Neil Gaiman Shares Top 10 Classic Monsters
July 23, 2008 by Alexandra
Science fiction and fantasy writer Neil Gaiman has weighed in with his Top 10 new Classic Monsters list. EW asked guest writers to contribute their own top 10 lists for the amazing special 100th issue.
I’m delighted with this match-up of Neil Gaiman and monsters! I should warn you, this is a somewhat contemporary list, and albeit accurate one as for me. In some instances I linked to the picture from the list. However, I also linked to a better image if it were available.
Some of his monsters may be the very ones that have been lurking in your own subconscious:
- The (comic character) Swamp Thing from 1984-87 Moore/Bisette/Totleben comic – crusty and massive indeed!
- Willem Dafoe’s Max Schreck in Shadow of The Vampire (2000) – Willem Dafoe is totally transformed in this role.
- The Weeping Angels in the 2007 Doctor Who episode, Blink - Looks quite malevolent.
- The character Hannibal Lecter in the Thomas Harris novels
- Grendel in Beowulf (2007)
- Eugene Tooms, the immortal liver- eating mutant from The X-Files episodes, Squeeze and Tooms. – these episodes were pivotal in the movement of the mythology of the series.
- The Nightbreed from Clive Barker’s film, The Nightbreed (1990)
- Pennywise the clown from Stephen King’s film, It (1986) -1986 maybe have been the very year that clowns became scary.
- The Pale Man in Pan’s Labrynth (2006) – the creature with eyeballs in its hands.
- The character Craddock McDermott from the novel, Heart Shaped Box (2007)
So what did you think of his list? No. 6 and No. 8 definitely struck a cord with me for scariest!
hey i love the clown it it is all i want to be for haloween it makes me mad i can never find eney think even like it i love it the clown.:)
cool list, i agree 1000%. the 84-87 swamp thing is the one i have always remembered the most. i always wondered why he had changed and thought i just remembered it more cause that’s when i was a kid reading them. glad to see i’m in good company for remembering that particular thing.
2 on the list i’ve always lived and 3, i couldn’t even believe that dr. who had such macabre looking creations. i was floored. yet again, glad to see i am in good company for that one, too. and of coarse, the nightbreed, of coarse i’m biased when it comes to clive, but they do rock
which reminds me, anyone interested in a Nightbreed director’s cut needs to tweet @philandsarah and let them know. an additional 45 minutes that was cut has been found only the movie company that holds the rights won’t put one out unless the demand is there. phil and sarah run clive’s web site and are keeping tabs and making the lists of those that want one made to show proof to these people that only care about the almighty dollar that us horror fans are out here and want to see it.
as for 10, i had to look that up, never heard of it, and i definitely need to read that book.
i just tweeted phil and sarah and sent them the link to your story