The Velociraptors of the Jurassic Park franchise are some of the scariest big-screen dinosaurs known to man, but there are plenty of other dinos with a major terror factor of their own. The Velociraptors were first introduced in 1993’s Jurassic Park as the most intelligent members of the dinosaur kingdom, with Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) even discovering their ability to vocalize in Jurassic Park III. Coupled with the Raptors’ exceptional hunting skills and ability to work as a team along with their tremendous speed and agility, they are some of the last dinosaurs anyone would want to run into in Jurassic Park or Jurassic World when the power is knocked out.
With that said, while Velociraptors bring their own set of skills and terrifying traits to the table, so too do the other carnivorous dinosaurs of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies. Whether it is hunting skill, deceptive tactics, or sheer size and strength, many of the franchise’s dinosaurs have an ability to scare audiences that is all their own. Here are seven of the scariest dinosaurs of the Jurassic Park franchise aside from Velociraptors.
1) Compsognathus
One of the scariest dinos in the Jurassic Park franchise also happens to be the tiniest, specifically the Compsognathus, or Compys for short. Belying their minute stature, Compys are deadly dinosaur predators and pack hunters. In a sufficiently large group, a Compy pack can easily overwhelm and devour much larger prey, such as humans. 1997’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park shows exactly that scenario not once but twice, first in the movie’s opening when the daughter of a wealthy couple (Camilla Belle) is attacked by Compys on Isla Sorna, though she is subsequently confirmed to have fortunately survived. Later in the movie, the vicious mercenary Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare) proves far less lucky when he is separated from his fellow InGen workers and devoured by a pack of Compys.
2) Indoraptor
Many of the new dinosaurs of the Jurassic World movies are the result of the park’s scientists mixing and matching dino DNA to create new hybrids of different species. One such example is the Indoraptor of 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, a combination of a normal Velociraptor and the fearsome Indominus Rex of the first Jurassic World. The Indoraptor is a frightening and overbearing menace in the final act of Fallen Kingdom, literally one capable of sending a child (in this case Isabella Sermon’s Maisie Lockwood) to seek refuge by hiding under the covers of her bed. Indeed, some of the most genuine monster movie worthy moments and imagery in the Jurassic Park franchise are delivered by the Indoraptor’s climactic mansion rampage in Fallen Kingdom.
3) Mosasaurus
The Jurassic Park franchise had paid virtually no attention to aquatic dinosaurs in its first three movies, but that finally changed with 2015’s Jurassic World and the introduction of the sea-dwelling Mosasaurus. A carnivorous dinosaur the size of a humpback whale, the Mosasaurus is kept in a large tank for most of the movie, but that hardly stops it from being a proper dino menace, devouring a Pteranodon and Claire Dearing’s assistant Zara (Katie McGrath) in one leaping chop out of the water. The Mosasaurus is also the dinosaur to take down the Indominus Rex in the movie’s climactic smackdown before being unleashed into the ocean in Fallen Kingdom, a terrifying new apex predator of the high seas like the world has never seen before.
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4) Dilophosaurus
The deceptively deadly Dilophosaurus made its big-screen debut in 1993’s Jurassic Park, attacking and devouring Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) as he tries to smuggle dino embryos out of the park. The Dilophosaurus, at first glance, is a seemingly harmless hooting dinosaur – until it unleashes the frilled crest around its neck and spits acidic venom into the eyes of its prey to blind and paralyze them before consuming them. Despite the iconography of the Dilophosaurus’ attack in Jurassic Park, the dino virtually sat all subsequent movies in the series until returning in 2022’s Jurassic World Dominion, with an entire Dilophosaurus pack fittingly returning to attack Nedry’s employer, Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott).
5) Spinosaurus
2001’s Jurassic Park III brought a new dinosaur terror into play as its main predator of Isla Sorna, the vicious Spinosaurus. From the moment the movie’s human protagonists set foot on Site B, the Spinosaurus is on their trail with remarkable aggression, even felling a T-Rex in a dino showdown when the two disagree on which of them gets to chow down on the humans they’re chasing. The Spinosaurus is also the only dinosaur to make a ringtone scary after devouring Nash (Bruce A. Young) and the group’s satellite phone with him, the ringtone punctuating the Spinosaurus’ arrival for another attack (and later setting up by far the grossest scene in Jurassic Park history when the surviving humans get the satellite phone back). With the Spinosaurus’ return in Jurassic World Rebirth, the carnivore’s ability to terrify is clearly right up there with the strongest of any Jurassic Park dinosaur.
6) Indominus Rex
The monstrous laboratory creation of Jurassic World, the Indominus Rex is created as a business move to keep the park’s attendance strong, due to the observation of Jurassic World’s manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) that genetically re-created dinosaurs have become the equivalent of zoo animals for modern park-goers. Unfortunately, the Indominus Rex gets the better of its creators and escapes into the park, its vast intelligence drawn from its partially Raptor-drawn DNA, which makes it a huge threat to humans and other dinosaurs alike. Though the park’s T-Rex and beloved Velociraptor Blue manage to defeat the Indominus Rex, sending it into the waiting jaws of the Mosasaurus, the hybrid dino is nonetheless a true luminary of the Jurassic Park franchise’s scariest dinosaurs.
7) Tyrannosaurus Rex
File this one under “But of course” – the Tyrannosaurus Rex had long been one of the most popular dinosaurs ever discovered in fossil form, and Jurassic Park made the T-Rex into the ultimate big-screen ambassador of the dinosaur kingdom. The T-Rex’s iconic escape from its pen in Jurassic Park is still the definitive dinosaur scene to beat, but the T-Rex has always risen to the occasion throughout the franchise. T-Rexes are portrayed as both loving and highly protective parents in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and as a challenging opponent even against larger dinosaurs like the Indominus Rex and the Gigantosaurus (the T-Rex even returning to the big-screen by shattering through a Spinosaurus skeleton in Jurassic World). No Jurassic Park or Jurassic World movie – or for that matter, any dinosaur movie at all – would be complete without at least one T-Rex on hand for dinosaur action, and with the T-Rex’s tenure in the series continuing through Jurassic World Rebirth, there is truly no scarier non-Raptor dinosaur in the franchise than the legendary Earth-shaker that is the T-Rex.
Jurassic World Rebirth will be released in theaters on July 2nd.
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