> The monster was rubbish

I loved the monster in Nope so I will defend it here, but it's fine if it didn't work for you. This is a copy and paste of an older comment of mine:

The way it works has to be inferred since no one ever figures it out in the movie, but a real biologist wrote a fake paper about it (co-authored by the two main characters of the movie), so I'm not making any of the following up.

The monster is lighter than air because it has thin skin and can fill itself with air like a hot air balloon. Obviously it looks like an alien UFO, but this is a reference to a common explanation of UFO sightings — that they are weather balloons. The creature is finally photographed in an actual balloon accident, and air-filled tube men are used to measure its anti-electric field. The fact that it has an anti-electric field probably means its using a magnetic field to mess with the Earth's magnetic field and fly partially through that method.

It unfolds into a bunch of flaps to catch the wind like a ship's sails. In fact, when its flying forward or sideways its sails could be mistaken on the horizon or in clouds for a flying ship. Like a legendary ghost ship. With the sunset behind it it has an almost angelic or godlike appearance. You even have to bow your head and make sacrifices to it to avoid its wrath. The way it eats is an explanation for livestock abductions and mysterious items in rain, like fish or frog rains. It's not just a monster — it's every monster. Or at least a bunch of them. An all-purpose cryptid for aliens, ghost ships, and even religious beings.