After centuries of fearing creatures based on myth and folklore, the atomic age introduced humanity to a brand-new breed of monster. With man-made extinction becoming a terrifying real-world possibility, it only made sense for our narrative fears to become bigger and badder in order to adapt to jaded audiences – and that’s why radioactive mutants were inevitable.
And nearly 80 years after the end of the Manhattan Project, genre fiction still exists in the radioactive shadow of the atom even as our modern fears evolve to include global pandemics and climate collapse. With that in mind, we’ve decided to come up with a list celebrating six memorable radioactive movie monsters.
And in the interest of keeping things a little less obvious, we won’t be including the king of radioactive monsters himself, Godzilla, on this list, as everyone and their mother is already aware of the atomic-powered dinosaur.
With that out of the way, don’t forget to comment below with your own radioactive favorites if you think we missed a particularly memorable one.
Now, onto the list…
6. The Rhedosaurus – The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms (1953)
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: atomic testing awakens a giant prehistoric reptile who then proceeds to make its way towards a large city and wreak havoc upon the unsuspecting populace. No, this isn’t Godzilla or even a Godzilla rip-off, it’s actually the plot summary to the Eugène Lourié film which inspired Ishiro Honda – the groundbreaking The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms.
The first of countless atomic allegories in genre cinema, the Rhedosaurus already exhibits many of the characteristics that we’d come to associate with giant movie monsters – including the sense that he’s punishing humanity for our collective hubris in splitting the atom. And while the creature wasn’t necessarily created by radiation, it’s pretty clear that the Rhedosaurus is reacting to the blast that awakened it, with the filmmakers even originally intending for the reptile to snort atomic flames before deciding that this would make production too expensive.
5. Colonel Steve West – The Incredible Melting Man (1977)
No list of radioactive mutants would be complete without a touch of extreme body horror, and while William Sach’s infamous B-movie was originally meant to be a satire of then-recent horror tropes, The Incredible Melting Man is now known as an oddly mean-spirited classic featuring one of the most disgusting radioactive monsters ever put on film.
Telling the tragic story of an astronaut exposed to radiation on a flight to Saturn, Sach’s creature feature contains exactly what it says on the tin, with the shambling horror discovering that only human flesh can slow down his inevitable decay. If that’s not memorable enough for you, the melting beast even inspired an iconic scene in RoboCop, where a villain is executed with toxic waste and ends up looking like a late-stage Colonel West.
4. The C.H.U.D.s – C.H.U.D. (1984)
It’s unfortunate that the word “chud” has been co-opted by obscure online groups and now means something entirely different, but to me (and hopefully to many other horror fans), it’ll always be an acronym meaning Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers! The disgusting antagonists of Douglas Creek’s 1984 creature feature, the C.H.U.D.s are exactly what they sound like: inhabitants of the New York City underground who have turned to eating human beings after having been exposed to toxic waste.
And despite being an unapologetic B-movie, C.H.U.D. is actually one of the most influential creature features of the ’80s, having been referenced in everything from The Simpsons to Rick & Morty as well as April Fool’s Day pranks by the Criterion Channel. And with a pedigree like that, it’s no wonder that these radioactive cannibals have earned a spot on this list.
3. The Spiders – Eight-Legged Freaks (2002)
Also known as Arac-Attack in some territories, Ellory Elkayem’s Eight-Legged Freaks is a quintessential example of early 2000s excess. The CGI may not have aged all that well and the story’s self-aware callbacks to 1950s genre cinema don’t always land, but it’s hard not to love a movie where the townsfolk fight back against the monsters like bargain bin slasher villains.
And while giant arthropods have been razing cityscapes on the big screen since the very first radioactive monster movies, the towering arachnids of Eight-Legged Freaks stand out due to the filmmakers’ choice to include several different species of spider in the film, making this flick a horrific visual cocktail for those with arachnophobia.
2. Toxie – The Toxic Avenger (1984)
He may be more of a hero than a genuine monster, but don’t let the pink tutu deceive you – Toxie has one of the most respectable body-counts on this list. A mild-mannered nerd who was transformed into hulking mass of melted muscles after falling into a barrel of radioactive waste, this crime-fighting freak has since become an icon of both body-horror and superhero fiction.
Of course, the real reason we’re including the character on this list is as an excuse to discuss Macon Blair’s long-awaited, still-unreleased Toxic Avenger remake, with the rumors that the film has been deemed “unreleaseable” actually making it sound like a pretty faithful retelling of the schlocky original. We’ll keep you posted if we hear anything about the release plan.
1. The Hill People – The Hills Have Eyes (2006)
The late Wes Craven had plenty of iconic scary movies under his belt, so it stands to reason that his filmography would become a prime target for studios wanting to cash in on modern remakes and reboots. And while these updates were usually forgettable, one of them stands out as a decidedly thrilling re-imagining of Craven’s exploitational nightmares – Alexandre Aja’s 2006 retelling of The Hills Have Eyes.
The original film was inspired by legends surrounding the real-life Scottish cannibal Sawney Bean, but the Hills Have Eyes remake added a new disturbing element to the story by making the Hill People victims of irresponsible nuclear testing. Not only did this extra bit of backstory justify some of their more exaggerated deformities, but it also gave the remake a thought-provoking edge about the casualties of unchecked military advancement.