10 Horror Movies Monsters That Just DIDN'T Work

The reason why a movie monster doesn't work normally boils down to a simple reason, like it had a dumb design or a cheap costume.

However, the backstory behind The Dark's big bad is more fascinating than anything in the film itself. Co-directed by Bud Cardos and (shockingly) Tobe Hooper, the sci-fi thriller follows Detective Derek Rydall, who's investigating a serial killer called the Mangler. In the original script, the Mangler was an abused man who snapped when his house burned down, driving him to murder.

Just as shooting was finishing, the producers urged the filmmakers to turn the Mangler into an extra-terrestrial, hoping to capitalise on the sci-fi craze at the time. There was little money for reshoots, so Cardos improvised by having the Mangler shoot lasers from his eyes and use telekinesis in the final scene.

In hindsight, it's obvious this plot development was last-minute, since the entire movie plays out like a realistic drama, only to reveal in the 11th hour that the supposedly grounded villain was from space. And just to add further confusion, the Mangler looks like a zombie.

Basically, the reason why this monster doesn't work is because there's no reason why the Mangler was a monster to begin with.