First created to play on humanities most basic fears of the 'other', monster movies originated from the adaptations of horror folklore. This particular genre of movies can differ from the common film antagonists because many exist due to circumstances beyond their control, them holding the potential to gain sympathy from the audience. One of the earliest examples of a creature used in film being Paul Wegeners German silent film 'The Golem' (1915).
The key conventions of this genre are; a group of humans (protagonists) versus one or more creatures (antagonists), a young female figure often a part of the creatures fixation for no explainable reason (this turning the female into a damsel in distress), the monster first attacked by an opposing military force--that military failing only antagonising the monster further, this particular trope being best exampled in Ishirō Honda's version of King Kong in 'King Kong Escapes' (1967).
The most common theme in monster movies is the creature typically being created from an experiment gone wrong (The Fly - 1986), is from outer space (The Thing - 1982), hidden on Earth without ever being seen (King Kong - 2005) or released from a prison of some sort (Hellraiser - 1987). These origins expressed as binary oppositions as they all represent a fault in humankind, from faulty experiments to an error in judgement releasing them from captivation--as well as this, giant monsters have signified humanities continuous destruction since their introduction. An example of this being 'The Beast From 20,000 Atoms' (1953) being a symbol for atomic warfare.
A man who's continuously created sympathetic creatures in successful monster movies is Guillermo Del Toro, some of these particular masterpieces being; Pan's Labyrinth (2006), the Hellboy series (2004 + 2008), Crimson Peak (2015), Blade 2 (2002) and Pacific Rim (2013). A particular actor, however, that is associated with the monster movie genre is Doug Jones, him and Del Toro working with one another numerous times. In his 30+ year acting career, the 58-year-old has played over 20 monster roles, his most famous being; Pan + The Pale-Man (Pan's Labyrinth), Abe Sapien (Hellboy), Billy Butcherson (Hocus Pocus) and the Amphibian Man (The Shape Of Water).
I am a fan of monster movies, preferring them to be more fantasy rather than horror because at least with the sub-genre of fantasy the creatures have a chance of being redeemed--or at least the audience can be offered the opportunity to see them in a sympathetic light. Personally, my favourite monster movies that I'll continuously recommend are; Pan's Labyrinth and the Hellboy series--both for their interesting narratives, but also for the perfect collaboration of Del Toro and Doug Jones. A monster movie, however, that I would not recommend is Dan Milner's 'From Hell It Came' (1957) as countless reviews have rendered the production value at basically non-existent, the film making number one on numerous worst monster movies of all time lists.
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