25 best horror movie monsters

21. Graboids (Tremors)

In many ways, Tremors is a silly movie. If you don’t believe me, then try to describe it someone who has somehow never seen it before. You would probably talk about how it begins with a couple of down-on-their-luck handymen, Val and Earl, in the remote desert town of Perfection, Nevada. Their scruffy life in Perfection doesn’t amount to much, though, so they set out for the bigger town of Bixby. On their way out, they come across the body of Edgar Deems, a Perfection resident.

Edgar’s death seems to have been a strange one. You see, the pair finds the deceased Edgar perched atop an electrical tower, still clutching his rifle. A doctor later concludes that Edgar died of dehydration. What could have kept this poor man on this tower for so long that he died of thirst?

Val and Earl later discover another body (or, well, part of one), half-buried in the sand. They become convinced that a killer is on the loose, and so return to Perfection. Hero handymen, after all, can probably swing a higher asking price for their work.

They’re not entirely wrong about the fact that there is a murderer running through Perfection. However, it’s no human killer. Instead, it’s a group of massive subterranean worms eventually deemed “graboids”.

The eyeless graboids navigate by feel, which does nothing to make them less frightening. They’re immensely strong, being able to haul cars and even mobile homes, and immensely gross. It’s also deeply unnerving – imagine a graboid is somewhere below you right now, waiting for only the slightest movement to pounce.

Given that the hungry, hungry graboids can sense the movements of creatures above ground, the residents of Perfection are in a dangerous situation. To survive, they have to use their wits and engage in what must be the tensest game of “the floor is lava” that anyone has ever played.