Editorial 02/03/2015 - How to Make a Monster

It's no surprise that, with the onset of CGI, monster movies have become some of the biggest hits. The new technology has taken what could only be done decently with animatronics and prosthetics, and given filmmakers to make them as dramatic as they can. "Jurassic Park" gave us the infamously well-paced T. rex breakout scene, and "Sleepy Hollow" gave us the oddly credible headless horseman. Some have even dedicated entire films to exploring an ecology of monsters, such as James Cameron's 2009 smash hit "Avatar". That doesn't even give credit to video games such as "Silent Hill" and the aptly-named "Monster Hunter" franchise, where survival in the face of such creatures is the name of the game. Even more so, the revival of the kaiju genre in the form of "Godzilla" and "Pacific Rim" shows us that this is, indeed, the era of monsters.
But how can we making monsters the right way? Many say no, and it's easy to see why. Many monster movies are sloppily-written, with little focus on characters or atmosphere, and a great deal on something that isn't even intimidating in the end. (The dreadfully forgettable "Season of the Witch" comes to mind.) There are still filmmakers out there who know how to do this right, which is why we'll be taking a look at those to get some tips on how to do it ourselves. The Monster isn't a dead gimmick, and there are still ways to keep it from being so.

1. Keep a consistent theme

This is a tip for all of storytelling in general, but it especially applies to monster movies. Most of the best monsters are there to serve as a theme taken to its pinnacle. Godzilla, for instance, serves as a parable for atomic warfare. As such, he was awakened by the dropping of the atomic bombs (fresh in Japan's history when the first film came out in 1950), glows in the dark, causes unrelenting destruction, and can only be defeated by humanity's most savage advanced technology. Over the course of fifty years, he has become not only the mascot of such a political view, but one of the most iconic monsters ever devised.
Storytellers have generally done a good job of this, but there have been enough bad examples to make this worth mentioning.

Best Examples: Godzilla, Smaug
Anti-Examples: the Blob, the Giant Claw

2. Make its silhouette Instantly Recognizable

When our ancestors had to hunt and fend for themselves in the stone age, they had mere seconds to recognize if something was friendly or trying to kill them. As such, our brains now don't need to see every minute detail for us to know what it is and does, but just an outline. This same principle works for what we see on the screen as well- the average camera shot in a film lasts about three seconds, so that's as long as you have to show the audience what it is and does. It doesn't need to be over-complicated, neither boringly familiar; it just needs to be enough to remember.

Best Examples: Predators, Pacific Rim's Kaiju
Anti-Examples: Super 8's Monster, Micheal Bay's Transformers

3. Leave Some Mystery behind it

As I mentioned in my "Most Overused Cliches" list, exposition is a bit of a drag. Not only does it slow the story down, but it also runs the risk of making something less interesting or scary. On the other hand, if you don't fully explain the beast, it becomes less relate-able, less human. The audience should only know enough to be scared of it- what it looks like, what it does, where it came from, or what its motivations are. Just not knowing one of these can add an aura of intrigue that keeps you guessing, or perhaps a nagging feeling that you really don't want to know.

Best Examples: Majora's Mask, the Joker
Anti- Examples: the Langoliers, Mama

4. Don't Kill the Monster...

Towards the end of H.P. Lovecraft's horror story "the Call of Cthulhu", the heroes finally encounter the titular beast. Knowing what it can do, they do their best to ram the creature, but no matter how hard they try, nothing proves any effect. The monster, along with most others, is an unstoppable force of nature. It can be evaded, or it may be postponed, but killing it would go against the "Theme" section above. Monsters should be used to show that the theme they represent is not a force to be trifled with, be it nature, science, or religion. There would be no terror or glory if it could be downed as easily as any other creature.

Best Examples: Cthulhu, Jurassic Park's T. rex
Anti-Examples: Godzilla (1998), the Balrog of Morgoth

5. ...Without a Fight.

There are still stories where the hero can defeat the force, ever since the dawn of culture, with stories like that of Theseus and the Minotaur. Some monsters are there as obstacles to be overcome by the hero, and that can be acceptable. It's just a disappointment when said beast of legend is only downed by a few hits to a glaring weak spot. If the hero does end up killing it, the act of doing so should still leave a considerable impression, preferably requiring an apotheosis to do so. In fact, you could probably say that the later the beast is felled, the better.

Best Examples: Any Monster Hunter Monster, the Queen Xenomorph
Anti-Examples: Tentalus, Jack the Giant Killers' Giants

Now, as someone who has only made decent (if not terrible) monster movies, I can't exactly claim to be an expert on this subject. However, I have seen my fair share of horror movies in terms of both what works and what doesn't, and this outlines my quote-on-quote humble opinion of that. We still are interested in knowing what scares you, so please let us know what you think in the comments section below.

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