Now Scream This: 10 Monster Movies To Stream After Watching 'Godzilla Vs. Kong'

Matt: Perhaps I've written about this Taiwanese monster flick before, but I'm going to again because it's grown on me since. Mon Mon Mon Monsters! is about a gang of schoolkids hunted by, you guessed it, a monster. That said, it's more about the transformation that occurs as a once-victim becomes an abuser and the actual "monsters" of this hunt-and-standoff revealing themselves. As I said in my /Film ranking of Sudder's first original content helping: "A bit long and all over the place, but Giddens Ko's nastiness is sincere and unapologetic when reconstructing the horrors of childhood bullying. As painful that cyclical "victim turned abuser" depiction may be." Monsters with a message!Chris: I haven't seen this, but it's exactly the sort of movie I'd expect Matt to start out with here. Good job, Matt. 

Matt: Before Brightburn, director David Yarovesky debuted with a psychological campground horror flick called The Hive. Poster quotes read "Evil Dead meets Memento," but I'm going a step farther to say "Vincenzo Natali's interpretation of Evil Dad by way of a young-adult Memento." Make sense of that how you will, but the monster (singular) here is a hivemind goop that takes over a summer camp run by honry adolescents. It's much brighter than you're expecting and maneuvers around the Nolanesque narrative with surprising precision. Gabriel Basso's character must figure out why there's thickened sludge all over his current accommodations, why there's a dead body in the corner, and why his memories are jumbled. All questions posed within the first...five minutes?Chris: I saw Matt talking about this on Twitter Dot Com and immediately added it to my queue. Now, whether or not I watch it is another story. I'm a lazy, lazy man, and pressing PLAY takes effort. 

Matt: Found footage monster flicks often use scale and size to scare (think Cloverfield or Monsters), but The Monster Project goes another route. Documentarians are invited to interview three separate subjects who proclaim to be real-life monsters: a vampire, a skinwalker, and a demon. Between impressive makeup and camera manipulation, a lot could go wrong—but filmmaker Victor Mathieu does a smashing job on an indie budget. Snarly animalistic costumes look pretty darn good in the greenish night vision overlay, while frights are legitimately freaky. It's more a haunted house atmosphere than authentic immersion, but both work with the right attitude. I'm fine throwing on The Monster Project and having a blast despite not believing certain aspects—emphasis on the correct elements travels a long way.Chris: I am whiffing here. Usually there's at least one title from Matt I've seen. Sorry, folks, I am a completely fucking failure. 

Matt: I'm highlighting Egor Abramenko's Sputnik because it's just been announced that Matt Reeves will be producing a remake. I understand why, and my stance on remakes is enthusiastic because audiences then learn about the original. That said? The Russian sci-fi thriller does a magnificent job creating an extraterrestrial creature that's just as curious about Earth as government officials are of it. Mix in some Cold War-era blind nationalism, and you've got a thoughtful, well-animated creature feature that's equally ponderous and vicious, albeit heavier on the former. It's not another Alien where something stalks astronauts. Abramenko cages the unknown and empowers characters to remain curious from a laboratory standpoint, but not without a third-act release. One of my favorite horror films from last year!Chris: Matt Reeves is working on an English-language remake of this, which seems kind of unnecessary, in my humble opinion. 

Matt: Remember the children's book If You Give A Mouse A Cookie? Well, if you give Donato a chance to talk about monsters, he's going to mention WolfCop. It's stuffed with Lycan puns, includes a flesh-shredding transformation sequence, and nails the midnighter comedy-horror balance. Lowell Dean could make nothing but WolfCop sequels the rest of his life, and I'd die happy—as selfish as that request may be (it is). I'm going to shout about this dirtier, furrier law enforcement flick that plays by its own outrageous rules and defines the phrase "full commitment." When in doubt, you always go full WolfCop.Chris: I love WolfCop. I know there's a sequel, and I confess I haven't gotten around to that one yet, but this original is a lot of fun and features some wonderful make-up effects. 

Chris: Bong Joon-ho helms this thrilling, inventive, and often bleak monster movie about leaking chemicals that create a mutated monster in South Korea's Han River. The monster rises from the water and wrecks havoc, abducting a girl (Ah-sung Ko) in the process. The girl's family takes it upon themselves to rescue her, but it won't be easy. The Host is not your average monster movie, and there's a sadness running through this thing that caught me completely off-guard when I first saw it. Matt: It's Bong's monster movie. You've all at least seen Parasite at this point. Now find out why international film fans have spoken Bong's name for so long.

Chris: Digging Up the Marrow is a fun, under-the-radar indie horror pic finds director Adam Green (Hatchet) playing a fictionalized version of himself. While attempting to make a documentary about monsters, Green comes across a retired detective (Ray Wise) who says he knows how to prove monsters are real. As the story goes, there is an entire underground world known as The Marrow, and that's where the monsters live. Sure enough, this is no tall tale – the monsters are indeed real, and they eventually reveal themselves, at which point they're presented as ghastly beings created via some really nifty make-up effects. Matt: Between Frozen and Hatchet, I was pro Green. Then Digging Up The Marrow comes along and changes...nothing. Another win for Green in my book, with Wonka-wild creature design that bursts from Alex Pardee's artistic vision (legend states. Pardee sent Green his artwork as fan mail and put into motion what would become Digging Up The Marrow).

Chris: A gnarly monster movie that deserved more attention (it did moderately well at the box office), Overlord follows American soldiers who go behind enemy lines and discover that some Nazi experimentation has created zombie-like monsters. Fun, gory, and featuring a fun turn by Wyatt Russell (who seems to be channelling his father Kurt), Overlord is the type of movie that would've spawned at least five direct-to-VHS sequels if it had been released a few decades ago.Matt: A mainstream B-Movie that I still don't understand in terms of green lights, but boy-howdy am I glad it exists. It's my favorite pull-quote to date, walking into a theater and seeing my name with a /Film byline across wall-to-wall banners (humble brag, what of it).

Chris: The ninth entry in the original Godzilla series, Destroy All Monsters is a gloriously goofy sci-fi extravaganza. Set in the futuristic world of 1999 (it was released in 1968), Destroy All Monsters reveals that Godzilla, Mothra, Rodan, and all the other kaijus are living peaceful on an island called Monsterland. But that peace is interrupted when an alien race known as the Kilaaks – who all look like women wearing glittery capes – come to Earth and set the monsters loose. The Kilaaks are controlling Godzilla and his monster pals via remote control, and humanity has to find a way to stop them or face certain doom. Goofy, brightly-colored, and full of scenes where people make phone calls to the moon, this is an utter joy to watch. Matt: I am horrendously understudied when it comes to classic kaiju content, but one day will sit down and marathon all the original Godzilla movies. Today is not that day, week, or year.

Chris: The 1976 King Kong isn't even the best King Kong remake (that would be Peter Jackson's bloated, beautiful movie), but it has its charms! It's basically the same story – Americans go to a remote island and bring a big ape back to America – and then the ape runs amok. But all of this unfolds with the sheen of a '70s flick, and features a giant Kong robot that was supposed to be cutting-edge but really just...looks like a Kong robot. Throw in Jessica Lange looking utterly gorgeous and Jeff Bridges cashing a paycheck, and you've got yourself a movie. Matt: Please see comment above.