When a giant sperm whale rammed a whaling vessel in 1820, the deadly encounter inspired Herman Melville’s classic novel, Moby Dick. Melville’s story, inspired by real-life http://archive.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1120 man-versus-beast mayhem from the 1800s, made it to movie screens in the 1950s. Director John Huston’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049513/ Moby Dick was evidence of Hollywood’s growing fascination with giant, thrashing creatures. Here are some of the best beasties ever captured on celluloid. Left: Captain Ahab (played by Gregory Peck) battles the great white whale in Moby Dick.
A giant squid battles Captain Nemo (played by James Mason) in Walt Disney’s 1954 production, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046672/ 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.
Another great white terror of the deep surfaced in 1975’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/ Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg. The blockbuster scared beachgoers and spawned three sequels.
Not nearly as big as a whale, a giant squid or a great white shark, the Gill Man nevertheless emerged from murky waters to menace humans in 1954’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046876/ Creature From the Black Lagoon, by director Jack Arnold.
In a battle of the box office titans, Godzilla battles King Kong in the 1962 Japanese film, http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056142/ Kingu Kongu tai Gojira. Only unlucky structures get between the behemoths in director Ishirô Honda’s movie.
Bigger isn’t always better. Suspense master Alfred Hitchcock turned seemingly innocuous seagulls into a giant, crowdsourced flying nightmare in 1963’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/ The Birds.
A dinosaur foolishly liberated from the Forbidden Valley goes on a rampage in http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0065163/ The Valley of Gwangi. Stop-motion animation great http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen Ray Harryhausen created the creature for director Jim O’Connolly’s 1969 flick.
Fussy intergalactic fat-ass Jabba the Hutt smokes out, Star Wars-style, in http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/ Return of the Jedi. The beast is known for his bad temper — and for keeping Princess Leia, dressed in her http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/09/amiri—-leia-s.html sexy slave girl outfit, on a chain.
Cuddly creatures turn into nightmarish beasts in 1984’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/ Gremlins and again in 1990’s sequel, Gremlins 2: The New Batch.
Creature-feature fans saw two classic extraterrestrials face off in 2004’s http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/ AVP: Alien vs. Predator, by director Paul W.S. Anderson, and in Colin Strause’s 2007 follow-up, AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem.
A hideous beast from god knows where thrashes Manhattan in 2008’s http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/01/cloverfield-rev.html Cloverfield. Director Matt Reeves did a masterful job of unveiling the monster, one blurry bit at a time.
