Over 80 Ranker voters have come together to rank this list of Creepy TV Monsters Of The Week That Still Give Us Nightmares
Voting Rules
Vote up the monsters that scared you the most from a single episode.
Though many people may think of movie monsters before TV monsters, there's nothing quite like tuning into a favorite show and getting the heebie-jeebies from the monster of the week. Shows like The Twilight Zone, The X-Files, and Supernatural carry on the tradition to spook viewers week-to-week with new horrors.
For fans, various traits of a weekly creature can determine the scare factor. It could be the monster's hideous appearance that keeps everyone up at night long after the credits roll. Maybe it's an unsettling supernatural power that can instantly ruin the life of any unsuspecting human it comes across. Or, maybe the creature can disguise itself, so it can sneak up on you at any moment.
Grab your flashlights, steel your nerves, and take a look back at some of the creepiest entities seen on TV.
First appearance: Season 3, episode 2 ("The Kids Are Alright")
Kids can be a handful sometimes, but no parent wants to see their bundle of joy stolen and replaced by these humanoid atrocities known as Changelings. The scariest thing about them is that they appear exactly like normal children - except when seen in a mirror. Their reflections in mirrors reveal their true form, with a slimy, hollow-eyed face and a perfectly round mouths with an endless amount of sharp teeth. They sneak into the place of a human child in order to feed on the mother, waiting until she lets her guard down to sink their teeth into the back of the woman's neck and sucking out the synovial fluid.
First appearance: Season 2, episode 9 ("Snakehead")
What's creepier than something coming out of an orifice? Fringe introduces a new kind of terror in the form of parasitical squid-like worms that reside within a host. As weird as it sounds - while the worms remain inside people, the host may survive even if they are being drained for resources. When the worms decide they've had enough and erupt from the host's mouth, that spells death for the victim. These creatures are both scary and viscerally disgusting - and the fact that their origins aren't well understood in the show adds to the fear.
First appearance: Season 2, episode 2 ("The Host")
The Flukeman from The X-Files is one of the scariest creatures to lurk in the sewers, and certainly one of the creepiest cases taken on by Mulder and Scully. Born out of radioactive waste from Chernobyl, the Flukeman then turns up in New Jersey, with a humanoid shape and slimy, white worm-like skin, sunken eyes, and a parasitic mouth. When the Flukeman bites a victim, it leaves behind a distinctive wound and makes the victim host to a flatworm larvae, which they'll cough up at a later point. It's also incredibly strong - even after Mulder escapes an encounter by cutting it in half, the top half of the Flukeman is shown awakening, suggesting it will regenerate. It's spine-tingling to imagine this slithery creature lurking in the depths with no one aware of it.
Imagine if trees were hunters - that's essentially the concept behind the Bark Creatures. With glowing red eyes, super-strength and bark-like skin, they easily blend into their leafy environments - which explains why they're also called “Camouflage Creatures.” They are primitive humanoids who hide out in a forest in Florida and defend their territory from any human who is unfortunate enough to wander across their path. More than their appearance, what's scary is their efficiency - they work as a pack and use clever tactics to take down any intruding humans one by one. Plus, with their camouflage, humans almost never see them coming. Though it isn't proven, Mulder theorizes that the Bark Creatures were originally Spanish colonists who actually found the legendary Fountain of Youth and devolved into unrecognizable immortal creatures, defending the source of eternal life from outsiders.
First appearance: Series 4, episode 8 ("Silence in the Library")
Vashta Nerada translates to "the shadows that melt flesh" - and that's exactly what this hungry species does in Doctor Who. These microscopic beings look like specks of dust in small numbers, but when enough gather together, they take the appearance of a moving shadow. Though they normally exist in small numbers and only feed on carrion, a swarm of Vashta Nerada is dangerously lethal to humans, able to overrun and consume them. When working as a hive mind, they are also smart creatures, as they create shadows of their targets to catch their victims off guard. After hearing what these nasty microbes can do, viewers will never be able to look at darkness the same way again.
Don't be fooled by the name - the Weeping Angels are the furthest thing from heavenly creatures. These timeless species may look statuesque, but they are quantum-locked, moving only when their victims aren't watching. What's particularly frightening is how they sneak up on their prey and a simple touch from one of these monsters is enough to send someone back in time, away from everything and everyone they know, so that the Angel can steal their remaining time energy of their victim's life. The mere idea that a creature may be sneaking up on you solely when you look away is enough to generate nightmares. On top of that, Doctor Who fans will likely get a chill whenever they walk past a statue of an angel after seeing what these beasts can do.
