10 Best Horror Movie Monsters NOBODY Talks About

10. Mutant Tardigrades - Harbinger Down

If you want to talk about underrated creature features, then Harbinger Down is a great place to start. This deliciously grotesque movie is filled to the brim with terrifying body horror, strong practical effects and a claustrophobic setting reminiscent of greats like Alien and The Thing. But, it's all brought together by the terrifying parasitic antagonists.

Harbinger Down follows the events after a crabbing vessel uncovers a soviet space shuttle with an deceased cosmonaut inside. After taking his body onto the ship, they become infected and victimised by mutant tardigrades who assimilate biomass to turn their victims into grotesque perversions of the human body before devouring them.

Tardigrades are an exciting basis for a horror flick, as they are microscopic creatures that will easily outlive us. They can survive any harsh environments, such as the reaches of space or deep-sea pressures. Therefore, seeing them mutate and transform into biological forces of nature is genuinely spine-chilling.

The practical effects on display are intense, as the human characters mutate and grow to inconceivable sizes. While the film doesn't feel too much more than a small-budgeted modern call back to 80s horror, the creatures themselves deserve a little more attention.