Top Ten Best Movie and Television Rubber Suit Monsters of all Time

Here is MovieFanCollectibles' list of the best live action rubber suit monsters. The list is highly partial and subjective. We're sure you have your own list and will in many cases take extreme exception to ours. That's fine. Write back to us. Answering your mail will keep our minds off the state of global politics (which is arguably what rubber suit monsters personify anyway!). Best argument to the contrary will win a fabulous piece of Hollywood movie memorabilia from our extensive inventory. Check out the collections by clicking this line.

Besides just having that je ne sais quoi that puts the monster on our list, our only other criterion for making the cut is full-body rubber encasement (with one reptile pants exception, see below). If it's not full body rubber, then it's really just make-up.   

10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

If you were ever a parent or a kid, there is no need to explain the hours of high-camp goofiness that these guys pulled off to keep the little ones entertained. They also get extra points for being a truly bizarre mash-up of popular culture references. Power Rangers were in the same rubbery ball park as the turtles, but were not really monsters.  TMNTs score still more points for having, according to Aussey Sci-Fi critic Robin Pen,  a directly descending lineage from the daddy of all rubber monsters, "the big G."

9. The Gorn (Star Trek, The Original Show)

All the Star Trek shows and movies mostly settled for slapping some molded rubber onto foreheads, noses and ears,  We'll be the first to admit that the antennae on those little blue spacemen Andorians were pretty wacky.  But we agree with the guys over at TV Tropes.com that the full-body rubber suit Gorn is a true classic.  Extra points for the mano-a-monster action in that episode where the Gorn monster really opens up a can of whup-ass on Kirk.  Gorns also look like a stunted relative of the "Big G."

8. Marshmallow Man (Ghostbusters)

Dan Akroyd said that given the right circumstances, anything could seem evil.  According to Sam Delaney of The Guardian, "Stay Puft's familiar mascot combined elements of real life brand ambassadors the Pillsbury Dough Boy and Bibendum (aka the Michelin tyre man)."  It was silly. It wasn't really a monster.  But it was the production's FX designer crashing around Manhattan in a pretty dope rubber suit.

7. Raptor Pants (Jurassic Park film franchise)

We just loved the idea of this.  Seems that with all the dinosaur CGI and animatronics Spielberg production bucks could buy, nothing was a good enough stand-in (heh, heh) for Raptor legs in the close-ups with live-action actors.  So they filmed stunt people from the waist down wearing rubber Raptor legs.    

6. & 5. Dr. Who and the Outer Limits

These shows had no end of rubber suit monsters (or foil-covered cardboard, bubble wrapped monsters for that matter).  We're talking sheer volume here.  Way too many to enumerate in this space.  Both shows have websites and online video compilations devoted to these wonders.  Go back and review them in your own time  

4. The Original Jabba the Hutt (Star Wars, Return of the Jedi)

You have to agree that the non-CGI Jabba viewed in large format was ludicrous and disgusting.  It also got extra points for size: it was really three guys in a rubber suit.  Jabba loses points in our book, however, for not following through and chowing-down on Princess Leia.  Carrie Fisher is still out there terrorizing the the world. 

3. Alien/Aliens Monster

This chilling monster happened early enough in the game that it made sense to dress up a really tall skinny kid in a rubber suit. But what a rubber suit!  It seems like almost every alien in a movie afterward, CGI or live action, makes some sort of visual reference to it.  The monster also scores major points for being part of a production design scheme that came from the twisted mind of H.R. Giger.  Few people are neutral about this artist.  You either love Giger's work or hate it.  Whatever end of the spectrum you fall on, there is no question that his participation in the movie's design brought great legitimacy to the historically maligned Sci-fi film genre.

2. The Creature from the Black Lagoon

Scores major points for having an original 3-D release (take that digital cartoon blue dudes from Avatar--you haven't lived until you've seen CFTBL in Large format 3-D).  Sometimes old school is so much better than anything else.  Swamp Thing at the drive-in was also a great time.

1. Godzilla

You saw it coming. The big G zilla-monster is the best ever.  Godzilla is to the rubber suit monster what Ray Harryhausen's King Kong is to stop-motion animation.  In both cases, it is the one by which all others are judged.  Our company even has a cat named for the beast, we love it so much.   

Thanks to TV Tropes and Wiki for background on this article.