Here is a summary of Carroll's views on what makes a good art-horror monster.
How to Make a Monster
By Noёl Carroll
An art-horror monster, according to Carroll, must be fearsome and unnaturally disgusting.
Fusion, fission, magnification, massification, and metonymy are the methods recommended by Carroll for producing the appropriate sort of being to serve as a monster in a work of art-horror. Below are some examples of monsters that seem to fit each category.
Fusion- In this case the monster combines in one being several naturally incompatible features. Mummies, Frankenstein’s Monster (he gets several brains while apparently remaining the same being), zombies, vampires, ghosts, etc.
Fission (temporal or spatial)- Werewolves, Irena in Cat People, alter-egos, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, etc.
Magnification- Giant spiders, ants, snakes, etc. Not rabbits! (Night of the Lepus)
Massification- Any and all swarming and malicious monsters.
Metonymy- The horrific nature of the fiend in question is symbolized by various features of the environment. Certain Dracula/vampire films in which the monster is not in and of itself disgusting looking, Karloff in The Black Cat, etc.
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