Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth‘s director, Gareth Edwards, has confirmed that the movie will have a similar tone to Steven Spielberg’s groundbreaking Jurᴀssic Park, but there are other hybrid monster films out there to watch while waiting for the next chapter in the iconic saga. While the creatures in Jurᴀssic Park were genetically engineered, they were based on real dinosaurs. On the other hand, the more recent Jurᴀssic World movies have leaned even further into the science-fiction genre, pitting genetically engineered hybrid dinosaurs against its fan-favorite dinosaurs and human characters. The Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth trailer shows that the hybrid trend will continue.

Mutant, genetically engineered, and hybrid creatures have been a popular story theme for decades, arguably since the sci-fi genre began with the release of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. The movie world has brought these improbable creatures to life in seemingly limitless ways, from body horror and practical effects to slick CGI. Still, the best creature movies tend to be both fun and scary. The upcoming Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth is likely to be both of these things too, and there are plenty of creature films to watch while waiting for it.

10

Rampage

Three Mutated Creatures Wreak Havoc

Rampage stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a former Special Forces soldier turned primatologist who must use all of his skills to save Chicago from the giant mutated creatures heading to the city. After a mutated laboratory rat causes chaos on a space station, the pathogen reaches Earth and causes a gorilla, a wolf, and an alligator to grow enormous and more aggressive. Rampage has become a streaming success and also stars Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Naomie Harris.

Even since Godzilla, many creature features include a scene in which the enormous animals wreak havoc in a city, and Rampage is no exception. Just like both of the Jurᴀssic Park trilogies, Rampage is a lot of fun to watch, with exciting fights, falling buildings, humans caught in the middle of the action, giant creatures, and a reminder that playing with genetic engineering can be a risky business. While Rampage is technically a video game adaptation, the movie is pretty much a standalone adventure with lots of fun action sequences.

9

The Nest

A Sheriff And A Pest Control Expert Fight Killer Cockroaches

While mutant creature features are generally slightly ridiculous, The Nest is also a true horror movie, with some serious gore. The Nest is set in a small town that has become infested with enormous, mutated cockroaches, and is one of the scariest horror movies featuring insects. The Nest might have received mixed reviews from critics, but the special effects were widely praised for how scary they were.

The Jurᴀssic Park trilogies each have their scary moments and even include some well-placed gore, like the infamous Jurᴀssic Park scene in which Ellie finds Mr. Arnold’s arm. However, The Nest takes body horror to another level entirely, with cockroach-human hybrids. For Jurᴀssic Park fans who want to watch a scarier creature feature before Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth, The Nest is a great option, particularly for those with a strong stomach.

8

Piranha

Genetically-Altered Piranha Escape Into The River

After the release of Jaws changed the world of cinema, many movies tried to replicate its success, and while none came close, Piranha became a cult hit despite its unoriginal story. Piranha is about a school of genetically engineered piranha fish that escape from their pool into a nearby river, which takes them toward a summer camp. The fish in the movie behave nothing like real piranhas, but this silliness adds to the fun of watching Piranha.

While most of the movies in the Jurᴀssic Park franchise have been widely praised, one major criticism of the series is the lack of variety in its dinosaur species. The Jurᴀssic World trilogy introduced sea reptiles with a Jaws-inspired scene involving a Mosasaurus but, as a whole, the franchise contains few threats from the water. Fans of the water monster movie genre should watch Piranha for their fix before watching Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth.

7

Black Sheep

A Friendly Farm Animal Becomes A Killer

The Jurᴀssic Park movies have shown the ᴅᴇᴀᴅly power of underestimated creatures before, with Dennis Nedry’s horrendous Dilophosaurus death, and then with The Lost World‘s torturous Compsognathus attacks. That said, viewers who want to see an even less likely creature become monstrous after genetic engineering should watch the New Zealand horror-comedy, Black Sheep. Black Sheep has a 71% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes and, despite mixed audience reviews, it has become a cult hit.

Black Sheep involves an escaped mutant sheep, a secret laboratory, and a main character with a phobia of sheep. The mutant sheep prey on humans, turning them into unᴅᴇᴀᴅ killer human-sheep hybrids, and the movie is as silly as its premise. While the production of Black Sheep was troubled, the movie’s success has led to a long-overdue Black Sheep sequel which sees the original director and cast returning.

6

The Fly (1986)

Jeff Goldblum Stars In The Infamous Body Horror

One of the best things about the Jurᴀssic Park movie franchise is the character Ian Malcolm, played by Jeff Goldblum. Ian Malcolm had some of the best quotes in Jurᴀssic Park and was the charismatic voice of reason throughout the movie, which led to him becoming a fan favorite. Fans of both Jeff Goldblum and creature features should watch the 1986 body horror classic, The Fly next, for some terrifying scenes and more quotable lines.

Director David Kronenberg is the undisputed king of body horror, with his movies influencing other horror films for years to come. The Fly is one of Kronenberg’s most important movies and is about an eccentric scientist who accidentally merges his DNA with that of a fly, and finds himself becoming a human-fly hybrid with increasingly disturbing body changes. The Fly is not a family movie, but it is an iconic horror classic for a minimally squeamish audience.

5

Godzilla Minus One

The 99% Positive Rated Kaiju Movie With The King Of The Monsters

The most famous of all the mutants is surely Godzilla, who emerged from the sea to earn the тιтle “King of the Monsters.” The Monsterverse franchise is now extremely complex, but after watching the original 1954 movie, a good place to start would be Godzilla Minus One, which is a standalone Godzilla movie with no prequels and a 99% positive critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Many of today’s creature features have been influenced by Godzilla, and this includes Jurᴀssic Park.

Some of the most famous scenes in Godzilla movies involve the mutated kaiju destroying cities, and Jurᴀssic Park‘s first sequel, The Lost World, featured a similar scene in which the T-Rex rampaged through San Diego. It appears that Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth is also paying tribute to the King of the Monsters in the trailer, which features a long-time Godzilla nemesis, the тιтanosaurus. The Godzilla movies have varied in quality, but Godzilla Minus One is similar in tone to the Jurᴀssic Park movies.

4

Deep Blue Sea

Genetically-Engineered Intelligent Sharks Turn On Their Captors

All shark movies tend to suffer in comparison to Jaws, but Deep Blue Sea is one of the underrated shark movies that are actually great. Like the Jurᴀssic Park movies, Deep Blue Sea is a warning about the dangers of messing with nature without being aware of the consequences. In Deep Blue Sea, mako sharks are being kept in a giant laboratory while scientists increase their brain size to research Alzheimer’s Disease. Unfortunately, the experiment resulted in hyper-intelligent sharks intent on escaping.

Deep Blue Sea has its scary moments, but it is fun to watch and is even funnier on a rewatch. The movie contains one of the best and most unexpected death scenes of all time and some of the best special effects. The Jurᴀssic Park movies’ practical and CGI effects are often compared, and Deep Blue Sea is a great reminder of how good practical effects can be, as the movie features some strikingly realistic animatronics.

3

Eight-Legged Freaks

The Definitive Spider Horror Comedy

Eight-Legged Freaks is not a movie for arachnophobes, but if audience members are not afraid of spiders, then the horror comedy is a lot of fun. Eight-Legged Freaks stars Scarlett Johansson in an early role alongside David Arquette, and Johansson will now appear in Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth. The plot for Eight-Legged Freaks is as ridiculous as a creature feature movie fan could want. After crickets drink from a spilled barrel of toxic waste, the spiders that eat them mutate to gigantic size and go on the rampage.

Jurᴀssic World: Dominion was rightfully criticized for making genetically engineered locusts into the movie’s main villains rather than the dinosaurs that the franchise usually starred. That said, while the тιтle of Eight-Legged Freaks was an ad-lib by David Arquette, it is as accurate as it could be. The movie involves plenty of attacks by giant spiders and moments that threaten to make arachnophobes out of us all.

2

Pacific Rim

Hybrid Alien Creatures Fight Giant Robots

Pacific Rim is one of the most unique kaiju movies, and it is set long after the world has become used to dealing with kaiju attacks. Now, the kaiju are genetically engineered creatures from another dimension, and each of them resembles a different living creature, including sharks and chameleons. The solution is to fight back using immense robots powered by a duo team of pilots.

Like the Jurᴀssic Park movies, Pacific Rim was a blockbuster and an all-star cast, which included Charlie Hunnam and Idris Elba. It shares the same fun tone as the most recent Jurᴀssic World movies and has a more complex plot than many other creature features. Guillermo del Toro’s creature designs are some of the best in the movie world, so for a similar spectacle to the Jurᴀssic Park franchise, Pacific Rim is the perfect movie to watch next.

1

Love And Monsters

Mutated Creatures Threaten To Stop A Young Man From Reaching His Girlfriend

Unlike many post-apocalyptic dramas which tend to be serious and depressing, Love and Monsters is a colorful and fun movie with a similar tone to the Jurᴀssic World trilogy. It stars Dylan O’Brien as a young man who goes on a quest to reunite with his girlfriend after a monster apocalypse destroys the planet. His journey takes him face-to-face with some of the mutated creatures, and they look excellent considering the movie’s low budget.

Love and Monsters is finally getting the attention it deserves after it was largely ignored on its 2020 release despite getting a 94% critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The film has some genuinely funny moments and is not as predictable as many monster movies. Viewers looking to see the funny side of a monster apocalypse should watch Love and Monsters to get hyped for Jurᴀssic World: Rebirth.