Pan’s Labyrinth: 10 Movie Monsters Inspired By The Pale Man

Director Guillermo Del Toro’s 2006 dark fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth has inspired scores of film and media following its release. From the effort put into the design of the different worlds to the creation of its different creatures that include faeries and deities, the film has since become a hallmark of Del Toro’s filmmaking and visual design career.

Following his success, many of the creatures themselves have become iconic. And one of the scariest antagonists in the film is none other than The Pale Man. The Pale Man is shown briefly when the young protagonist breaks the rules and eats from his table, causing him to put eyeballs into his palms to see and run after her to eat her. He’s an entity known for being a child killer who likes to collect the shoes of his victims and is one of the sole reasons Pan’s Labyrinth is also considered part horror.

10 Dark Faeries, The Hallow

The Hollow‘s main antagonists have magical abilities, namely being able to stretch and distort themselves. Their origins lie in human sources taken over by a destructive and powerful fungus (much like cordyceps from The Last of Us) though they appear to maintain some humanity.

Their main goal is to spread the virus. Much like the Pale Man, they’re incredibly humanoid with conscious intentions and intelligence and can mutate their bodies.

9 Moder, The Ritual

Moder is an evil entity and the main enemy in The Ritual. Moder, the bastard child of Loki, follows its own sort of rules as it stalks down people who are emotionally vulnerable and tries to get them to worship it in exchange for eternal life.

The trick is, eternal life isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The monster has humanoid features atop a giant elk-like body, looking like a man’s torso as hanging upside down as its head, with antlers for the torso’s legs. From its mouth are two strong, capable arms and hands.

8 Mannequin Monster, Silent Hill: Revelation

One of the miscellaneous hatred-borne monstrosities in the film Silent Hill: Revelation, this creature seems to take a liking to turn people, particularly young women, into mannequins, sexually assaulting them and then collecting their parts to add to its body.

Like the Pale Man, it can put itself together or add more pieces and targets younger prey. Heather is forced to escape the Mannequin Collector in a similar fashion as the girl does in Pan’s Labyrinth as well.

7 The Babadook

The haunting children’s storybook monster torments a mother and her young son. An allegory for the mother’s depression, the Babadook shares similarities with the Pale man in that it targets children specifically.

It’s tall and pale with a wide-grinning smile, though its motivations are much different from the Pale Man’s in that its first intention is to frighten and traumatize rather than kill.

6 Neomorph, Alien: Covenant

The iteration of the alien species in Alien: Covenant that strays furthest from its original design, the neomorphs is a body-distorting, pale figure with missing facial features, just like the Pale Man. It’s one of the most humanoid aliens in the series and is close to being tamed until it’s shot down immediately after killing and eating someone.

It stands tall, has a human-like bone structure with collarbones and all, and can recognize speech (or rather, inclinations of it). It essentially looks like a younger version of the Pale Man.

5 Blair Witch

At long last was the most famous unseen horror revealed in Blair Witch 2016. While the decision to briefly show off the entity in the found footage franchise due to its subtracting from any psychological impact on behalf of its ambiguity, the witch’s design is nonetheless daunting. Tall and naked, it looks like it has dried skin hanging off it, much like Pale Man or even Leatherface.

4 The Pale Lady, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Another design provided by the film producer, Guillermo Del Toro, the Pale Lady was created in dedication to the anthology book series’ original design. Built practically with some SFX on top, the Pale Lady is undoubtedly the eeriest, most terrifying, and unshakable villain in the series.

She has absolutely no trouble cornering her victims into a pocket reality (much like Pale Man’s lair). She can appear in every exit to prevent the victim from escaping to absorb them into her body. Her ability to teleport and clone herself makes her virtually impossible to defeat, at least within the film’s canon.

3 The Jangly Man, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark

Another Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark alumni, the Jangly Man looks quite close to the Pale Man’s appearance. They have the same directives and lumber after the characters in hopes of “taking them” (well, in the Pale Man’s case he just really likes killing little kids). The Jangly Man’s movements are broken and humanoid, reminding of the raspy pale terror himself.

2 Mama

The gorgeously dark and melancholic being of overprotective rage, Mama can interestingly be referenced as an immediate antithesis to the Pale Man.

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Also influenced by Del Toro’s design and production, Mama, unlike the Pale Man, will kill specifically to protect and keep children to herself, going as far as tormenting and murdering adults. Her figure and movement are notably similar in some ways to the Pale Man as well.

1 The Birch

Likely one of the lesser-known terrors due to its infamy on the viral escape rather than in the film, the Birch is an entity similar to Mama and closer in appearance and intelligence to the Pale Man. In fact, she comes off as far more intelligent. She’s a goddess of sorts and a protector of children, though her appearance is frightening as she seems to lack eyes.

She’s tall and lean and looks to be made of wood. Though she wasn’t produced by Del Toro, it wouldn’t at all be a surprise if she had been. Her beautiful design is intimidating and is certainly a monster one wouldn’t want to cross, making her appearance in the short one of the most famous horror images on the Internet.

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