Ideas For Scary Monsters

One of my favorite parts of horror fiction is always the monster. I've spent many a night drawing and coming up with different concepts for monsters. I figured I might as well share some of these ideas with you to see if they're scary to anyone other than me. The kind of horror I'm going for is a bit of a combination between Body Horror,Phobias, and other things, as well as how original they are. Here are some.

1. Abstractor: A parasitic blob creature composed of genetic material similar to stem cells. It invades the bodies of any other living thing by oozing in through any orifice and once inside the body, it begins altering cell growth in ways that causes numerous small teratoma-like growths over the first few weeks after infection. It then slowly deforms the host's body in increasingly extreme ways(like teeth growing inside the stomach, fully functioning organs like beating hearts inside muscle tissue.) It eventually turns it's host into a huge mass of misshapen body parts and organs, incapable of movement but still alive and somewhat conscious, the host is used as a hive for more Abstractors to be created.

Leaper: A thin, humanoid creature with four very long, very powerful arms it uses to walk around and manipulate objects with, it's limp, atrophied legs dangle uselessly underneath it. It stalks people out walking at night long distances, keeping to high up places as it watches its prey, before dropping down on them and dragging them away.

Cackler: A gray skinned humanoid with black blood running through its veins. The Cackler is created by a human being coming in contact with the black substance that serves as its blood. It retains all the intelligence, skills and talents of the person it used to be. Cacklers hunt in large groups seeking to kill or convert human beings. The name comes from the noises made by Cacklers that resemble deranged laughter.

Incubator: A microscopic, waterborne parasite that infects only male humans. Once it finds a host, it forces the male's body to form a set of organs that are functionally similar to ovaries and a birth canal. The parasite then forms a large cyst that develops in a way that mimics human pregnancy, even going as far as to force the host's mind to accept the "pregnancy" and compels the host to spend more time in water. It ends with the male giving painful, always fatal birth to millions of Incubators.

You and I will get along. Those are some great ideas.

edited 8th Mar '11 2:02:39 AM by Sylizar

I'd say those are frightening. I like 'em! Original indeed! And, being a medicine nut, I like the Body Horror effects.

(PS: I've seen you asking some pretty good questions around here. I think I'll make a point of watching for more.)

This is really cool. Nice stuff.

Very cool. I think the Abstractor is my favourite. Done with tact, you could make this creature, and it's victims, a real nightmare.

1 and 2 are neat. 3 and 4 need a bit more "spice", I think, but are cool ideas.

I like 'em, 'cept for the Cackler's cackling. I find things scarier when they don't have human emotions.

edited 8th Mar '11 12:10:15 PM by RTaco

OOH, you and I will become the best of friends. I do so love Body Horror, the mutilation of the human body, the effects on the mind...

You have such delightful ideas.

A bipedal primate with limited body hair, and a tendency towards infighting and other acts of violence.

I believe it was Alfred Hitchcock who said there's nothing more frightening than an unopened door.(Or maybe it was said about him?) Giving vague hints of what the creature is as opposed to showing it outright can often be scarier than showing it.

Idea! Off the top of your head, name three things you don't like about yourself and make monsters!

Stalker with a Crush

Brilliant, but Lazy

Does Not Follow Directions

The A-Monster hides in the walls of buildings. If it can be lured out, then it is easily identifiable by its humanoid appearance and its distinctive deformities-they always have sacks of fluid hanging off of nearly every part of their body. They select a target (usually female, but not always. In any case, the A-Monsters are a male One-Gender Race) and observe them somehow from within their hiding places. They follow under sidewalks and such, following the target through their daily routine. Sometimes, the target will luck out and the A-Monster will randomly switch to a different target. Generally, however, the target will begin to see the A-Monster's distinct fluid (a very watery substance) dampen places that they visit regularly. The only way to escape from an A-Monster when targeted, if another target is not selected, is to enter an area without any civilization, luring it out of hiding, and then to defeat it in combat (a difficult task if not armed). All A-Monster targets that do not dispose of their A-Monsters in such a way are found raped to death. If the bodies are not cremated, then worm-like organisms generated by the corpse will grow into A-Monsters themselves. A-Monsters could hypothetically live forever, but they are generally found victims of suicide. It is thought that this is because this is because, on some level, their lifestyle is morally disgusting even to them, though this has yet to be confirmed beyond old wives' tales.

The B-Monster is a whitish green sort of fuzz with large, exagerratedly googly eyes growing on them every so often. It grows in just about any area, though places where dry work is done tend to attract many, many more B-Monsters. To those who have not been explicitly trained, B-Monsters appear to be invisible. Any area that is under the sight of B-Monsters will become significantly less inclined to fulfill obligations. The more eyes looking at a subject, the greater the effect will be. Generally, victims of B-Monsters try to make up excuses for their procrastination. When exposed for too long, the effects of a B-Monster on an individual's work ethic can be permanent, though in normal cases recovery can typically be made, though often only with violent therapy. Extreme exposure can lead to serious mental retardation or a comatose state.

The C-Monster typically appears to be an unusually large green beetle, but it can take any form. The C-Monster initially bites an authority figure on the back of his or her neck, and then leaves. The authority figure will then make a request to someone under his authority. This request will never be particularly harmful to the victim, but it will often be degrading or seemingly absurd. However, if the victim does not follow the request, then the C-Monster will inevitably kill the victim in a suitably ironic form related to his disobedience. The authority figure will then typically become mentally unstable and will transform into a C-Monster the next time that they go to sleep.

@OP, I like the first and forth, the third's okay, but the second feels the weakest due to one bit of Fridge Logic "How do it drag people away if it can only use its arms?"

edited 8th Mar '11 10:53:57 PM by SakuraTenshi

They are all interesting, but I like the abstractor the best, I think. It could be really terrifying with the implication of and I must scream. That seems to be one thing that really frightens many people.

The leaper is a creepy image. I think the idea of keeping what it actually does to people ambiguous might be most effective, at least at first.

The cackler sounds good to me, too. I like that sort of assimilation thing. Done right, this is also something that tends to scare people.

The incubator is also interesting. There is the mind-rape, as well as the body horror, not to mention a particular male fear.

Thanks for the feedback so far. Since the Abstractor had the best feedback, I'm definitely going to do something with it.

A few more ideas:

The Surgeon) A grayish-black crab-like creature with eight long limbs ending in sharp, thin claws that secretes a fluid that acts as a powerful painkiller and antisceptic. It chooses a victim at random and hides in his or her room. It then comes out when the victim is sleeping and slowly harvests parts of the victim's body, starting small with picking off bits of skin and drawing blood and working up to things like fingers,toes and internal organs. It only removes and eats parts that aren't essential for the victim to live.

Binge Fungus) A fungus that grows inside a person's stomach that causes the person to feel a constant, powerful hunger. It manifests itself as small cravings and gradually grow more severe, eventually driving the host insane with extreme hunger, eating anything and everything in sight.

Chameleon Man) A creature that resembles a hairless humanoid with no nose and a hunched posture. It is capable of camouflaging itself to the point of near invisibility, it stalks its victims over a long period of time, studying his or her habits and routine, eventually ambushing and killing the victim.

These are all pretty cool monsters, but I'm going to post one of my own monsters which I find could be scary and extremely weird, but unfortunately has no names:

A vaguely humanoid horned, twelve foot tall creature with twenty small black insectoid eyes on each side of the head. Large, pink, bird-like wings sprout from the back, and the legs are long, thick tentacles that end in giant, raptor-like feet the color black. The arms are double jointed and have black sword blades instead of nails. The teeth are needle-like, and the head is shaped like that of a mole. Shaggy, quill-like hair covers the entire body except for the eyes, horns, interior part of the mouth, and wings, scarlet like human blood. The tongue is a long, red tentacle, and lolls forth. The horns are like that of a ram, but the color blue. It has purple blood. It can’t be detected by electronic devices, and when it gets near them, they start to not work. It can also unleash high-pitch piercing shrieks which can shatter glass (as well as eardrums.) It has fast reactions and heals twenty-five times faster than normal beings do. The blood is corrosive enough to burn human flesh. They live in caves.

Do you like this monster, and what do you think its name should be? I am going to, for reference, call it simply "A Pink-winged Spiny Cave Horror", since that sounds fitting enough to me.

That is an interesting creature. I'd call it a Devil cuttlefish. It it made of tentacles? Or how do the tentacles act as feet?

I would like to share my idea. There are two species of this spider. One needs to be near water and the other goes around on land. The land species is amber colored. It latches onto a human or animal's neck, allowing it to feed on the electricity produced by the body. To make matters worse it has a stinger that it will implant in the back of the spine while it is feeding so that it can use the host's body. The spiders hunt by scent and sound when they are feeding on a host and do learn how to use guns.

The water spider will paralyze its victim and then crawl into the victim and burrow a hole to their brain where it will make room for its self and latch onto the tip of the spinal column. They will use the bodies until the bodies are too old or damaged and then return them to a water source where the spider will lay eggs in the host. Boats are advised to avoid floating bodies as the young will eagerly accept new hosts.

Just the legs are tentacles. The way they movement is quite...odd, as no living being moves like them. They have those black claws on the end of their long, thick tentacles for feet.