What Makes A Monster A Monster?

What is a monster? 

Or, what is it about a monster that makes it monstrous? 

It’

s not something that most people think about. 

But while working to compile a list of monster movies for the “100 Years of Monster Movies” event, I’

ve been prompted to consider this question.  Using an internet search engine provides the following results by way of definition: 

1. An imaginary creature usually having various human and animal parts. 

2. Someone or something that is abnormally large and powerful. 

3. A freak: a person or animal that is markedly unusual or deformed. 

4. A cruel wicked and inhuman person. 

In these modern times, finding resources to help one to define the concept of monstrosity requires one to scroll past results directing you towards products and resources such as energy drinks, equipment cables and job search websites, which provide an interesting insight into the way that the use of the term “monster”

has evolved. 

Using the Internet Movie Database as a search engine, results in 1,544 results, 830 of them being movies.  But I wonder what kind of criteria they’

re using to determine what makes a monster movie? 

“Men in Black”

has a variety of interesting aliens, but is it a monster movie? 

The Stay-Puft marshmallow man from “Ghostbusters” is definitely a monster to be reckoned with, but does that make “Ghostbusters”

a monster movie? 

The Lord of the Rings trilogy is filled with orcs and goblins and walking trees and, of course, the formidable Balrog but does that make the Lord of the Rings series a series of monster movies? 

So, while trying to put together a comprehensive list of monster movies from the past 100 years, I’

ve hit this not inconsiderable barrier.   So I ask you this, and any and all replies and ensuing discussions would be most appreciated. 

What makes a monster movie a monster movie?

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Scott Lefebvre can write about whatever you want him to write about.  Locked in a library for ten years, he’s probably read everything that you’ve read.  He is the author of “Spooky Creepy Long Island” and a contributor to “Forrest J. Ackerman’s Anthology of the Living Dead” as well as several other stories included in upcoming anthologies.  He has reviewed books for Scars Magazine, Icons of Fright, and Fatally Yours, and tours North America as convention manager for FearWerx.

You can contact him at: Scott_Lefebvre@hotmail.com