What Are Creatures?
There are non-human things in movies that destroy property, kill people and terrify humanity which do not qualify for Monster. If it's in a movie bringing fear and isn't man-made, then that thing is just a creature - hence Creature Feature.
Often a creature is something that's been around, usually undiscovered, when some type of eco-clash happens between the creature and mankind. The key distinguishing feature is that no human is responsible for the creature being in its form.
Let’s explore:
Dracula (1931)
Creature. From here, it's totally reasonable to go one more step & further classify the Count as an Undead Creature.
There are many various origins, as well as definitions, for the Vampire. Regardless, however vague or explicit the explanation, however outright stated or subtly hinted at, not one origin credits humanity as the reason Vampires exist in the form they do.
One author, Whitley Strieber, writes his Vampires as an evolutionary primate co-evolving alongside mankind preying on them for sustenance. As he states:
"The perfect predator would be indistinguishable from his prey."
Whereas Anne Rice cites an ancient Egyptian exorcism gone wrong as the origin of the first vampires: Akasha & Enkil.
So in the case of a demonic entity hybridizing with man to form a new species, would these resulting vampires not rightly be classified as Monster?
The short answer is No.
The reason for distinguishing between Monster & Creature will be covered in a later post. For now, if humans are not responsible for it existing, then it's a Creature: the result of nature doing what nature does.
The Wolf Man (1941)
As is, he's Creature. The 1941 film cites a psychological reference and nothing else. Since it seems to be a mysterious - but natural - phenomenon: Creature. With more information, the werewolf - like the Mummy - could easily be a monster.
For example, in Underworld Awakening (2012), an Über Lycan is engineered deliberately by scientists. That lycan - Quint - would definitely be Monster. His lycan state has been scientifically altered into a form that the lycan virus would never produce on its own.
Remember, natural only means that nature - by itself - orchestrated the creature. At the very least, “natural” means humans did not play a role.
Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
Creature, obviously. It's in the movie's name, isn't it? It was never altered by humanity's presence. Just simply living in his lagoon when humans trounced into his crib.
And that is a critical key to most Creature Features; natural ones like Jaws (1975), The Edge (1997) or The Grey (2011) - even unnatural ones like The Descent (2005), Exists (2014) or The Hallow (2015). Humans went into the creature's habitat and paid some serious penalties for doing so.
Cloverfield (2008)
Creature. New York's Godzilla perhaps. but it's still a sea creature and not an experiment gone wrong. All natural, just never encountered before.
This could possibly be an example of a creature feature where humans did not instigate the movie's conflict by intruding into the Clover's domain. That is, if one is to accept that the origin of the Clover as being from another dimension.
Otherwise, the initial explanation of the Clover being awakened by a satellite crashing into the Atlantic Ocean would technically mean mankind did intrude first.
Night of the Living Dead (1968)
Creature. Radioactive contamination from a space probe. An improbable interaction, gruesome consequences, but natural nonetheless.
This one’s tricky because technically it was our understanding of space travel that exposed the probe to the radioactive contamination. However, humans weren't trying to harness that particular energy which caused the zombie-effect.
Whether the result is intentional or not, the effort on our part to use scientific understanding and to harness a natural element or energy both have to be present to warrant the term Monster.
So are there ever any exceptions to these rules? Find out in the next dangerously informative installment!
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