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They're coming! They won't hurt you. As a matter of fact, it's a beautiful thing, friend.
~ An insane follower of the Creatures to Tom.

The Creatures are the main antagonists of the 2014 novel Bird Box by Josh Malerman, its 2018 film adaptation of the same name, and the 2023 film Bird Box Barcelona, a spin-off sequel set in Spain. They are malevolent, unseen monsters who cause humans who look at them to go insane and suicidal.

Description[]

The origin, motives, intent and appearance of the Creatures are unknown beings. Their physical presence involves a shadowy wind that blows and sweeps over leaves where they pass. However, beside that, they appear unable to affect anything physically. Charlie, a store clerk, theorizes that they are demons capable of assuming the appearance of a target's worst fears. Although this is never confirmed, it is shown that they have the ability to produce human voices to its mesmerized victims. The damage they inflict is not biological, but rather mental.

Any human who looks at the Creatures immediately suffers from severe psychological damage, apparently entering a trance evidenced by the victim's eyes turning grey. This drives the victims to commit suicide by any means available. Others, seemingly those already suffering from mental instability, come to revere the Creatures in an almost holy manner, referring to them as "Beautiful" and helping them in hunting down other humans, usually by persuading them to look at the Creatures, and when they cannot, killing them.

Any life form possessing sight is immediately driven to some form of madness, and eventually suicide. For example, seagulls who saw the creature immediately dove for glass, instantly killing them.

There is only one known case of an affected able to resist the impulse of killing himself, Tom, and only for several seconds, to kill another affected, to save his wife, Malorie.

Spread[]

Starting in Romania, at some point the Creatures began appearing in Russia. They eventually spread via Alaska towards the western coast of North America. A map shows that, at some point, they were also present in Japan, the Korean Peninsula, much of the Middle East, almost all of Europe, northern Africa, Peru and Colombia, and southern Greenland.

Victims[]

In the movie, a total of 7 named characters are seen possessed by the Creatures by looking at them and eventually kill themselves. In order, those were:

  1. Jessica, when driving with Malorie.
  2. Lydia, when coming to help Malorie.
  3. Greg, when looking at security cameras.
  4. Charlie, after he stopped his possessed co-worker from affecting the group.
  5. Olympia, by running towards the window and jumping out of it.
  6. Cheryl, by stabbing herself with a pair of scissors.
  7. Tom, by killing himself when fighting a group of possessed humans.

The only main characters who never see the Creatures are Malorie, her children, Lucy, Felix and Douglas, although they were all tempted at some point.

Theories[]

There are several theories about what the Creatures are and represent.[1][2][3] Some of these are presented here.

What are they?[]

  • Alien invaders trying to wipe out humanity by using our own weak minds.
  • Friendly aliens trying to contact humans without knowing that their presence drives us mad.
  • Beings from another dimension accidentally transported to our own.
  • Demons, especially in a biblical context.
  • Ancient prehistoric creatures reappearing in the modern world.
  • Biological warfare – insanity caused by weapons for warfare goals or terrorism.
  • Mass hysteria – a massive panic caused by simple suggestion that there is danger
  • Cthulhu - the titular antagonist from H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu mythos.

What do they represent?[]

  • Depression – how the truth about the world can depress people.
  • Social media – how it makes people unaware of important events.
  • Mental illnesses – how sane people see the mentally ill.
  • The difficulties of parenthood.
  • People's greatest fears and their hesitation in facing them.

Gallery[]

Trivia[]

  • Originally, the Creatures were going to have a physical form in the movie. They would look differently for each person and Malorie would see them as beings with withered, bald, baby-like heads. There were even doll models for Malorie's vision of the Creatures, but the idea was dropped because Sandra Bullock found them too ridiculous.
  • In the sequel, Octavio explains the creatures are quantum beings using the observer's effect on humanity. Because of this, it causes humans to perceive them differently; some see their fear, grief, and pain, others see demons, angels, aliens, even their deity.

References[]

Navigation[]

           Bird Box logoVillains

Franchise-wide Creatures

Books
Gary | River Man | Fish Fingers

Movies
Bird Box: Infected People (Gary, River Man and Fish Fingers)
Bird Box Barcelona: Infected People (Padre Esteban) | Anna

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