Most people prefer dogs, and those that don’t tend to prefer cats. If you’re not a dog or cat person, then you’re probably a bird person, perhaps a fish person, or a horse person. Everyone generally has a favorite type of animal.
Pop culture has, over the years, showed us how incredible dogs like Clifford, Marley, Lassie, and Old Yeller and cats like Hello Kitty, Mr. Bigglesworth, Milo, and Garfield are. This genre of tv shows and movies pulls people towards appreciating these fun, lovable animals, but there’s also an opposite genre showing humans putting their faith in wild animals, treating them kindly, only for everything to go very wrong.
Here’s a compilation of some of the most dangerous animals in Pop Culture.
- Animal: Dog
- Breed: St. Bernard
- Film: Cujo
Dogs are supposedly man’s best friend, and most of the time, they’re depicted in films as such. However, the film adaption of Stephen King’s Cujo, an American horror novel originally published in 1981, took an unexpected turn. The 1983 film starring Who’s The Boss star, Danny Pintauro, and Dee Wallace is a story of an anxious St Bernard drove insane by rabies and Donna, a suburban housewife together with her son Tad. The mother and son tandem drives out to the home where Cujo is and was forced to save both herself and her son from a brutal dog attack.
- Animal: Dragon
- Tv Show: Game Of Thrones
The Mother Of Dragons Daenerys Targaryen kept three dragons as pets. And although she recognizes them as her children, she didn’t really lay the eggs. Having three terrifying dragons as pets seems pretty great until one of the three gets turned by the Night King into a zombie ice dragon.
Also, over the entirety of the series, the dragons grew into terrifying huge, fierce, loyal creatures. Each of them can roast the enemy whit just one blow and are smart enough to follow through with their mother’s plans. Their loyalty, strength, and intelligence make them the most powerful and terrifying creatures in the series.
- Animal: Wild boar
- Film: Hannibal
If there’s something to be learned about Ridley Scott’s 2001 Hannibal, it’s that you shouldn’t have wild boars as pets. Sure, they’ll devour your enemies, but they don’t have a single shred of loyalty to their owner. Take Mason Verger, for example. He died after Hannibal Lecter suggested to his physician, Cordell Doemling, to push him into the pigpen of the wild boars he bred, intending to kill Lecter.
- Animal: Rabbit
- Film: Watership Down
Bunnies are supposed to be cute and fluffy, but General Woundwort from the film Watership Down was the complete opposite. A savage-looking rabbit who was was orphaned at a young age, General Woundwort, with his cold eyes and razor-sharp claws, is the main antagonist of the film. He is a bloodthirsty, viciously ruthless, arrogant, and cruel Chief Rabbit who will massacre anyone who gets in the way.
- Animal: Crocodile
- Film: Lake Placid
Crocodiles aren’t typically considered pets. However, the 1999 film Lake Placid follows a 30-foot-long enormous saltwater crocodile treated by the 77-year old Betty White as a pet. The giant crocodile terrorizes the people of the fictional location Black Lake, Maine, United States. The beast encounters a dysfunctional group who try to capture or kill it.
- Animal: Monkey
- Film: Monkey Shines
Monkeys are the closest animals to look like and behave like human beings. Most of the famous monkeys in pop culture are depicted as evil, taking on the roles of villains and conniving creatures. Some examples include Mojo Jojo, the former lab assistant of Professor Utonium; Jack the monkey, the most rotten-tempered and meanest monkey in Pirates of the Caribbean; and King Louie, the most conniving character from the Jungle Book with a less-than-noble intention as well as those from Monkey Shines, Outbreak, and Project X.
- Animal: Piranha
- Film: Piranha 3D
Most fishes are seen as harmless pets, but this is not the case for Piranhas. These fish don’t have the best reputation in Pop Culture, and the emergence of numerous films such as Piranha 3D that depict them as carnivorous and ravenous creatures terrifies the living daylights out of the viewers.
- Animal: Gremlin
- Film: Gremlins
The Gremlins of Pop Culture are often seen as folkloric small, mischievous, destructive, and evil creatures wreak havoc. The film Gremlin follows a young man who receives a mogwai as a pet, which then spawns the evil gremlins that injured and even killed the residents of Kingston Falls.
- Animal: Siamese cat
- Film: Lady And The Tramp
This pair of conspiring siamese cats in the cartoon Lady and the Tramp is responsible for tricking the humans into thinking that Lady, the gentle cocker spaniel is dangerous. Aunt Sarah’s evil twin cats use the love they receive to cause and get others into trouble wherever they can.