen angst mixed with sci-fi and horror. A small town high school is invaded by an alien parasite, which soon began infecting and taking over students and teachers. A band of students, who avoid infection, skulk around and try to find a way to take out the parasites and get their loved ones back.
However, further into the film, the students discover that the first parasite has grown much larger than when it first arrived. It has now become a tangled mass of tentacles and teeth. The task seems impossible, but the teenagers band together to face off against the Parasite Queen and rid the town of the infection.