It’s going to be a wet, cloudy, windy, horrible couple of days across most of Australia this weekend. Stay indoors, rug up, and settle in with some all-out monster madness — here are 10 of the best monster movies that Netflix Australia has to offer.
Gizmodo’s weekly Netflix movie night is presented by the new HP Spectre x360. Any way you bend it, the Spectre x360 delivers. With four modes, lightning-fast performance, and impressive battery life, this convertible PC has the best of all worlds and the shortcomings of none.
Creature chaos not what you’re after? Check out some other Netflix Movie Night suggestions:
Netflix Movie Night: 10 Epic Alien Adventures And Thrilling Space Sagas
Netflix Movie Night: 10 Dystopic, Post-Apocalyptic Flicks
Netflix Movie Night: 20 Popcorn-Munching Action Movies That Are So Bad They’re Good
And, yes, all of these movies are available on Netflix Australia. Enjoy!
Godzilla
Godzilla is the archetypal monster movie, and Roland Emmerich’s 1998 Godzilla is by far the most popcorn-friendly of them all. It’s not the most cerebral, nor the most visually stunning, but taken in context this flick is some good honest fun and is actually pretty funny at the same time thanks to the peerless comedic timing of Jean Reno. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: A team of experts — including a biologist and two scientists — must stop an oversized lizard from destroying all of Manhattan.
IMDb: An enormous, radioactively mutated lizard runs rampant in Manhattan.
Troll Hunter
Troll Hunter follows a couple of film students as they put together a documentary, even after they realise the subject of their documentary actually hunts trolls for a living for the Norwegian government. There are some moments of sheer terror, but at the same time Troll Hunter actually humanises the giant creatures that it follows. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Three students enter the Norwegian woods to film a documentary on a bear poacher who claims that he really tracks trolls for the Norwegian government.
IMDb: A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.
Splice
Splice is a movie about genetic engineering, but not the kind that means we can get strawberries in Coles all year round. Two mad (or are they just brilliant) scientists splice together the DNA of utterly different animals for medical research, but once their work is stopped they go underground and add human DNA into the mix. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Two scientists defy the pharmaceutical company that funds their research to continue with their unorthodox experiment to create a human-animal hybrid.
IMDb: Genetic engineers Clive Nicoli and Elsa Kast hope to achieve fame by successfully splicing together the DNA of different animals to create new hybrid animals for medical use.
Sharknado
Sharknado is a monster movie. It is a cultural phenomenon. It is also quite terrible. A hurricane hits Los Angeles, and that’s the perfect opportunity for an airborne swarm of sharks to make their cunningly planned masterstroke and chomp people to bits. Watch this, then watch Sharknado 2 straight after. I dare you. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: When a hurricane swamps Los Angeles, thousands of sharks are swept up in tornadoes and deposited all over the city, where they terrorize residents.
IMDb: When a freak hurricane swamps Los Angeles, nature’s deadliest killer rules sea, land, and air as thousands of sharks terrorize the waterlogged populace.
Dark Skies
Dark Skies was actually the alternate title for Sharknado, but this particular movie isn’t about raining sharks. It’s about aliens, specifically an alien entering a young couple’s peaceful suburban house by night to terrorise them and their children. It’s like Signs, but actually good. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: A couple has trouble convincing friends and neighbors that an alien is entering their house each night to terrorize their children.
IMDb: As the Barret family’s peaceful suburban life is rocked by an escalating series of disturbing events, they come to learn that a terrifying and deadly force is after them.
The Grey
The Grey isn’t a monster movie in the traditional use of the term, but the chaos the movie’s titular wolves create in their bloodthirsty chase of a group of plane crash survivors is monster in its scale. If you’ve ever had a bad experience with a dog, beware. Alternate title: Liam Neeson’s Punches With Wolves. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: After narrowly surviving a deadly plane crash in the Alaskan wilderness, a band of oil riggers must battle the elements — and a pack of wolves.
IMDb: After their plane crashes in Alaska, six oil workers are led by a skilled huntsman to survival, but a pack of merciless wolves haunts their every step.
The Host
The Host, otherwise known as Gwoemul, is a Korean monster flick about a giant tentacled beast that comes out of the Han River in the centre of Seoul and starts to rip people to shreds. When it captures the daughter of a snack bar vendor, he decides to get mean and resolves to rescue her from her plight. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: A mutant creature has developed from toxic chemical dumping. When the monster scoops up the granddaughter of a snack-bar owner, he races to save her.
IMDb: A monster emerges from Seoul’s Han River and focuses its attention on attacking people. One victim’s loving family does what it can to rescue her from its clutches.
Monsters Inc.
Monsters Inc. is a kid’s movie, but being one of Pixar’s best it’s easily enjoyed by younger and older generations alike. In a city powered by the screams of children, two enterprising scarers find themselves in a tough spot when they find a kid that they just can’t scare. It gets worse when the young girl follows them back home. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: The professional scarers of Monsters Inc. sneak into kids’ bedrooms at night to elicit screams that they convert into energy to run their world.
IMDb: Monsters generate their city’s power by scaring children, but they are terribly afraid themselves of being contaminated by children, so when one enters Monstropolis, top scarer Sulley finds his world disrupted.
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug
The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug is the second of three em>Hobbit movies, and centres around the giant, evil, devilish creature that is the dragon Smaug. Benedict Cumberbatch’s rendition of a massive fire-breathing serpentine beast is absolutely on point, and will absolutely give you shivers — even if the movie itself isn’t exactly brilliant. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: Thorin and his band of dwarves flee the Orcs, pushing Bilbo toward a confrontation with the dragon Smaug in the second installment of the Hobbit saga.
IMDb: The dwarves, along with Bilbo Baggins and Gandalf the Grey, continue their quest to reclaim Erebor, their homeland, from Smaug. Bilbo Baggins is in possession of a mysterious and magical ring.
Monster vs. Aliens
Monster vs. Aliens is another one for the kids — switch it on and go and get some housework done. If you sit down with the fam, though, you’ll enjoy the wacky but heartwarming tale that follows when Reese Witherspoon’s character is struck by a meteorite and transformed into a 50-foot-tall lady monster. Then the aliens get involved. Watch it now on Netflix.
Netflix: After Susan Murphy is struck by a meteor and grows to be 50 feet tall, she’s captured by the government and shuttled to a secret compound.
IMDb: A woman transformed into a giant after she is struck by a meteorite on her wedding day becomes part of a team of monsters sent in by the U.S. government to defeat an alien mastermind trying to take over Earth.
Bend the Rules with the HP Spectre x360