10 Classic Movie Monsters With Unexpected Origins

1. The Dark Crystal's Skeksis Were Based On A Lewis Carroll Illustration

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal has enjoyed a well-earned resurgence in popularity with the recent release of the brilliant Netflix series, but back when Henson was designing the villainous Skeksis, he modelled them after the seven deadly sins.

And because he settled on featuring 10 Skeksis in the movie, he had a few of the sins double up.

But Henson was also inspired by Leonard Lubin's illustration of Lewis Carroll's poem The Pig-Tale, which depicted two crocodiles behaving like humans in a bathroom.

Henson immediately fell in love with the idea of reptilian creatures acting as human conquerors, even initially naming the Skeksis "Reptus."

The final design of the Skeksis retains much of that reptilian quality, especially in the face, even if Henson clearly ran with that and made the creatures so much more than a mere imitation.