David Jenkins

Cinematic monsters come in many shapes and sizes, from amorphous blobs to giant apes to Swamp Things. Some are manifestations of their designers’ deepest hang-ups or emblematic of the biggest fears of society at large. Others are uncomplicated beasts that desire to kill either for food or just for the sheer fun of it. So what makes a great monster movie? Obviously, in putting together this list of the best monster movies ever made, we had a lot of options to choose from. So we put a few parameters in place. First off, no zombies or vampires. There are simply too many, and those warrant lists of their own. Secondly, no ‘humans are the real monsters’ stuff. (Sorry, Freddy, Jason, Michael and Henry from Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer. You’re monsters, but you’re not monsters, if you catch our drift.) Instead, we opted for all the killer rabbits, killer plants, killer fish, killer clowns, killer aliens and killer giant sandworms. Here are the best monster movies of all-time. Written by Tom Huddleston, Adam Lee Davies, Andy Kryza, Paul Fairclough, David Jenkins & Matthew Singer Recommended: 👹 The 66 greatest movie monsters💀 The 100 best horror movies of all-time👽 The 100 best sci-fi movies of all-time🦄 The 50 best fantasy movies of all-time 

Here, as the dark cloud of Halloween descends, we showcase the horror movie scenes that have made us cower in our boots, dash for the exit sign and – in the case of ‘Guest House Paradiso’ – weep for the very future of humankind. Some of these terrifying moments are on here for personal reasons (‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’, ‘The Vanishing’), some constitute lesser-known gems (‘The profound Desire of the Gods’) and some are simply chilling horror classics which no list of this nature should be without (‘Jaws’, ‘The Exorcist’). WARNING: The most terrifying scenes of these scary movies often tend to take place at the end. Some of the following entries contain major spoilers – we’ve flagged them up, but we urge readers to proceed with caution. RECOMMENDED: The 100 best horror films By Dave Calhoun, Tom Huddleston, David Jenkins, Adam Lee Davies, Derek Adams

Check out our definitive list of films guaranteed to kill even the cosiest evening stone cold dead. If you've got a bad-date-movie experience of your own you'd like to share, or think there's a woefully unromantic movie we've missed out, let us know in the comments below.  

If you’re stuck with a date you don’t really want – or just keen to make your cosy night in that little bit more 'experimental' – check out our definitive list of films guaranteed to kill even the cosiest evening stone cold dead. If you've got a bad-date-movie experience of your own you'd like to share, or think there's a woefully unromantic movie we've missed out, let us know in the comments below. RECOMMENDED: The 100 best romantic movies

Taking place in the beautiful Croatian town of Tisno every July, Soundwave festival returns for a ninth instalment this summer. Renowned for its winning combination of a sun-kissed, seaside location and top-drawer music from some of the best live acts and DJs around (this year including The Pharcyde, Roni Size and Roy Ayers), if you've never made it to Soundwave, there's still time to bag a ticket for this year's bash. For a taste of what to expect, whether you're off to the festival this year or not, we recommend hitting up the official Manchester Soundwave launch party, taking place Saturday April 22 at Stage & Radio on Port Street.  Tied in with the city's celebrations for Record Store Day, the party features Manchester favourites Children Of Zeus and Mr Thing alongside Soundwave regular DJs Gilla, Bobbafatt and Jim Bane, who here pick out some of their favourite tracks from the festival from over the years. Read on for a taste of what to expect on Saturday and at the festival itself...   www.soundwavecroatia.com   1. A Tribe Called Quest - 'Buggin’ Out' DJ BobaFatt - 'The sonics of jazzy boom bap can be found deep in the DNA of Soundwave's core. Nothing exemplifies this more than the synchronised reaction to THIS bassline, and its ability to prompt hundreds of folks to air-drum one off-beat snare drum, and belt out the word "YO!" in unison.'   2. Floating Points - 'Love Me Like This' DJ Gilla - 'Great memories of this being p