10 Monster Movies You Should See Before You Die

There’s another remake of the 1958 original in the works (starring Samuel L Jackson), but until it arrives here’s Chuck Russell’s 1988 version, and very decent it is too. Eschewing the earlier film's campy tone, Russell delivers an archetypal small town monster movie, though the disappointing box office returns meant there wouldn’t be too many of those in the near future.

A Nightmare On Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors allowed Russell to convince Sony to give him $19 million, and he puts the money to good use with monster effects that at no point look like Jell-O being poured across a miniature set. One of the best scenes features a victim being trapped (and later crushed) in a telephone box, though special mention must be made of the diner employee who’s pulled head first down a kitchen drain. This is not your father’s Blob movie.

Nostalgia buffs will be in seventh heaven because the movie is as 80s as Reaganism, with several Stephen King references and a slasher movie spoof thrown in for good measure. Among the cast members you’ll recognise are Jeffrey DeMunn (The Walking Dead), Shawnee Smith (Saw) and Erika Eleniak (Under Siege), though it’s Russell’s co-writer, one Frank Darabont, who really went on to bigger things.