img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/mobydick_t.jpg'/img: p When a giant sperm whale rammed a whaling vessel in 1820, the deadly encounter inspired Herman Melville's classic novel, citeMoby Dick/cite. /p p Melville's story, inspired by real-life a href="http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/11/dayintech_1120"man-versus-beast mayhem/a from the 1800s, made it to movie screens in the 1950s. Director John Huston's a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0049513/"citeMoby Dick/cite/a was evidence of Hollywood's growing fascination with giant, thrashing creatures. /p p Here are some of the best beasties ever captured on celluloid. /p p strongLeft:/strong /p p Captain Ahab (played by Gregory Peck) battles the great white whale in citeMoby Dick/cite. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/148leagues_t.jpg'/img: pA giant squid battles Captain Nemo (played by James Mason) in Walt Disney's 1954 production, citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046672/"20,000 Leagues Under the Sea/a/cite. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/jaws1_t.jpg'/img: p Another great white terror of the deep surfaced in 1975's citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073195/"Jaws/a/cite, directed by Steven Spielberg. The blockbuster scared beachgoers and spawned three sequels. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/creature_from_the_black_lagoon_t.jpg'/img: p Not nearly as big as a whale, a giant squid or a great white shark, the Gill Man nevertheless emerged from murky waters to menace humans in 1954's citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0046876/"Creature From the Black Lagoon/a/cite, by director Jack Arnold. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/godzilla_king_kong_t.jpg'/img: p In a black-and-white battle of the box office titans, Godzilla battles King Kong in the 1962 Japanese film, citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056142/"Kingu Kongu tai Gojira/a/cite. Only unlucky structures get between the behemoths in director Ishirô Honda's movie. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/the_birds_t.jpg'/img: p Bigger isn't always better. Suspense master Alfred Hitchcock turned seemingly innocuous seagulls into a giant, crowdsourced flying nightmare in 1963's citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056869/"The Birds/a/cite. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/The_Valley_t.jpg'/img: p A emTyrannosaurus rex/em foolishly liberated from the Forbidden Valley goes on a rampage in citea href="http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0065163/"The Valley of Gwangi/a/cite. Stop-motion animation great a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Harryhausen"Ray Harryhausen/a created the creature for director Jim O'Connolly's 1969 flick. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/Jabba_the_hutt_t.jpg'/img: p Fussy intergalactic fat-ass Jabba the Hutt smokes out, citeStar Wars/cite-style, in citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/"Return of the Jedi/a/cite. The beast is known for his bad temper mdash; and for keeping Princess Leia, dressed in her a href="http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/09/amiri----leia-s.html"sexy slave girl outfit/a, on a chain. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/Gremlins2_t.jpg'/img: p Cuddly creatures turn into nightmarish beasts in 1984's citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087363/"Gremlins/a/cite. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/alienvspredatorrequiem_t.jpg'/img: p Creature-feature fans saw two classic extraterrestrials face off in 2004's citea href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0370263/"AVP: Alien vs. Predator/a/cite, by director Paul W.S. Anderson. /p img src='http://www.wired.com/images/slideshow/2008/11/gallery_creatures/cloverfield_t.jpg'/img: p A hideous beast from god knows where thrashes Manhattan in 2008's citea href="http://blog.wired.com/underwire/2008/01/cloverfield-rev.html"Cloverfield/a/cite. 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