I started going to the movies so far back, I can remember the first talkie. But in order to nominate the very best monsters, I must go back a bit further and start with what I consider the best silent monster. After that, I'll give those who followed:

1. Lon Cheney as the Phantom of the Opera (1925). Lots of copycats since, including the Broadway musical, but no one did it better than Cheney in the memorable image of when the heroine pulled the mask away. As all good monsters should be, this one had more pathos than menace.

2. Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster in 1933. Again, this menacing creature had a tender and loving side along with the funny walk, platform shoes and bolt in the neck. This monster, like the Phantom, is coming back as a Broadway musical, this time by Mel Brooks, derived from his 1969 spoof, Young Frankenstein. Rumors are that tickets to the show will go for $1,200 each. Now, that's really scary.

3. The year 1933 must have been the greatest for lovable monsters, because that's when King Kong, the original film, hit the theaters. Despite his size and destructive rampaging, the big ape was desperately in love with a blonde. At his size and her size, I really don't know how he could have .... but that's not what we're discussing here.

4. Jumping ahead to Hannibal Lecter of The Silence of the Lambs in 1991. This murderous creep, played memorably by whispering Brit Sir Anthony Hopkins, also had a soft side. He just loved that sweet little FBI rookie girl. I'm still not sure if it was sexual or merely a fatherly concern. All right, so he chewed up some people, but you gotta give him credit for helping her catch the creepy killer who was even worse than Hannibal. Well, at least as bad.

5. The Wolf Man debuted in 1941, and was as corny a B movie as was ever produced by Hollywood schlochmeisters. However, it did have the unique distinction of starring Lon Cheney, Jr., who followed in his dad's bloody footsteps with an equally long and distinguished horror film career.

6. Jaws in 1975 was an enormous hit, and kept people from venturing too far from the beaches into the surf for years. Roy Scheider, as the town sheriff, looked and acted like an idiot throughout the film, when any kid in the audience could have told him how to catch the big white monster who enjoyed chomping on tasty teenagers.

7. Godzilla first emerged from the surf in 1954, and is considered the king of the army of Japanese monster movies that followed.

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