History Main / MonsterMouth

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1576041255093819100
%% Please do not replace or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:230:[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/raziel.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:230:Losing your entire jaw really bites.]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900

A standard way to make monstrous figures appear alien is to mess around with their anatomy in ways that are "atypical" (to put it mildly) of human beings or, more broadly, most real-life animals.[[note]]Emphasis on "most", because [[RealityIsUnrealistic unlike what many people would think]], real-life biology can be [[TruthInTelevision as bizarre as fiction]], if not moreso at times.[[/note]] One such trait that always looks menacing and foreboding is the mouth, whether by giving it a irregular or distorted shape, [[ScaryTeeth making the teeth within it look hideous or terrifyingly deadly]], [[BellyMouth putting it somewhere where it logically should]] '''[[BellyMouth not]]''' [[BellyMouth be]], [[TooManyMouths having there be more than one,]] or a number of other methods.

* The Reapers from the second instalment of the ''Film/BladeTrilogy'' have type 3 MonstrousMandibles that hide a protrusile FlowerMouth via NestedMouths.

* Gugs are a [[OurMonstersAreWeird very strange]] monstrous race in Creator/HPLovecraft's novel ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'', with unsettling mouths that run vertically, rather than horizontally, across their faces. This is perhaps their most distinctly weird trait, but not the only one.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek''

* ''Videogame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent'': the Grunt's Mouths are split open down the length of one cheek and their jaws are allowed to hang freely.
* ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'': Among the many changes they undergo, the most striking characteristic of Necromorphs are the protruded jaw lines.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'', the Elites, or "Sangheili" as they call themselves, have a relatively-ordinary upper jaw, but what they have in place of a lower jaw [[ArtShift varies by franchise installment]]: sometimes it's a double set of type 2 MonstrousMandibles, sometimes it's one half of a FlowerMouth, sometimes it's somewhere in between.
* ''Videogame/MassEffect''

* Gryftrot and [[spoiler: [[EldritchAbomination Photoshop Flowey]]]] from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' both have a mouth that takes elements from both VaginaDentata and type 2 MonstrousMandibles. More specifically, take the process by which one turns a human mouth into a vagina dentata (rotating it 90 degrees) and apply it to something like an alligator or horse's mouth.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''WebVideo/AlienBiospheres'', being a youtube series dedicated to the speculative evolution of a planet of StarfishAliens, features all ''sorts'' of wacky chompers.

* ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseMechagodzilla Mechagodzilla]] has intimidating-looking {{jagged jaws}}, which themselves contain ''rows of buzzsaws'' designed to violently tear through the hide of any Titan that Mechagodzilla bites down on (although we never see the Mecha using them in combat).

* In ''VideoGame/{{Halo}}'', the Elites, or "Sangheili" as they call themselves, have a relatively-ordinary upper jaw, but what they have in place of a lower jaw [[ArtShift varies by franchize installment]]: sometimes it's a double set of type 2 MonstrousMandibles, sometimes it's one half of a FlowerMouth, sometimes it's somewhere in between.

A standard way to make monstrous figures appear alien is to mess around with their anatomy in ways that are "atypical" (to put it mildly) of human beings or, more broadly, most real-life animals[[note]]Emphasis on "most", because [[RealityIsUnrealistic unlike what many people would think]], real-life biology can be [[TruthInTelevision as bizarre as fiction]], if not moreso at times[[/note]]. One such trait that always looks menacing and foreboding is the mouth, whether by giving it a irregular or distorted shape, [[ScaryTeeth making the teeth within it look hideous or terrifyingly deadly]], [[BellyMouth putting it somewhere where it logically should]] '''[[BellyMouth not]]''' [[BellyMouth be]], [[TooManyMouths having there be more than one,]] or a number of other methods.

Can be a SubTrope to either BizarreAlienBiology or BodyHorror, depending on whether the mouth in question is "supposed" to look like that. Frequently occurs in conjunction with NightmareFace. No connection to FacialHorror, as that trope deals with injury and disfigurement.