Top 10 Monster Movies

The Screening Room (CNN.com)

1. 'Alien'
(Ridley Scott, 1979)
"In space no one can hear you scream." At home, your shrieks will be loud and clear. Crew members of the spaceship Nostromo are pitted against enormous, voracious monsters with acid for blood in Ridley Scott's Oscar-winning sci-fi horror. This is the ultimate smack down between humans and aliens -- and it's a battle that'll make your blood curdle.
2. 'Pan's Labyrinth'
(Guillermo del Toro, 2006)
A fairy-tale world becomes an escape outlet for a young girl facing the harsh reality of living in Franco's Spain. The inhabitants of del Toro's enchanted forest -- a faun, a giant toad, and a child-eating monster whose eyes are in his hands -- come alive with intensity and are some of the scariest creatures to haunt the screen.
3. 'Jaws'
(Steven Spielberg, 1975)
The theme song alone is enough to get your heart racing. But it's the giant great white shark that inspires true fright. A calm day at the beach turns vicious when the bloodthirsty leviathan attacks. It's a gore-a-rama as the deadly beast claims its victims -- piece by piece.
4. 'Frankenstein'
(James Whale, 1931)
In the original monster movie, a rogue scientist fashions a creature out of dead body parts and brings it alive. Decades after its initial release, "Frankenstein" may no longer elicit screams from audiences. But the classic tale of science that goes disastrously wrong is still as haunting as ever.
5. 'The Host' ('Gwoemul')
(Bong Joon-ho, 2006)
A U.S. military employee dumps formaldehyde into the sewers near Seoul's Han River, giving life to a giant mutant that has a taste for human blood. This is one ugly monster that's as much at home in the water as it is on the ground. Prepare for your spine to tingle.
6. 'King Kong'
(Merian Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, 1933)
King Kong is hell-bent on saving his beloved, the starlet Ann Darrow, when he escapes from his captors in New York. Chaos breaks out in the Big Apple as the monstrous gorilla goes on a rampage, providing plenty of energy in this part action, part love story. The scene of Kong atop the Empire State Building reminds us all that even beasts have hearts.
7. 'Gremlins'
(Joe Dante, 1984)
Who knew eating after midnight could be so deadly? A little boy's furry pet, known as a Mogwai, becomes the scourge of a town when three cardinal rules about its care are broken. The fuzzy creature multiplies and proceeds to trash the town with its fellow Gremlins. The cute and cuddly turn ugly in this creature feature with a darkly humorous tone.
8. 'Dracula'
(Tod Browning, 1931) "The Screening Room's" Brazil show
"I am Dracula," the blood-sucking vampire declares in this classic film based on Bram Stoker's novel. The eerie Count Dracula, played by Bela Lugosi, is gripping as he sets upon his prey, piercing their necks with dagger-sharp fangs, and faces with his nemesis Professor Van Helsing.
9. 'The Blob'
(Irvin Yeaworth Jr., 1958)
A meteor strikes earth and starts to ooze a jelly-like matter that has a penchant for sucking the life out of humans. Soon there's no stopping the blob, which swells as it claims victim after victim. Starring a young Steve McQueen as a teenager who tries to warn adults about the dangerous creature, this sci-fi action film is a fun ride all the way through.
10. 'Night of the Living Dead'
(George Romero, 1968)
Flesh-eating zombies attack! Life in suburbia takes a horrific turn when radiation emitted from a fallen satellite brings the dead back to life. The low-budget film manages to shock and unsettle with its scenes of the undead snacking on the living. E-m