Super-predators

 Readings in the Genre - Week 13 – The Relic

‘The Relic’ introduces us to a creature that’s part reptile and part primate (so it’s a 'mammal-like-reptile' then… I think that’d be the proper taxonomy), it’s a highly intelligent killer that is a very frightening enemy for the protagonists of the story.  I won’t get into the small mountain of fallacies that I see with how we’re introduced to the monster (a computer spitting out all that? Come on… a super-computer isn’t omniscient.)  Instead I’ll be focusing on the crux of the creature design.

What we have here is quite simply a super-predator.  I often smirk when I see bad horror movies pop up in adds for the sci-fi channel with such names as Raptor Island but the idea of a predator that’s out to eat the protagonist is such a primal and visceral threat that it’s almost destined to come up in the horror genre.  While other horror staples rely on science fictional or fantastical traditions for their creation (Vampires, Werewolves, Aliens…) a simple evil predator out to kill and maim the protagonists doesn’t require all that mess (though instead we get a supply of Michael Crichton style computer and scientific mumbo jumbo).  One could easily write a horror novel in which the protagonist faces a killer bear, tiger, or dog (see a rather bad Stephen King for that plot line).

The difference I’ve often found between monsters and animals in writing comes down to one simple idea, monsters are malevolent… they’re intelligent enough to think about and enjoy killing.  Animals act as their programmed to by their instincts.  The irony being that when someone makes a super-predator we most often take an animal and turn it into a monster by giving it an intelligence and single minded pursuit of killing others (besides hunger).

But what makes a super-predator?  Well, ironically enough the term is used by biologists and ecologists often times interchangeably with apex predator.  It is quite simply the top of the food chain.  A killer whale, great white shark, tiger, jaguar, lion, hyena, wolf, or grizzly bear is a real world example of such creatures.  Horror writers often seem to enjoy kicking it up a notch or two by creating strange hybrids in order to make a ‘perfect killing machine’ and so forth.  I personally think the fossil record can provide a writer with even more terrifying possibilities then anything we can simply splice together (And some such animals which are reportedly still alive).

Amongst the more recent extinctions would be:  terror birds, short-faced cave bear (rumored to be still alive in Kamchatka, Russia), dire wolf, and a large variety of saber-toothed cats.  If you want something older there’s dinosaurs, giant crocodiles (Lake Placid anyone?), ruling reptiles (of many stripes), marine reptiles (of equally various stripes), and giant invertebrates.

Of course, considering that’s just what evolved on our planet… going with an alien creature opens another entire can of worms.