Creature Feature: The Science of Monster Movies & Community Filmmaking 

FREE, RSVP recommended. 

RSVP here. 

Learn about the real biology behind the weird and wonderful creatures of monster movies! A paleontologist will contrast the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park to their feathered, paleontologically accurate—and much scarier—real-life counterparts. An entomologist will describe how the Alien  Xenomorph’s famous chest-burster owes significant debt to the real-world horrors of the parasitoid wasp larvae’s emergence from a caterpillar. Slugs, sharks, and other creatures will also be discussed in this can’t-miss program for fans of biology and monster movies.  

PLUS:  Community Animation Project: make a scientifically correct monster movie! Visitors will be invited to color animation cels on site, and MoMI will animate these strange and beautiful shorts created by you. Join us for an all-ages, all-day coloring party—supplies provided. Follow our Instagram and YouTube channels for their release following the event. 

 

Schedule of Activities:

12:00–6:00 p.m.: Science of Monster Movies Animation coloring party in the Fox Amphitheater 

1:00 p.m.: Alien, directed by Ridley Scott, plays in the Redstone Theater (Separate ticket required)

3:00–4:30 p.m.: Creature Feature live storytelling  in the Bartos Screening Room

4:30–6:00 p.m.: Reception —join us for happy hour in the Courtyard! 

 

Presentations include:

Jurassic Park: The Case for Feathers
Paleontologist Dr. Aki Watanabe narrates a clip-show selection of dinosaurs from the Jurassic Park film universe and contrasts them with what dinosaurs actually looked like in their more feathered, paleontologically accurate glory. How could Hollywood splice a T. rex with a velociraptor before ever showing a feathered dino on-screen? And what does new research reveal about dinosaur brains; are they indeed “clever girls”? 

Terrors of the Deep: The Original Jaws 
Long before Jaws (1975), the first time a movie camera ever filmed below the ocean’s surface was in 1914, to test technology that would be used in the silent classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916). The footage, known as Terrors of the Deep, was lost until science filmmaker and journalist Tom McNamara found it mislabeled in a Dutch archive. Like Jaws, Terrors is about the hunt for a shark, except this shark was real. With found archive footage and scenes from Jaws, McNamara recounts the making of Terrors of the Deep and examines our relationship to sharks and other undersea creatures.  

Slugs: Should Have Been Nominated for an Oscar 
Killer. Slugs. And the Oscars passed? Science filmmaker and horror movie aficionado Erin Chapman makes the case for why Juan Piquer Simón’s gross-out monster movie  Slugs (1988) is a masterpiece of cinema. In a humorous essay format, Chapman will tell the story of the film, about a small town terrorized by aggressive carnivorous slugs,  interspersed with movie clips and slug science. BYO salt! 

Alien vs. Real Life Parasites 
Entomologist RJ Millena describes how the Xenomorph’s terrifying life cycle in Alien (1979) owes a significant debt to the real-world horrors of invertebrate parasitoids. John Hurt’s famous chest–burster scene will be played in tandem with images of parasitoid wasp larvae emerging from a caterpillar, and Millena will describe the parasitic mechanisms happening every day below our noses. Millena will also introduce audiences to the insect she studies, the twisted-wing parasite, and describe the time she assisted in a real-life chest-bursting emergence! (See Alien at 1:00 in our Redstone Theater!)

---

Special Guests: 

Erin Chapman, Assistant Director of New Media, American Museum of Natural History 
Had Erin Chapman seen Slugs at a more formative age, she would probably be a high school chemistry teacher or a city health inspector. Instead, she’s the Assistant Director of New Media at the American Museum of Natural History. (And for the record, she has a total soft spot for invertebrates.) 

Tom McNamara, science filmmaker 
Tom McNamara is a science filmmaker, journalist, and former national park ranger. He unexpectedly assisted in the dissection of a shark in front of a live audience at the Science Museum of Minnesota as an eight-year-old.  

RJ Millena, entomologist, American Museum of Natural History 
RJ Millena is a PhD candidate at the American Museum of Natural History’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, conducting research on twisted-wing insect parasites (the order Strepsiptera). RJ received her Bachelor’s degree in Entomology from the University of California, Davis; her undergraduate thesis on how maternal care can create opportunities for parasitism between thread-waisted wasps and Strepsiptera was published in 2021. Millena’s favorite horror movie is John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), and she firmly believes that insects rule the world. 

Dr. Aki Watanabe, paleontologist, New York Institute of Technology and American Museum of Natural History  
Dr. Aki Watanabe is an Associate Professor of Anatomy at New York Institute of Technology and Research Associate in the Division of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History. His work focuses on how the “intelligent” brains of modern birds evolved from their dinosaur ancestors. 

Photo above: Twisted-wing Insect (Xenos peckii) male pupae in Dark Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) flying
(Orange Co. Black Rock Forest Preserve; Cornwall 22-July-2023, John C. Abbott & Kendra K. Abbott)