Gigantic Horrors

Copyright 2020 by Gary L. Pullman

Today, we know that gigantism is caused by the excessive production of the growth hormone somatotropin during puberty, prior to the fusion of the epiphyseal growth plate. Gigantism may also be influenced by the hormone insulin-like growth factor-I, or somatomedic-C. Genetic mutations account for about half the cases of gigantism; various genetic disorders are also associated with the condition.

Wadlow standing next to his father

According to medical science, a giant is any person who is seven feet tall or taller. Some well-known giants include Robert Wadlow (8'11”), who performed for he Ringling Brothers Circus; wrestler Andre the Giant (André René Roussimoff) (7'4”); and Anna Haining Bates (7'11”), a Canadian actress who also performed for the W.W. Cole Circus. More than a few basketball players are also seven feet tall or taller, thereby qualifying as giants, including Shaquille O'Neal (7'1”), and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (7'2”).

In pre-scientific literature, giants are depicted as much stronger than ordinary men and women and, the “gentle giant” notwithstanding, are often represented as hostile or cruel.

Goliath, the giant Philistine defeated by David, was 6'9” according to the Dead Sea Scrolls, but he was 9'9” according to the Masoretic Text, which is the authoritative source of the Old Testament.

 Alleged skull of a member of the Biblical Nephilim

Other Biblical giants include the Nephilim, most commonly thought to have been the offspring of demons and mortal women, which, of late, have encouraged several hoaxes pertaining to the alleged discoveries of their skeletal remains.

 

Children of Uranus and Gaia, the Cyclopes were mythical giants, although their height is unrecorded. The best-known Cyclops is the cannibalistic Polyphemus, who consumes four of Odysseus's men. Norse mythology is replete with giants, including Fafner and Fasolt, who seized the goddess Freyja.

One reason that giants frighten is that their size reminds us of our own relative insignificance and vulnerability. Effortlessly, giants could squash us like so many bugs. We would be totally at their mercy, and, if they lack mercy, if they are hostile and cruel, as they are often depicted, especially in horror fiction, then we are clearly at risk of being injured or killed—and possibly even eaten!

Another reason that giants frighten is that, by virtue of their vastly increased size, whatever special or unique abilities they have are also proportionately increased. If a hornet measures about 1.8 inch long, or 45 millimeters, and its stinger is normally 0.24-inch, or six millimeters, long, then a 10-foot-long (3.05-meter) hornet would have a stinger about one foot, three inches (0.4-meter) long!

Some horror movies depict threats from giant animals, including insects. Among such fare are the giant ants of Them! (1954); the giant wasps of The Food of the Gods (1973); which, for good measure, also features giant rats; the giant spiders of Ice Spiders (2007) and Arachnid (2001); the giant mosquitoes of Mosquito (1995); the praying mantis of The Deadly Mantis (1957); and others.

Giant reptiles appear in several horror movies, including Alligator (1980); Freshwater (2016); Anaconda (1997); Boa vs. Python (2004), Crocodile (2000); Curse of the Komodo (2004); Mega Snake (2007); Reptilicus (1961); The Giant Gila Monster (1959); and others.

Another popular giant menace is the ape: the ape of Ape (1976); the gorilla of King Kong (1933); and the gorilla of The Mighty Gorga (1969); the gorilla of Rampage (2018); and others.

Worms, fish, crustaceans, and marine mammals are featured in quite a few horror films: Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957); Attack of the Giant Leeches (1959); the snakehead fish of Frankenfish (2004); the octopus of It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955); and others.

Various dinosaurs, another favorite giant monster, appear in Attack of the Sabretooth (2005); The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953); The Beast of Hollow Mountain (1953), Carnosaur (1993); Dinoshark (2010); King Dinosaur (1955); The Last Dinosaur (1977); Legend of Dinosaurs & Monster Birds (1977); Mega Shark Versus Crocosaurus (2010); Planet of Dinosaurs (1977); and others.

Only a few science fiction horror films feature giant humans, among them The Amazing Colossal Man (1957), War of the Colossal Beast (1958), Attack of the 50-Foot Woman (1958); The Cyclops (1957); and The War of the Gargantuas (1966) among them.