This is almost the plot of George Lucas’ THX 1138. The Powers of the Society that are chasing the escaped individual THX 1138 are called back because they exceeded their budget, so he gets away.
Lots of suggestions for killing, so I suggest making love not war. Except that’ll get you killed in a monster movie.
-
The psycho killer is never really dead- he’ll be back for dozens of sequels (Freddy, Jason, Michael Myers)
-
Aliens who can be killed by water aren’t smart enough to avoid planets covered in the stuff (Signs)
True – having sex with a monster in a monster film either seems to get you killed (Galaxy of Terror, for instance) or “pregnant” (actually, usually serving as a bioreactor for alien thingees), with lethal consequences (Slither, Xtro, Inseminoid, etc. ad nauseam). Nonlethal and even enjoyable sex with aliens seems to be the province of graphic novels and TV shows.*
*Not Alien or Prometheus or Night of the Blood Beast or that ilk – Just implanting alien embryos, that ain’t sex.
No, I meant sex (or adolescent groping) between humans, who often get killed by the monster (well, the guy more often than the girl).
Also, one of the classic Dracula films has him drowning (“running water”), so that fits one of the categories.
The best example of this being the guy killed by the Giant Breast in Woody Allen’s Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex … But Were Afraid to Ask. He’s found lying face-down in a pool of milk.
Some need tungsten.
In addition to defeating other monsters, monsters can defeat aliens. (Monsters vs. Aliens)
On the other hand, using those high tension power lines to electrify the railroad tracks can be quite effective against giant killer bunny rabbits. (Night of the Lepus)
Worked pretty well against “Gargan” (“Gargon?”) in Teenagers from Outer Space, and the Collosal Man in War of the Colossal Beast. But sometimes electricity only makes it stronger. Or, as in Godzilla’s case, simply pisses him off.
Simply sneeze on them - they are not resistant to our bacteria. <WoW - every good version>
They also stole it for Harryhausen’s First Men in the Moon (Hey, it’s H.G. wells, right?)
The version I like is the SNL sketch where the announcement is made from a TV station based in Brooklyn:
“It was JOIMS!”
Or shooting something directly into a specific vulnerable spot on the Monster
Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (With a certain steely-eyed sharpshooter)
The Black Scorpion
Them
Some monsters are very tasty (giant crab and bird in Mysterious Island)
Slightly OT…was the implication in the 1931 Frankenstein that the Monster had raped Elizabeth (Mae Clarke) on her wedding day, or just that he had frightened her into fainting before running off? The movie’s pre-Code, so it really could be the former.
In The Bride (1935, post-Code) Elizabeth (now brunette and Valerie Hobson) is back and all perky and ready for her nuptials! And she only gets kidnapped, with no rapey stuff. Although an early draft of the script had her being murdered for her heart so it could be implanted into the Bride (Elsa Lanchester). Which would have been cool and very James Whale-ish, if also somewhat ooky.
You can hack into an invading alien fleet’s command network with a Mac Plus (Independence Day).
In the novel, of course, Elizabeth gets killed outright on her wedding night, as the Monster had promised. The first movie toned all the tragedy down, so Elizabeth only faints. There was, AFAIK, no intention of suggesting, let alone depicting, rape.
This is the first I heard of Elizabeth being murdered for her heart in Bride of Frankenstein. It does indeed seem a macabre touch worthy of Whale, but it would’ve been against the entire somewhat light tone of the film. I can’t believe he seriously entertained the idea.
On the other hand, the idea is pretty much used in the Kenneth Branaugh-directed Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, where Elizabeth is pretty much resurrected whole (with no other parts added from other bodies), but comes out sorta … wrong. And pretty quickly sets fire to everything. One thing that film did get right is the sense of overall tragedy, with damned near everybody dying.
I’ve run into the idea before. I’m pretty sure it’s mentioned in Tom Weaver’s Universal Horrors, though I don’t have that book in front of me right now to double check. In any case, there seems to be some disagreement about it. The wikipedia article on Bride of Frankenstein says “Kim Newman reports that Whale planned to make Elizabeth the heart donor for the bride, but film historian Scott MacQueen states that Whale never had such an intention.”
I guess it depends on whether you believe Kim or Scott!
Not sure where I first read about the possibility of Elizabeth being raped in the original Frankenstein, possibly in Ivan Butler, who tends towards the dark.
The takeaway from The Bride might be that it’s “light,” with all the campy Ernest Thesiger stuff, but the Monster MURDERED a bunch of people before he got slammed in the Big Chainy Chair down in the basement cell. Also, the Dwight Frye character MURDERED a young woman to get that heart. (“It’s very fresh!”)
Yes, and the Monster then murdered Dwight Frye and the other assistant.
But they pulled the plug on his killing off Henry Frankenstein and Elizabeth (even though Colin Clive is clearly in the long shot just before it happens), giving us that outtta nowhere and inconsistent “You Go! We Belong Dead!” line from The Creature, giving the lucky couple time to escape.
We didn’t see the person murdered for the “fresh” heart, and the killed villagers and henchmen are only cardboard, after all. But you can’t kill the Young Lovers. Or Una O’Connor (even though he just precipitated another villager woman just before he encounters her) – she’s the comic relief, and we care about her.