Your favourite giant monster movie.

If there’s one thing worse than a monster, it’s a big monster. And if there’s one thing worse than a big monster, it’s a giant monster.Fortunately, where I live, they don’t have giant monsters. Someone must have wiped them all out.However, in the land of cinema, not only do huge menaces still exist, they positively thrive. And so, in light of a recent comments section demand by Killdumpster, I’m here to ask what is your favourite movie about giant monsters.This isn’t as easy a subject for me to discuss as I would have imagined, as thinking about it has made me realise there aren’t that many giant monster movies that grab me. I do have a liking for all the old Japanese Godzilla films but my appreciation for them is purely ironic. Apart from the very first one, I wouldn’t, for even one second, claim they’re actually good films.I do have an appreciation for the original King Kong but wouldn’t claim to love it, I also have a soft spot for the 1976 remake but have never yet managed to make it all the way through the Peter Jackson version, finding it far too long for my liking.I have a cheery emotional attachment to the original Mighty Joe Young but I suppose that really doesn’t count as a monster movie, anymore than Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World does.As mentioned a few days ago, the United Kingdom gave the world Gorgo but, other than that, I’m struggling to think of any British giant monster movies – apart from Konga, in which Michael Gough’s mad scientist turns a chimpanzee into a huge gorilla and then gets it to kill people. Oddly, both Konga and Gorgo were given comic book adaptations by Steve Ditko, for Charlton.When it comes to Hollywood, there are such wonders as The Valley of Gwangi, with its cowboys vs dinosaur hijinks. This is, of course, a classic, thanks to its Ray Harryhausen effects – as are The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms and It Came From Beneath the Sea. It should also be noted that Harryhausen gave us 20 Million Miles to Earth, featuring a rapidly growing space monster on the loose in Post-War Italy.And recent years have seen no shortage of American giant monster movies, with the most memorable to me being Cloverfield and Pacific Rim.Cloverfield entertained me enough on first viewing but an attempt at a second watch left me bored and annoyed by its found-footage format.I’ve never been able to work out whether I like Pacific Rim or not. However, I do know that I like the monsters in it.South Korea famously gave us The Host which I still, to this day, have never got round to seeing. I can, therefore, pass no judgement on it but it looks promising.So, at the end of all this, what conclusions have I come to about what my favourite giant monster movie is?In retrospect, I think I’m going to have to go for 20 Million Miles to Earth because I like the idea of an endlessly growing monster, I like the Italian setting, I like the charm of Harryhausen’s effects and I like that we get a tragic (for the monster) climax at the Colosseum. The ending may owe an awful lot to that of King Kong but it does it with style.But those are just my random thoughts on the matter. If you have any monster movies you admire, love or revere, you’re free to say so in the comments section below.If you don’t, you’re also free to say so in the comments section below. This site has never been one to discourage outspoken apathy, which, along with unstoppable monsters, surely has to be the greatest and most underrated force in human history.

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