Top 10 Favorite Monsters:

1:   Vampires.  I refer here to more the Dracula version, not Twilight.  I’ve always been interested in immortality as a curse.  However… I read Rice’s Vampire Chronicles back-to-back-to-back and never left the house, at one point got hungry. and thought to myself, “I’m hungry.  I need blood.”  Too far.
2:   The Adipose.  Doctor Who monsters count, right?  Most adorable monsters ever.  But the tooth still makes them a little creeping – and, you know, the fact that they’re made in people’s fat.  (Sidenote: I have a stuffed Adipose on my desk that’s one of my favorite things I own.)
3:   Bigfoot/Sasquatch.  Honestly, I don’t even care about Bigfoot that much.  But the frenzy with which conspiracy theorists pursue this legendary monster is hilarious to me, to the point that friends and I once made a spoof documentary called “I Dream of Sasquatch” where our characters hunted for Sasquatch out in the wilderness, failed miserably, and ended up paying a hobo with peanut butter cups to pretend to be a Sasquatch.
4:   Pale Man.  I was just “meh” about Pan’s Labyrinth overall.  But the one image of this guy holding his palms out with the eyeballs was haunting.
5:   Xenomorph Aliens.  I love that these things are just flat-out killer monsters.  There’s no reason to have sympathy with them.  Giger’s designs have a great mix of humanoid alien and bug-ness with something completely new thrown in, and I’ve always liked the look of their nests too.
6:   The Giant Squid.  Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea was one of my favorite adventure stories as a kid.  I find anything with multiple legs creepy (spiders are also a problem), and tentacles reaching up from the black depths of the sea is a nightmare every time.
7:   The Gentlemen.  As a teen of the 90s, of course something from Buffy has to make my list.  These smiling, hovering, voice-stealing monsters were and are still gents who make me go “Argh” (get it?  see what I did there?) every time I see a picture of them.  Something about the juxtaposition of a monster face paired with a nice suit is really effective.
8:   Jurassic Park Raptors.  Yes, the T-rex is terrifying.  But you can see it coming.  These “little” guys are stealthy and agile and could attack anywhere at any time.
9:   The Rancor.  It would be terrifying to be trapped in its cave/cage like Luke was, but I also kinda sympathize with the guy who lost his pet once Luke killed it.
10: Jaws shark.   I’m not sure if this fictional shark really counts as a monster, but it’s one of the things that gives me nightmares.  I love sharks.  I’d jump at the chance to swim with them in a supervised environment.  But a bloodthirsty shark who kills for fun, lurking down there in the unseen depths – that’s a monster that freaks me out a bit.

Anybody have their own list?   Comment below!