Decades before the advent of modern film advancements such as CGI or motion capture technology, filmmakers were more resourceful when attempting to simulate the unimaginable through the use of special effects. Aside from the use of ingenious editing and camera techniques, the art of stop motion model animation proved to be an incomparable method of bringing creatures of fantasy and science to life. Pioneered by Willis O'Brien in 1925's The Lost World, model animation proved to be a sensation among movie patrons, thus its application in such films as King Kong and Son of Kong. While it was O'Brien that made this contribution to cinema, his protege Ray Harryhausen was the one to push the envelope and elevate the craft to new and exciting levels never before seen through a process he coined "dynamation." Along the way in his career, he inspired many pie-eyed aspiring stop motion animators -- including Phil Tippett of Star Wars and RoboCop fame.
With a plethora of films under his belt ranging in genres from the sci-fi to ancient myths, nearly each and every one of his movies has become a permanent fixture in pop culture thanks to one common denominator among all of them: the monsters! There's nothing quite like wondering which mythological creatures or prehistoric beasts will appear in his films to menace the B-movie actors on screen, or debating which ones were truly the best of the best... which this list is here to help clarify. Who's better? The cyclops or Medusa? The Beast from 20,000 fathoms or the giant crab? Place your bets as the 11 greatest Ray Harryhausen monsters come raising hell in a city (or island... or planet...) near you!
11) Phorusrhacos from Mysterious Island
Based somewhat on Jules Verne's novel The Mysterious Island (a sequel to 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea), the 1961 film -- set during the American Civil War -- tells the story of a group of Union soldiers having recently escaped from a Confederate prison camp via hot air balloon. Crash landing on the island, the stranded soldiers come into contact with the oversized wildlife -- all the result of experiments undergone by Captain Nemo. Including a giant crab and bee, a real standout of this monstrous menagerie is the Phorusrhacos.
From the moment the Phorusrhacos makes its onscreen presence to the oddly playful musical accompaniment, it's easy to tell that despite the danger the characters are in, the entire scene is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. It's even been rumored that audiences who saw the movie for the first time believed it to be a giant chicken. While they were indeed wrong in their assumption you can't blame for making the comparison given the creature's comical appearance and gawky movements, thus adding to its appeal.
What's also interesting to note about the Phorusrhacos is that this may also in fact be a homage to a short film O'Brien had made that predates The Lost World entitled The Ghost of Slumber Mountain. This also featured, for a few seconds, a giant flightless bird similar to the one Harryhausen had used in Mysterious Island, not to mention sharing the premise of a remote location of natural wonders.
10) It from It Came From Beneath the Sea
During the 1950s you couldn't go far in your Thunderbird with your best gal without seeing a movie poster promoting a creature feature of some kind, typically starring a monster whose name was a mere pronoun. Such was the case with It, the giant octopus from the 1955 film It Came From Beneath the Sea. Hydrogen bomb testing near the Mindanao Deep irradiated a giant octopus living in the area, causing It's natural food supply to be driven away due to in part to its now radioactive nature. Looking to sate its massive appetite, the octopus finds that people make for a nice alternative to fish, whales or what have you. At first, in standard sci-fi fashion, the scientific community is skeptical of the octopus' existence until it actually starts eating people faster than a fat man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The great thing about It is that he (she?) embodies the stories sailors and explorers of yore used to tell about giant squids and octopuses the size of islands attacking passing ships, dragging entire crews to cold watery graves. And with this movie, Harryhausen brought these nautical tales into a more modern setting and showed just how much damage and devastation a sea monster can cause if allowed to wreak havoc on America. Another interesting tidbit about the octopus is that this was one of Harryhausen's more expensive monsters since the film's producer only granted him enough money to create and animate six tentacles -- not eight. Scientific inaccuracy just to save a quick buck...
9) Mooncalf from First Men in the Moon
Forget everything you've learned about the 1969 moon landing in school because according to the 1964 film First Men in the Moon it's all indicative of a backwards educational system. Fact: the first moon landing was in 1889 and claimed in the name of Queen Victoria by British explorers. Second fact: the moon is inhabited by a race of insectoids dubbed "Selenites" and the creatures they keep as livestock: mooncalves. That's right, our most brilliant Earth scientists -- in their infinite wisdom -- named a giant, vicious space caterpillar after a cow because that's the first thing that immediately springs to mind when one of these monsters is chasing you through moon caverns.
Still, regardless of mankind's lack of imagination when giving a newly discovered species a name, the mooncalf is a fantastic monster in that it really draws inspiration from the giant insects of classic sci-fi comics such as Flash Gordon, whether or not this is the case. On top of that, the mooncalf gives off a very kaiju-esque vibe due to the fact it has a resemblance to Mothra in her larval stage. The animation for the monster must have been quite the ordeal too, given that the model in the film appeared to have been dragged along to simulate motion in some shots, all the while making each individual leg move accordingly.
8) Talos from Jason and the Argonauts
If there's one mistake every Greek hero or heroine makes on their quest it's this: just because the gods aren't exactly using their treasures at the moment isn't to say that they don't want it and it's free for the taking. Hercules and Hylas learned this lesson the hard way in 1963's Jason and the Argonauts when they incurred the wrath of the hoarder gods and had Talos come to life to crush their miserable lives. Upon his awakening, Talos gets serious and drives his fist through Jason's pathetic wooden ship, forcing the Argonauts to return to the island where the giant waited. But once they reached the shore, Talos went from bronze badass to an incompetent schmuck that looked like he didn't know what to do next. Really, all he did was teeter like a drunk for a bit and apathetically swung his sword around. And all it took to bring him down was to pull the stopper from his ankle and let the molten glop just pour out until he died.
Although he may have dropped the proverbial ball, the scene where Talos awakens, slowly turning his head while those blank hollow eyes pierce Hercules' -- and the viewer's -- soul is considered by some fans of Harryhausen's work to be a truly creepy moment. Joking aside, he's still an imposing character, no doubt about that, and the sound of his creaking joints and grim facial expression make for an intimidating foe for Jason and his crew.
7) Taro from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
I was really going to give the cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a tip of the hat here, but the real winner of the film is the dragon Taro, even though he got less screen time than his one-eyed, goat-legged adversary. In the 1958 movie, the characters Sinbad and Princess Parisa are cornered by the cyclops in a cave guarded by Taro. In a last ditch effort, Sinbad releases the dragon from his shackles, freeing him and making a beeline straight towards the pair's pursuer. The best part of this scene is the priceless expression of the cyclops: he goes from chest-thumping brute to "Oh, shit, what did I just get myself into?" in seconds! While he did put up a good fight, Taro was simply too strong and too pissed off to be taken down. I mean, wouldn't you be if you were chained to a cavern wall for god knows how long, only to be greeted by a fugly cyclops instead of a, say, female dragon? Sadly, Taro's appearance was short-lived when Sinbad shot a ballista spear through his neck, causing him to keel over and crush his evil master Sokurah before crossing the pearly gates into dragon heaven.
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11) Phorusrhacos from Mysterious Island
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From the moment the Phorusrhacos makes its onscreen presence to the oddly playful musical accompaniment, it's easy to tell that despite the danger the characters are in, the entire scene is meant to be tongue-in-cheek. It's even been rumored that audiences who saw the movie for the first time believed it to be a giant chicken. While they were indeed wrong in their assumption you can't blame for making the comparison given the creature's comical appearance and gawky movements, thus adding to its appeal.
What's also interesting to note about the Phorusrhacos is that this may also in fact be a homage to a short film O'Brien had made that predates The Lost World entitled The Ghost of Slumber Mountain. This also featured, for a few seconds, a giant flightless bird similar to the one Harryhausen had used in Mysterious Island, not to mention sharing the premise of a remote location of natural wonders.
10) It from It Came From Beneath the Sea
During the 1950s you couldn't go far in your Thunderbird with your best gal without seeing a movie poster promoting a creature feature of some kind, typically starring a monster whose name was a mere pronoun. Such was the case with It, the giant octopus from the 1955 film It Came From Beneath the Sea. Hydrogen bomb testing near the Mindanao Deep irradiated a giant octopus living in the area, causing It's natural food supply to be driven away due to in part to its now radioactive nature. Looking to sate its massive appetite, the octopus finds that people make for a nice alternative to fish, whales or what have you. At first, in standard sci-fi fashion, the scientific community is skeptical of the octopus' existence until it actually starts eating people faster than a fat man at an all-you-can-eat buffet.
The great thing about It is that he (she?) embodies the stories sailors and explorers of yore used to tell about giant squids and octopuses the size of islands attacking passing ships, dragging entire crews to cold watery graves. And with this movie, Harryhausen brought these nautical tales into a more modern setting and showed just how much damage and devastation a sea monster can cause if allowed to wreak havoc on America. Another interesting tidbit about the octopus is that this was one of Harryhausen's more expensive monsters since the film's producer only granted him enough money to create and animate six tentacles -- not eight. Scientific inaccuracy just to save a quick buck...
9) Mooncalf from First Men in the Moon
 |
Still, regardless of mankind's lack of imagination when giving a newly discovered species a name, the mooncalf is a fantastic monster in that it really draws inspiration from the giant insects of classic sci-fi comics such as Flash Gordon, whether or not this is the case. On top of that, the mooncalf gives off a very kaiju-esque vibe due to the fact it has a resemblance to Mothra in her larval stage. The animation for the monster must have been quite the ordeal too, given that the model in the film appeared to have been dragged along to simulate motion in some shots, all the while making each individual leg move accordingly.
8) Talos from Jason and the Argonauts
If there's one mistake every Greek hero or heroine makes on their quest it's this: just because the gods aren't exactly using their treasures at the moment isn't to say that they don't want it and it's free for the taking. Hercules and Hylas learned this lesson the hard way in 1963's Jason and the Argonauts when they incurred the wrath of the hoarder gods and had Talos come to life to crush their miserable lives. Upon his awakening, Talos gets serious and drives his fist through Jason's pathetic wooden ship, forcing the Argonauts to return to the island where the giant waited. But once they reached the shore, Talos went from bronze badass to an incompetent schmuck that looked like he didn't know what to do next. Really, all he did was teeter like a drunk for a bit and apathetically swung his sword around. And all it took to bring him down was to pull the stopper from his ankle and let the molten glop just pour out until he died.
Although he may have dropped the proverbial ball, the scene where Talos awakens, slowly turning his head while those blank hollow eyes pierce Hercules' -- and the viewer's -- soul is considered by some fans of Harryhausen's work to be a truly creepy moment. Joking aside, he's still an imposing character, no doubt about that, and the sound of his creaking joints and grim facial expression make for an intimidating foe for Jason and his crew.
7) Taro from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
I was really going to give the cyclops from The 7th Voyage of Sinbad a tip of the hat here, but the real winner of the film is the dragon Taro, even though he got less screen time than his one-eyed, goat-legged adversary. In the 1958 movie, the characters Sinbad and Princess Parisa are cornered by the cyclops in a cave guarded by Taro. In a last ditch effort, Sinbad releases the dragon from his shackles, freeing him and making a beeline straight towards the pair's pursuer. The best part of this scene is the priceless expression of the cyclops: he goes from chest-thumping brute to "Oh, shit, what did I just get myself into?" in seconds! While he did put up a good fight, Taro was simply too strong and too pissed off to be taken down. I mean, wouldn't you be if you were chained to a cavern wall for god knows how long, only to be greeted by a fugly cyclops instead of a, say, female dragon? Sadly, Taro's appearance was short-lived when Sinbad shot a ballista spear through his neck, causing him to keel over and crush his evil master Sokurah before crossing the pearly gates into dragon heaven.
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