YMMV / Monsters

• Ass Pull:
  • The secondary Plot Twist of "Habitat" is quite literally the last four words of the episode, with the credits following swiftly after. While the revelation that Jamie was being held captive by two aliens was implied throughout the episode, the exact reason why is held until the literal end.
    Alien #1: She was incapable of tolerating confinement. She fought against it.
    Alien #2: Yes, but when we scanned her mind, we learned that her species kept small rodents in similar confinement, in spaces they called "habitats", designed to provide a challenging and varied environment. Apparently, her kind are hypocrites. They enjoy having, but don't like, in fact they loathe being pets.
  • Exactly why the nuclear fallout caused in "The Waiting Game" would result in vampires isn't properly explained, as it only is revealed towards the end of the third act.
• Complete Monster:
  • "Pool Sharks": Natasha is a seductive Femme Fatale vampire who, needing an invitation from her victims, challenges them to a game of pool with high stakes. Concealing her nature, Natasha neglects to mention her victory can mean an agonizing end at her fangs. Having killed countless innocent men, including the brother of the hero Gabe, Natasha tries to murder Gabe as well, promising he will suffer hideously for defying her.
  • "Leavings": The inspector is actually the mastermind behind a criminal conspiracy infesting even the department he presides over. When two cops, Parkhurst and Mancini, find a series of grotesque, patchwork people, the inspector reveals he's been kidnapping dozens of easily-missed people, dismembering them and stitching their body parts into mindless, amalgamated creatures loyal to the department. The inspector creates a "perfect cop" out of these people he intends to use to replace every cop in the department, closing the episode by having it gun down Parkhurst and Mancini for their revolt to his operation.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In "Stressed Environment", the necessity of a door that needs electricity to open is questioned.
  • The start of "The Offering" sees an abrupt acknowledgement of a mother having cancer, despite there being no build up to it. But unlike that film, the cancer is a prominent plot point.
  • At one point during "Murray's Monster", a meal is interrupted by a monster abruptly appearing after the mention of a food item, and absconding off with a person while the other party does not care. The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy would more-or-less recreate this incident years later.
• Narm:
  • Right before the first act break in "Mannikins of Horror", Dr. Collins yells at his clay creatures to shut up, before turning and staring at the camera... for no reason.
    • Later on, Dr. Jarris goes into Dr. Starr's office at night, while he is drinking, to try and talk to him about Dr. Collin. Starr dismisses her concerns before abruptly offering her some vodka. The only problem is, whether it be because of how it was written in the script, or how the actor chose to read it, it comes off as a borderline Non Sequitur:
      Dr. Starr: There's nothing more to talk about (raises a glass) vodka.
• Nausea Fuel: The titular monster in "The Feverman".
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • While it was already bad enough in "The Farmer's Daughter" that Lucy turned out to have skin rot, and that every other traveling salesman prior to Howard died upon learning this (so many that Lucy lost count), but after Howard throws her down the thresher, she reappears behind him mangled beyond belief. You can even see that her arm is snapped in two.
  • The setup of "The Waiting Game" is on its own unsettling: Mutually Assured Destruction abruptly breaks down, resulting in nuclear Armageddon, with very little known survivors. And then you get to the twist: Because the nuclear winter is causing an eternal night, vampires are now overrunning the planet.
    • And then there's the matter of the closing minutes: imagine you're in a nuclear bunker, one that requires two access codes to enter, and your partner (having been turned into a vampire) is trying to get back in. And all you can do is sit on the ground and wait as he proceeds to brute force the keypad in order to get inside...
• Special Effects Failure:
  • "Mannikins of Horror" sees Dr. Starr getting stabbed in the eye by one of Dr. Collins' clay figures. It is very apparent that they had to use green-screening to get the intended shot, as the tip of blade used to stab him disappears as it reaches his cornea.
  • In general the series is pretty hit or miss when it comes to the effectiveness of the effects. While some episodes have decent costumes and puppets for the era, others exaggerate and stylize the effects (such as the episodes worked on by Vincent J. Guastini, Michael Burnett, Steve Johnson and The Chiodo Bros., sometimes to the point of Stylistic Suck), and other episodes can look genuinely terrible (such as the titular finger from "The Moving Finger" being an obvious animatronic prop).
• Squick: The Reveal in "Bug House". You ever wanted to see a woman give birth to a giant bug? Or a man turn out to be part bug? Or said woman die with maggots erupting from her arm?
• Values Dissonance: The episode "Household Gods", which was the last episode aired in 1990 and was written by Edithe Swensen^note meaning Fair for Its Day is not in effect, concerns the mother of a newborn baby trying to balance her job and her "obligations" of being a wife and mother by hiring a maid, only to be outright punished and scolded by the actions of an otherworldly creature and the words of the people around her before ultimately submitting in order to appease the titular "gods"^note and ends with the implication that the husband was in on it... and is played for comedy. Or in other words, this is an episode where Stay in the Kitchen is the moral.

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