From Universal classics to genre-defying Oscar winners, these creature features have earned their place in cinematic history.

Most horror movies have a monster in them somewhere, even if that monster is human.

In fact, part of the fun of creature features is their grab-bag nature.

Best Japanese horror movies

Godzilla.Everett Collection

Here are EW’s picks for the 25 best monster movies of all time, ranked.

But in a good monster movie, it’s about what youdon’tsee as much as what you do.

We even see it in daylight, which is a bold move that Bong executes with ease.

THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN

Everett Collection

The violence, when it does appear, is brutal and unsettling.

And what a creation it is.

In a rarity for such an outrageous film, critics and audiences actually gotRe-Animatorwhen it hit theaters in 1985.

British actor Boris Karloff (1887 - 1969) as Frankenstein’s monster in ‘Frankenstein’, directed by James Whale, 1931. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

Silver Screen Collection/Getty

The inexplicable nature of the bird attacks Why attack humans?

is essential to the film’s terror.

Watch your hairdos, ladies!

KING KONG, King Kong, 1933

Everett Collection

Clever and suspenseful, it’s escapist entertainment at its best.

But it became a cult hit on home video, spawning six direct-to-video sequels and a TV series.

Once thawed, the beast makes its way down the Atlantic coast, eventually coming ashore in Manhattan.

JAWS, 1975

Everett Collection

The scientific jargon is silly, and the acting is merely passable.

Where to watchPumpkinhead: Amazon Prime Video (to rent)

Related content:

THE HOST S KOR 2006 aka GWOEMUL KANG-HO SONG HAE-IL PARK HIE-BONG BYEON

Mary Evans/CHUNGEORAHM FILM / SHOWBOX - MEDIAPLEX/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

The Fly 1986

20th Century Fox/Everett

Simone Simon and Kent Smith in ‘Cat People’

Simone Simon and Kent Smith in ‘Cat People’.Courtesy Everett Collection

THE INVISIBLE MAN, from left: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, 1933

Everett Collection

The Invisible Man

Mark Rogers/Universal Pictures

(Original Caption) 1954- Webbed hands and feet characterize this half-fish, half-man monster, the “Gill Man” who appeared in Universal’s, “The Creature From the Black Lagoon,” 1954. The actor, who was never seen as he really looked, Ricou Browning, is supposed to be the last survivor of a prehistoric race. Months of research and hundreds of drawings were necessary to create this creature. (Photo by George Rinhart/Corbis via Getty Images)

Ricou Browning as Gill-man in ‘Creature From the Black Lagoon’.George Rinhart/Corbis/getty

PAN’S LABYRINTH, (aka EL LABERINTO DEL FAUNO), Doug Jones, 2006

Warner Bros/Courtesy Everett Collection

RE-ANIMATOR, Jeffrey Combs, David Gale, 1985

Everett Collection

THE SHAPE OF WATER

Fox Searchlight

DESCENT (2005) Shauna Macdonald

Alex Bailey/Lionsgate

AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON

Everett Collection

THE MUMMY

Everett Collection

A group of schoolchildren flail about in terror at the avian attack in a publicity still for ‘The Birds’, directed by Alfred Hitchcock for Universal, 1963. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)

Archive Photos/Getty

Clive Barker Adaptations Clive Barker’s Nightbreed

Everett Collection

GINGER SNAPS US/CAN 2000 KATHARINE ISABELLE Date 2000, Photo by: Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection(10359031)

Everett Collection

Jeff Daniels in ‘Arachnophobia’

Jeff Daniels in ‘Arachnophobia’.Everett Collection

TROLLHUNTER, (aka THE TROLL HUNTER

Magnet Releasing/Courtesy Everett Collection

TREMORS, Kevin Bacon, Fred Ward

Everett Collection

THE BEAST FROM 20 000 FATHOMS

Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett Collection

PUMPKINHEAD Lance Henriksen

Everett Collection