The Nightmare World of Tolkien

[Boromir88]

Tolkien does supply us with a few more gripping details as far as the fell beasts go:

The great shadow descended like a falling cloud. And behold! it was a winged creature: if bird, then greater than all other birds, and it was naked, and neither quill nor feather did it bear, and its vast pinions were as webs of hide between horned fingers; and it stank...~Battle of Pelennor Fields

the huge vulture form' which uttered 'a hoarse croaking cry'~Letter 211

Lovely sounding isn't it?

I agree with you Anguirel, in that the unknown is the scariest for me. I'm reminded by the Mel Gibson movie, Signs. Which I thought was very effective and unnerving through most of the movies. You have the build up and the hysteria with crop signs popping up, then the aliens land and you just see their shadows, or hear them running on the roof...etc, and that starts getting you even more terrified. Then suddenly it's ruined as the Aliens are actually shown in the movie, and quite frankly I thought they were rather silly and stupid looking. It was much better, and terrifying to just hear the sounds, and see the shadows, get that tense build up, then actually showing the aliens.