The most important thing a monster movie can do is scare the audience, and when the monster falls short, the entire film collapses on itself. With that in mind, the monster has to be just right to suck in the viewer and leave them covering their eyes from start to finish. The best way to make a monster scary is not only in their physical design but in the scope of their power.
A monster that the characters in the movie have no realistic chance of beating on their own makes their eventual victory (or demise) mean even more. However, the power levels of monsters vary drastically based on whether they are supernatural, alien, or just unstoppable behemoths. Going back to the start of horror cinema, here are the 10 scariest movie monsters ranked by power.
PENNYWISE
Now, if you are just looking at who the scariest movie monster is, Pennywise would be near the top of many people’s lists. Clowns are creepy, to begin with. When that clown is a demonic killer of children who lives in the sewer, and originated from the mind of Stephen King, that is even scarier.
As for this creature’s powers, it is a shape-shifter that can take on the form of any being, including a powerful giant spider. It can also create illusions to lure kids into its grasp. Add in mind control, telepathy, and the ability to regenerate from injuries, and Pennywise is very powerful.
GWOEMUL
The Gwoemul might not be familiar with a lot of mainstream movie fans, but it came from the fantastic 2006 South Korean monster movie The Host by Bong Joon-ho (Snowpiercer). The film follows a family trying to survive the monster attack, which is a creature formed through toxic chemicals poured into the sewers.
The monster is known as the Gwoemul (the Korean word for Monster). The monster attacks people and traps them in its mouth to regurgitate and eat later. It is very strong and sadistic, similar to a feral animal. It is extremely powerful, resilient to gunshots, immune to poison, and very intelligent when hunting.
PREDATOR
Predator is a unique movie monster because it is a skilled and trained hunter. Known as the Yautja, these monsters seek exotic prey on alien planets for sport and first appeared in the film Predator, where they crashed on Earth to begin hunting humans. They have also proved their might against another very powerful movie monster in the Xenomorphs from Alien.
These monsters are extremely strong and powerful and can see in the infrared spectrum to aid in their hunting expeditions. However, their real power lies in their technology. They have tech that allows them invisibility and has powerful weapons that allow them to take out their prey from any distance.
CANDYMAN
Candyman is a villain that came from tragic beginnings. He is Daniel Robitaille, an African American painter that fell in love with the white daughter of a plantation owner. A lynch mob found and killed the young man. While this makes him a sympathetic movie monster, what he did in the decades since his demise makes him as evil as any other creature.
Based loosely on the Bloody Mary urban legend, if someone says “Candyman” three times while looking in a mirror, he shows up to take his next victim. Candyman is immortal and can’t be killed. He can regenerate if anyone manages to hurt him. He can also teleport, making him hard to run from.
THE THING
The Thing initially appeared in the short story Who Goes There before appearing in the 1951 film The Thing from Another World and then the 1982 movie The Thing by John Carpenter. The movie monster is a predator that can take control of a victim and therefore blend into a group without anyone knowing.
The only goal of The Thing is to survive by any means. This makes it almost unstoppable, and its movie appearances show that even when it looks like the protagonists have beaten it, the monster likely survived. It can also separate into separate forms in a divide-and-conquer attack method.
THE GRABOIDS
Graboids are from the movie franchise Tremors. While the films themselves are a comedy-horror franchise, the Graboids are still terrifying movie monsters. These are giant predatory creatures that travel underground and launch out of the ground to attack when the victims least expect it.
The Graboids even give birth to shriekers, which can fly and have heat-sensing blasters. Graboids never give up and are determined to get their food. When they can’t get to their prey, these monsters will circle like sharks until the victims make a mistake. They also have armored hide, keeping it very protected.
PINHEAD
Pinhead is a sadomasochistic movie monster from the deranged mind of Clive Barker. He is the main villain in the Hellraiser movie series and the leader of the Order of the Gash. He and his cohorts are known as Cenobites, demonic torturers who kill his victims, usually by ripping their skin off using hooks and chains.
Pinhead is also highly intelligent, one of the smartest slasher movie monsters, making him even more deadly. As for his powers, Pinhead is invulnerable, ageless, and immortal. He can teleport and disguise himself as others. He also can summon hellish magical forces for the purpose of torture.
DRACULA
Dracula is one of horror cinema’s legacy villains. Initially created in the pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Bela Lugosi brought him to life in 1931. Since then, names like Christopher Lee and Gary Oldman brought gravitas as respect to the Transylvanian vampire.
Dracula is widely considered the strongest and most powerful vampire in existence. He is immortal and can live for ages while never feeding. He can shapeshift, has powerful telepathic powers, and can manipulate the weather. He has the strength of 20 men but does have the weaknesses attributed to most vampires, including avoidance of sunlight.
XENOMORPH
The Xenomorph is the movie monsters from the movie Alien and is among the most powerful in cinema history. The Queen is the most powerful, but all Xenomorphs are immensely powerful and dangerous to anyone and everyone they come in contact with, including the Predators.
The Xenomorph is nothing less than a living weapon created for destruction. They ave supernatural strength and agility and are extremely intelligent and masters of stealth attacks. They can survive in harsh atmospheres, and their blood is pure acid. Add in their tail and jaw, which can kill on one hit, and this is one of the deadliest movie monsters in history.
FREDDY KRUEGER
Freddy Krueger has one advantage that no other movie monster has. He attacks people in their dreams when they sleep. When in that world, there is no one more powerful and deadly. The dream realm is his, and in that world, he can kill anyone as they sleep.
He is also the cruelest of movie monsters. Because he is in the victim’s dreams, he knows all their fears and uses what scares them or shames them the most while killing them. He is sadistic and cruel, and there isn’t a movie monster scarier or more powerful than the Dream Master.
