Greetings! My name is Emily, and you may have spotted me around the library before, as this Halloween will mark my second year at LTPL! Halloween is my favorite holiday, and not just for library-related reasons– I’m a massive aficionado of all types of monster-related media.
I adore narratives that feature non-human characters, especially fantastical creatures that don’t exist in the real world. I think my fondness originally grew out of my extremely 90s childhood obsession with Pokémon, and continued to grow as I became older, got my first library card right here at LTPL, and began checking out items such as The Fire Within by Chris d’Lacey and The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud.
I never outgrew this obsession with otherworldly creatures, and as an adult I continue to eat up all types of media involving aliens, vampires, werewolves, kaiju, and what-have-you. So, in the spirit of Halloween, I’ve brought you a list of some adult-audience monster media that has piqued my interest! Some are spooky, some are not, some I hold near and dear to my heart, and others I feel conflicted on! Give some of them a try– I’d love to hear how you feel about them!
Pacific Rim (2013)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pacific Rim is very much a 2010s action movie with a lot of one-liners and punching, so it might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but I wanted to include it in this list (and give it a very biased 5 stars) because it’s one of my favorite movies of all time. Why I love it? The director, Guillermo Del Toro, may be the world’s #1 monster fan, and this movie is his personal love letter to the kaiju film genre. If you’ve never heard the term ‘kaiju film’ before, then think like Godzilla and King Kong– it’s a Japanese film genre historically involving actors wearing monster suits, often scaling miniature buildings and fighting other actors in robot costumes. Pacific Rim doesn’t have any silly costumes, but in my opinion, does a great job of blending some of the unique hallmarks of the kaiju film genre with a decidedly American action movie premise, all while channeling Del Toro’s deep love for monsters.
The Shape of Water (2017)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Also a movie by Guillermo Del Toro– who wrote, directed, and produced it! If you’d like to check out one of his works, but want something more delicate than the fast-paced sweaty action of Pacific Rim, then I heavily recommend The Shape of Water, which centers around the story of a cleaner who works at a top-secret laboratory where an amphibian-like man is being imprisoned. It has won four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It’s intriguing as a ‘monster romance’ film in which the real monster may or may not be the non-human character, and the film can be read as having some really interesting commentary on the treatment of women and people with disabilities. Be aware that while this is not a horror film, Del Toro is known for his dark tones, and some scenes may not be for the squeamish.
Leech by Hiron Ennes⭐⭐⭐
Argh! Such a conflicting book for me! Leech is a really creative novel, told from the viewpoint of a parasite who inhabits multiple bodies at once as a sort of gestalt entity, and the story chronicles its struggle for survival against a rival species. The story is set against a fantastical backdrop in a world described by the author as ‘gothic’, but to me it reads more as New Weird (see: authors such as Jeff VanderMeer and China Miéville). I absolutely loved this concept and tore through this book, but to my dismay, I did not like the ending! It’s difficult to describe why I didn’t like the ending without spoiling the whole thing, but I will say that the tone abruptly changed in a way I did not find effective nor personally engaging, and a lot of the messages and metaphors felt overbearing while also falling flat for me. However, I still really love the creative world the author set up, and would like to see them do more with it.
Alien (1979)⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
If you haven’t seen the original Alien movie, and aren’t afraid of a thorough scare, then you absolutely must. It’s a titan of a movie even outside of the ‘monster film’ genre, and for good reason! I will confess that despite my love of monsters, I am actually terrible with horror– however, I really appreciated the level of intensity this movie was able to build up, as well as the parallels between the horror elements and themes such as bodily autonomy. My favorite thing about Alien is actually the impressive set design and use of practical effects. The movie looks stunning even 45 years later, and it’s way too easy to forget that the xenomorph is a man in a suit! Alien is a classic for many good reasons.
The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo⭐⭐
I saw this on our new book shelf and picked it up, intrigued by its premise– a sort of monster romance with ‘Southern Gothic’ themes, set in 1920s rural Appalachia, with a protagonist who works for the Frontier Nursing Service. Unfortunately, the book really fell flat for me. It’s a short novella, so I understand that there’s a limited amount of space to establish your characters and setting, but even with that, I didn’t feel immersed in the author’s fictional town nor intrigued by the people living in it. It felt like there were a few scenes the author really wanted to write, and the bits in-between weren’t as refined. I also personally wasn’t a fan of the dynamic between the two main protagonists. That said, the description of the monster in the story was really interesting and unique feeling, and I still give it two stars if only for the premise itself– I’d love to see more weird dark Southern Gothic monster romance on the shelves out there.
Hellboy, Vol. 1: Seed of Destruction by Mike Mignola⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
I feel like I’ve included too many 5-stars in this list, but Hellboy really deserves it. Even if you’ve already seen the movies, definitely give the comics a try. Mignola’s style is distinct and gorgeous, and the chunky shapes and stark chiaroscuro shading give the entire comic a clean graphical feel without sacrificing detail where it counts. It’s also fantastic as a sort of ‘monster media’– I really appreciate that through the course of the titular Hellboy’s adventures, Mignola highlights and provides fascinating portrayals of various creatures and figures from world myths. I get the impression that the author really did his research, and the way each myth is presented matter-of-factly without over-explaining or watering down the mythos really draws me in, and makes me want to read up on each and every creature portrayed. If you’re a fan of HP Lovecraft, the Hellboy series also draws a lot on those stories in new and fresh ways.
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That’s all for now! No matter my feelings on the individual media, monster stories occupy a special place in my heart, and I hope you give at least one of them a try too. A good piece of monster media can give us pause to consider the nature of what we consider good versus evil, where the boundary between humanity and ‘other’ lies, and what features and traits we deem to be ‘monstrous’ and why. At the very least, monster media can transport us into a new world for awhile, and is almost guaranteed to give us a good thrill.
You can check out most of these books and DVDs through our library, and for anything we don’t have, we’re always happy to order a copy for you through MeL. If you have any suggestions for stellar monster media that I’ve missed, feel free to give me your recommendations if you see me around the library– I’m always looking for more!
