The Best Monster Movies and TV Shows on HBO MAX

What it's about: Explore the mysterious and dangerous home of the king of the apes as a team of explorers ventures deep inside the treacherous, primordial island.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Japan is thrown into a panic after several ships explode and are sunk near Odo Island. An expedition to the island led by paleontologist Professor Kyohei Yemani soon discover something more devastating than imagined in the form of a 50 meter tall monster whom the natives call Gojira. Now the monster begins a rampage that threatens to destroy not only Japan, but the rest of the world as well.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Shout Factory TV) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: An astronaut named Gary and his planet-destroying sidekick Mooncake embark on serialized journeys through space in order to unlock the mystery of “Final Space,” the last point in the universe, if it actually does exist.

Where to Watch: 1 episodes (3%) are available to watch free online (Adult Swim). 23 episodes (68%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & TVision). 12 episodes (35%) are available to stream on a popular TV everywhere service (TBS & Adult Swim). 32 episodes (94%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A 400-foot (122-meter) fire-breathing dinosaur, awakened from undersea hibernation off the Japanese coast by hydrogen-bomb testing, attacks Tokyo.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: Finn and Jake are headed back to the Land of Ooo.

Where to Watch: 2 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX). Episodes coming soon to HBO on May 19th, 2021 (PDT).

What it's about: The bizarre misadventures of a cowardly dog named Courage and his elderly owners in a farmhouse in Nowhere, Kansas.

Where to Watch: 58 episodes (50%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & Hoopla). 52 episodes (44%) are available to rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A typhoon washes ashore a giant egg. Before it can be studied, the local villagers claim the egg and sell it to greedy entrepreneurs. The Shobijin soon arrive to plead for the return of egg as it belongs to Mothra. At the same time Godzilla arises near Nagoya, washed ashore by the same typhoon. It is now up to Mothra defend its egg and Japan from Godzilla.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: The Powerpuff Girls is a animated television series about Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, three kindergarten-aged girls with superpowers, as well as their "father", the brainy scientist Professor Utonium, who all live in the fictional city of Townsville, USA. The girls are frequently called upon by the town's childlike and naive mayor to help fight nearby criminals using their powers.

Where to Watch: 92 episodes (58%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, Hulu, Hoopla & 1 other). 102 episodes (65%) are available to rent or buy from $0.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: When Billy Peltzer is given a strange but adorable pet named Gizmo for Christmas, he inadvertently breaks the three important rules of caring for a Mogwai, and unleashes a horde of mischievous gremlins on a small town.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Scientists in the South Seas are conducting weather experiments when reporter Goro Maki suddenly arrives on Sollgel Island. He soon discovers the island is inhabited by giant mantids, a cast away woman, and a baby Godzilla.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: A film crew discovers the "eighth wonder of the world," a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to New York, where he wreaks havoc.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: This animated series follows the colourful and funny adventures of lovable hairy hero Love Monster as he searches for the right thing to do in a world in which he is one of a kind.

Where to Watch: 54 episodes (100%) are available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX).

What it's about: Searching for his brother, Ryota stows away on a boat belonging to a criminal alongside two other teenagers. After being caught in a storm the group arrives on Letchi island, where the Infant Island natives have been enslaved by a terrorist organization and held captive by a crustacean monster. Discovering a sleeping Godzilla, they decide to wake him up to defeat the terrorists and liberate the natives.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: When Mystery, Inc. are guests of honor at the grand opening of the Coolsville Museum of Criminology, a masked villain shows up and creates havoc before stealing the costumes of the gang's most notorious villains...Could it be that their nemesis, mad scientist Jonathan Jacobo has returned and is trying to recreate their deadliest foes?

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A drive-in favorite, this sci-fi classic follows teenagers Steve and his best girl, Jane, as they try to protect their hometown from a gelatinous alien life form that engulfs everything it touches. The first to discover the substance and live to tell about it, Steve and Jane witness the blob destroying an elderly man, then it growing to a terrifying size. But no one else has seen the goo, and policeman Dave refuses to believe the kids without proof.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: A "National Geographic" film crew is taken hostage by an insane hunter, who takes them along on his quest to capture the world's largest - and deadliest - snake.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: When an insatiable great white shark terrorizes the townspeople of Amity Island, the police chief, an oceanographer and a grizzled shark hunter seek to destroy the blood-thirsty beast.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 7 services (iTunes, Google Play & 5 others).

What it's about: After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO) & rent or buy from $9.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: The iconic creatures from two of the scariest film franchises in movie history wage their most brutal battle ever—in our own backyard. The small town of Gunnison, Colorado becomes a war zone between two of the deadliest extra-terrestrial life forms—the Alien and the Predator. When a Predator scout ship crash-lands in the hills outside the town, Alien Facehuggers and a hybrid Alien/Predator are released and begin to terrorize the town.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: Teenagers in a small town are dropping like flies, apparently in the grip of mass hysteria causing their suicides. A cop's daughter, Nancy Thompson, traces the cause to child molester Fred Krueger, who was burned alive by angry parents many years before. Krueger has now come back in the dreams of his killers' children, claiming their lives as his revenge. Nancy and her boyfriend, Glen, must devise a plan to lure the monster out of the realm of nightmares and into the real world...

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: When scientists discover something in the Arctic that appears to be a buried Pyramid, they send a research team out to investigate. Little do they know that they are about to step into a hunting ground where Aliens are grown as sport for the Predator race.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).

What it's about: A prophecy is discovered on the statue of an Okinawan guardian stating a monster will emerge to destroy the Earth. Godzilla soon appears, seeming to fulfill the prophecy. But not all is what it seems when a second Godzilla emerges to challenge this notorious doppelgänger.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi), stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel), stream on a TV everywhere service (TCM) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: Comic artist Gengo Kotaka lands a job with the World Children's Land amusement park. He soon becomes suspicious of the organization when a garbled message is discovered on tapes. Godzilla and Anguirus quickly decipher the message and begin a plan of action.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: Inventor Goro Ibuki creates a humanoid robot named Jet Jaguar. It is soon seized by an undersea race of people called the Seatopians. Using Jet Jaguar as a guide, the Seatopians send Megalon as vengeance for the nuclear tests that have devastated their society.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Vudu).

What it's about: An ever evolving alien life-form arrives on a comet from the Dark Gaseous Nebula and proceeds to consume pollution. Spewing mists of sulfuric acid and corrosive sludge, Godzilla may not be able to defeat the toxic menace.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: Two fishing scout pilots make a startling discovery when they find two giant monsters on a remote island. One is a new monster dubbed Anguirus, and the other is a second Godzilla. The two monsters make their way to Osaka as Japan braces for tragedy.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A meteorite lands in Kurobe Valley as detective Shindo is assigned to protect Princess Salno. Seemingly assassinated, she emerges under the guise of a prophetess and catches the attention of Mothra's fairies with her warnings of the appearance of Godzilla, Rodan, and powerful space monster called King Ghidorah. Mothra must convince Godzilla and Rodan to set aside their hatred of humanity or face Ghidorah alone.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: A village is besieged by prehistoric nymphs when a more horrifying discovery is made. A giant flying creature that resembles a pteranodon emerges. Soon a second monster appears, converging with its mate in Fukuoka.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel).

What it's about: In this remake of the 1933 classic, an oil company expedition disturbs the peace of a giant ape and brings him back to New York to exploit him.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & HBO) & rent or buy from $2.99 on 6 services (iTunes, Google Play & 4 others).

What it's about: Mysterious aliens known as Xiliens arrive from Planet X and ask Earth's people to help them save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. Sent on the expedition are astronauts Glenn and Fuji who discover Monster Zero is none other than King Ghidorah.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 1 service (iTunes).

What it's about: Four friends are attacked by a demon while on a picnic, due to possession of a tome of mystic information, and find themselves pitched into a world of evil which overlaps our own. Incorporates a 16mm amateur short film by Dennis Muren and Mark Thomas McGee, featuring author Fritz Leiber Jr., filmed in 1965.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & Kanopy).

What it's about: Gaira, a humanoid sea beast spawned from the discarded cells of Frankenstein's monster, attacks the shores of Tokyo. While the Japanese military prepares to take action, Gaira's Gargantua brother, Sanda, descends from the mountains to defend his kin. A battle between good and evil ensues, leaving brothers divided and a city in ruins.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel).

What it's about: The spaceship AAB-Gamma is dispatched from FAFC headquarters in Japan to make a landing on the planet Mars and investigate reports of UFOs in the area. As they near the red planet, they encounter a mysterious UFO that coats the ship's hull with unusual spores. Taking one of the specimens back to earth, it soon develops and grows into a giant chicken-lizard-alien monster that tramples Japan.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX & The Criterion Channel).

What it's about: The first pilot to leave Earth's atmosphere lands, then vanishes; but something with a craving for blood prowls the countryside...

Where to Watch: Available to watch free online (Tubi & PlutoTV), stream on a popular subscription service (Prime Video, HBO MAX, The Criterion Channel & 1 other) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 2 services (iTunes & Prime Video).

What it's about: In an attempt to free himself from a state of forgotten limbo, evil dream-demon Freddy Krueger (Robert Englund) devises a plan to manipulate un-dead mass murderer Jason Voorhees (Ken Kirzenger) into slicing-and-dicing his way through the teenage population of Springwood. But when the master of dreams loses control of his monster, a brutal fight to the death is the only way out in this long anticipated crossover between two of modern horror's most notorious killers!

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX) & rent or buy from $3.99 on 4 services (iTunes, Google Play & 2 others).

What it's about: A government funded project looks into using psychics to enter people's dreams, with some mechanical help. When a subject dies in their sleep from a heart attack, Alex Gardner becomes suspicious that another of the psychics is killing people in the dreams somehow and that is causing them to die in real life. He must find a way to stop the abuse of the power to enter dreams.

Where to Watch: Available to stream on a popular subscription service (HBO MAX, HBO, Hoopla & 2 others) & rent or buy from $1.99 on 5 services (iTunes, Google Play & 3 others).