Some of Jimmy Watson's friends, with the Magic Dinobot

For our money, the Warner Bros., 1954 classic "Them" set the benchmark when it comes to giant mutated ants. King-Kong is also up there, with Jurassic Park, amalgamating CGI to amazing effect. We also like the 1988 'Godzilla' with Matthew Broderick and Jean Reno.

Factually, giant bugs actually existed millions of years ago during the Carboniferous era? According to scientists, the enormous sized insects that lived back then were possible because of the greater levels of oxygen in the atmosphere. In 'Sectasaur', insects have gone one stage further, developing pumped (turbo-charged) spiracles, as a substitute lung. Whereas, Anthony, the Magic DinoBot is an animatronic giant ant, - and robots do not need to breathe.

BEST CHRISTMAS MOVIES

It's a Wonderful Life 1946 (James Stewart)
White Christmas 1954 (Bing Crosby)
Elf 2003 (Will Ferrell)
Miracle on 34th Street 1994 (Richard Attenborough)
The Snowman 1982 animation
The Polar Express 2004 animation
Love Actually 2003 (Colin Firth)
Jingle All The Way 1996 (Arnold Schwarzenegger)
Home Alone 1990 (Macaulay Culkin)
The Muppets Christmas Carol 1992
The Grinch 2018
The Man Who Invented Christmas 2017
Spirited 2022 (Will Ferrell, Ryan Reynolds)
Die Hard 1988 (Bruce Willis)
The Nightmare Before Christmas 1993 animation

ALIENS AND ROBOTS MOVIES

Alien 1979 (Ridley Scott)

Arachnophobia 1990 (Jeff Daniels)

Big Hero 6 - Walt Disney animation

Blade Runner - 1982 & 2017

Chappie 2015 Dev Patel, Hugh Jackman

Ex Machina - 2014 (Alicia Vikander)

Gladiator 2000 Russell Crowe (Rome)

Honey I Shrunk The Kids 1989

I,Robot - Will Smith 2004 (Isaac Asimov)

Men In Black 1997 - Will Smith

Predator 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger

Real Steel 2011 Hugh Jackman (Robots)

The Food of the Gods H. G. Wells 1976

The Fly 1958 (Vincent Price)

The Fly 1986 (Jeff Goldblum)

The Relic 1997 - Penelope Ann Miller (Horror)

The Terminator 1984 Arnold Schwarzenegger

The Thing 1982 (Antarctica) John Carpenter

DINOSAURS AND GIANT BEASTS

1 Jurassic Park (1993)

Jurassic Park is more than a film; it is a line in the sand after which the modern blockbuster came into being. It is a marvel of technological progress and (mostly) accurate creature depictions, tied to a propulsive plot that understands exactly which buttons it needs to press at any given moment. An incontestable classic, this film will still be top of the list a century from now.

2 King Kong (2005)

Though there are many and the original is the classic all others, stem from, Peter Jackson’s 2005 behemoth, at last did justice to the black & white. With New York the setting for the famous climax, the real fun is had back on Skull Island. This is where Kong goes at it with a prehistoric beast, fending off an attack so savagely that his power will never again be underestimated.

3 One Million Years BC (1966)

Even compared with some of the duds on this list, One Million Years BC is wildly inaccurate. Human beings weren’t around 1m years ago and the last dinosaurs died tens of million of years before that. But your mind would have been blown in innumerable ways had you watched Harryhausen’s spectacular dinosaur animation in a cinema in the 60s.

4 The Good Dinosaur (2015)

This was overlooked on release, thanks to the cultural crater left by Inside Out, but Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur is an oasis of quiet charm. The story of a young apatosaurus who finds himself in charge of a small, mute human, The Good Dinosaur isn’t particularly spectacular or inventive, but it has charm by the bucketload and a supremely weepy ending. The best talking-dinosaur film.

5 The Tree of Life (2011)

OK, you have to ignore most of the film to consider this a dinosaur movie. But that is fine, because you will just be ignoring lots of middle-aged men having bland quasi-existential crises. The moment in question comes when Terrence Malick gets bored by his film and decides to show us the history of the universe instead. There is a dinosaur sequence that cannot be forgotten.

6 Jurassic World (2015)

A huge financial success, Jurassic World isn’t so much a sequel as a remake. You could argue that its mimicry becomes rote and that Chris Pratt is no Jeff Goldblum, but there is something thrilling about a story being told well all over again. And, hey, if you are going to rip off anything, it might as well be Jurassic Park.

7 The Land Before Time (1988)

Although the series eventually meandered into direct-to-video infinity, for a while The Land Before Time was the dinosaur movie. Directed by Don Bluth and executive-produced by Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, it was envisioned as “Bambi with dinosaurs” and it absolutely nails the assignment. In parts syrupy, scary and profound, it is worth a rewatch.

8 Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (2009)

Having backed itself into a corner with the environmental sermon Ice Age: The Meltdown, the franchise decided to fudge history and introduce some dinosaurs into proceedings. For many, this is where the series began to lose its way, but there are plenty of delights to be had in the deliberately unfaithful dinosaur depictions.

9 A Journey to the Beginning of Time (1955)

It is incredible to think that Karel Zeman’s 1955 movie is almost 70 years old. While the story has decayed a little over time – kids row a boat down a river and gawp at the animals on the banks – the experience of watching it remains undimmed. In terms of animation, set design and ambition, this film is a miracle. Wes Anderson is a fan for a reason.

10 Jurassic Park III (2001)

What a weird film. For the bulk of its running time, Jurassic Park III is intent on correcting the wrongs of The Lost World: Jurassic Park. The story is more compact, the scares are scarier; everything is going swimmingly. Then it comes to an abrupt end, as if the production ran out of money. A wasted opportunity.

11 The Lost World (1925)

Arthur Conan Doyle’s novel has been adapted countless times, but the most effective version is Harry O Hoyt’s silent offering from 1925. It is is an exceptional production, utilising stop motion, full-body makeup and real animals. Points added for the climax, in which a loose brontosaurus smashes up a beloved Soho drinking establishment. Points lost for other elements ageing very, very badly indeed. You will know them when you see them.

12 The Valley of Gwangi (1969)

Three years after One Million Years BC, Harryhausen had another, less successful, stab at dinosaur creation with The Valley of Gwangi. Essentially, some cowboys find a load of dinosaurs and have a big fight with them. The whole thing is ridiculous and isn’t remembered with much fondness. But if HBO can reimagine Westworld as an expensive prestige drama series, then The Valley of Gwangi deserves the same.

13 The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)

Were it not for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, this would be the worst Jurassic movie. Another attempt to deviate from a perfect story, The Lost World fails on many fronts. Half the original cast is missing (replaced by Vince Vaughn and others), all the characters know exactly what to expect from the island, and the finale (in which a T rex goes nuts in San Diego) sails far too close to pastiche.

14 The Land That Time Forgot (1974)

There is a 2009 movie of this name produced by the creators of Sharknado. Please avoid that and head for the good stuff: Kevin Connor’s 1974 version. True, the dinosaurs lack the finesse of a Ray Harryhausen production – some are puppets, and some are men dressed up – but the story is mostly faithful to the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel. Plus, it features one of the all-time great cinematic jump scares.

15 Tammy and the T-Rex (1994)

What the heck! Denise Richards plays Tammy, a college girl whose life is turned upside down when her boyfriend’s brain is implanted into a giant animatronic dinosaur. Legend states that the film was made only because the director found a model dinosaur that nobody was using. If that is true, it shows.

16 The Flintstones (1994)

The same dino fad that inspired Theodore Rex also gave us The Flintstones, a 1994 live-action remake of the beloved cartoon series. While not a good film – where John Goodman almost looks embarrassed to be playing Fred Flintstone – it still has its moments. If nothing else, its depiction of Dino is relentlessly cute.

17 Super Mario Bros (1993)

Fun fact: Super Mario Bros was released two weeks before Jurassic Park, but those two weeks now feel like 25 years. Everything about this film is overcast, not least the fact that its central conceit – the meteorite that killed the dinosaurs created a parallel dimension of humanoid dinosaurs led by Dennis Hopper – has very little to do with Mario.

18 Land of the Lost (2009)

In 2009, it seemed as if Will Ferrell could do no wrong. But that all changed when he released Land of the Lost, a $100m spectacular that attempted to fuse Ferrell’s loosey-goosey humour to a technologically precise effects behemoth about dinosaurs. The two did not mesh that well, according to critics, and Land of the Lost remains one of Ferrell’s strangest excursions.

19 Theodore Rex (1995)

Imagine the last film you would want to see, a mid-90s buddy cop movie starring Whoopi Goldberg and a fully dressed, anthropomorphic, animatronic dinosaur might be what you would envisage. It is said that this film is so bad that Goldberg had to be sued to appear in it.

20 Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)

The sequel to Jurassic World made the mistake of trying to move the story along. No longer just a romp about a theme park filled with dinosaurs, this is ostensibly a horror movie about a black market dinosaur auction in a spooky castle, fitted with giant steel and concrete cages. The cloning of humans is introduced, as a departure from dinosaurs.

GIANT INSECTS

1. Starship Troopers (1997)

Giant intelligent bugs battle space marines on alien worlds, including impressive bug-fights and special effects. The annoying neo fascist humans sort of make you want to cheer for the bugs.

2. Mosquito (1995)

An alien spacecraft crash lands on Earth and its occupants are strung by a mosquito, which immediately mutates into a Giant Killer Mosquito the size of a german shepherd. And it has a big appetite to match.

The giant alien mosquitoes, as with all mutated freaks, decide to suck the blood of humans instead of picking on easier targets such as cows. But then it wouldn't be much of a horror movie if these bugs were well behaved. And, there are more juicy humans, with over 8 billion donors.

3. Invasion of the Bee Girls (1973)

A government experiment goes horribly wrong and sexy big breasted women are turned into human bees. They then go about taking their clothes off a lot and killing all the guys they mate with.

Interestingly the resulting human-bug hybrids retain their big breasted sexiness as a lure. Unfortunately, the eye candy comes with a deadly bee stinger, which means that a lot of would be lotharios end up dead. This is a truly unique movie combing breasts and bees. Held to be a great 1970s exploitation cinema.

4. Them! (1954)

Yet another government project gone awry - this time it's nuclear testing - leads to giant murdering ants that go on a rampage and ruin a lot of picnics.

Although the special effects are dated, this is a really good movie. The ants disagree, however, claiming that it depicts them in a stereotypical fashion. They have lodged complaints and have boycotted this film by Warner Brothers.

5. Beginning of the End (1957)

In this movie the government screws up again and another experiment gone wrong leads to giant locusts eating their way through Chicago.

Giant bug movies have a recurrent theme: don't trust government scientists. They will mess things up and create big breasted bee human hybrids or even worse, giant spiders, ants and other assorted bugs. Why can't these mad scientists just leave things bee. If you'll pardon the pun?

6. Kingdom of the Spiders (1977)

William Shatner delivers an excruciatingly (so-bad-it's-good) performance as a man battling giant carnivorous spiders. Also features a commendable supporting actress performance from Bessie the Cow. Don't ask. There is no escaping their web of terror! Oh yes,  giant bugs bring out the best puns!

7. The Wasp Woman (1959)

At least they can't blame the government for this one: a cosmetic company's experimental anti-aging serum made from Royal Wasp Jelly results in the test subject turning into a Giant Man Eating Wasp. If you love cheesy 1950s horror flicks, this one is one of the best.

8. The Black Scorpion (1957)

Giant black scorpions live miles underneath the earth eating - what? Then an earthquake releases them from their underground lair and they discover that humans are quite tasty.

9. Mimic (1997)

In a future New York City, cockroaches are spreading a disease the kills children. To combat the illness, government scientists breed genetically engineered cockroaches to combat the disease-carriers. Naturally, the scientists mess up the world yet again. If only we had stayed in the stone age, at least science would not have unleashed giant man eating bugs on our population!

At first the plan to use bugs to kill other bugs seems to go well. But then the mutant cockroaches start to breed and to adapt in order to mimic their prey. Now the man-sized coclroaches are are breeding lke, well, cockroaches and threatening to overrun the City. This is held to be one of the best giant bug movies.

10. Bug 1975

With a title like this, you can be pretty sure that your are in for a giant bug treat. And so you are: Fire-spewing giant cockroach-like things live underground until an earthquake forces them above-ground. They are virtually indestructible and cook people with fire that spurts out of their behinds. Lots of people die from horrible special effects.

11. Empire of the Ants (H. G. Wells) 1977, American International Pictures

Empire of the Ants is a 1977 science fiction horror film co-scripted and directed by Bert I. Gordon. Based very loosely on the short story Empire of the Ants by H.G. Wells, the film involves a group of prospective land buyers led by a land developer, pitted against giant, mutated ants.

12. Tarantula 1995

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