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H.R Gigers' striking design for the titular creature in Ridley Scott’s 1979 sci-fi shocker Alien has been voted the scariest ever movie monster.

The Alien from Ridley (Blade Runner) Scott’s original Alien feature film - starring Sigourney Weaver - has been voted the most terrifying movie monster in a new survey caarried out by the Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror channel.

Sky Movies Sci-Fi & Horror polled 2,500 movie fans through the skymovies.com website to find the creepiest creature, the results were as follows:

1 The Alien (Alien, 1979)
2 The Creeper (Jeepers Creepers, 2001)
3 Jaws (Jaws, 1975)
4 Chucky (Child’s Play, 1988)
5 Pinhead (Hellraiser, 1987)
6 The Crawlers (The Descent, 2005)
7 Werewolf (American Werewolf in London, 1981)
8 The Pale Man (Pan’s Labyrinth, 2006)
9 Brundlefly (The Fly, 1986)
10 Godzilla (Godzilla, 1998)

H.R. Gigers' acid-for-blood xenomorph the Alien was a clear winner securing 34% of the total vote, while 'The Creeper' from teen horror Jeepers Creepers (2001) took 14% and 1970’s classic giant shark 'Jaws' - from the Stephen Spielberg film based on Peter Benchleys' best-selling novel of the same name - was third with 10% of the votes and in fourth place the homicidal ambulatory puppet 'Chucky' - from 1988's Child's Play - clearly remains a memorable scare.

Special Effects?

One interesting feature of the list is that the majority of the films that make up the top ten use traditional special effects to create the gruesome monsters, CGI creations were notably absent. With recent blockbusters such as I Am Legend, that rely completely on CGI creatures failing to poll, it begs the question: 'are our modern day monsters as scary?'

Ian Lewis, Director of Sky Movies and Box Office, comments: "That’s no doubt that computer-generated creatures look fantastic but this poll would suggest that traditional prosthetic models are still the scariest. With the continuing advances in CGI I’d be interested to see if new creations like the Cloverfield monster will join the ranks of these classic movie monsters."

John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London, commented on the poll: "I am delighted to see that the Werewolf from An American Werewolf in London is still scaring audiences after all these years. I have to admit that movie monsters do not scare me, people scare me. I know of no one stepped on by a giant dinosaur or murdered by a creature from Outer Space. People tend to be the ones killing people. That's scary!"

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