This week, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes go up against Xenomorphs in Aliens vs. Avengers, the classic Frankenstein movie gets reinterpreted for comics, and DC reprints Superman’s match with Muhammad Ali.

Since then, plenty of filmmakers have come up with their own otherworldly boogeymen — slashers, shapeshifting aliens, nun ghosts, killer dolls. Some of them even fit neatly into the Universal Monster ...