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Universal Monsters

Universal Monsters or Universal Horror is the name given to the distinctive series of horror films, suspense films, and science fiction films made by Universal Studios in California from 1923 to 1960. The approach began with the 1923 film version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, and continued to encompass such movies as The Phantom of the Opera, Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, Werewolf of London, Son of Frankenstein, The Wolf Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. With their iconic gallery of monsters, Universal would create a lasting impression on generations of avid moviegoers around the world.

1920s (Silent Era)

Universal's earliest success in the horror genre was the costume picture The Hunchback of Notre Dame in 1923. Starring Lon Chaney in the title role, the lavish production rebuilt 15th-century Paris on an epic scale, even re-creating the famed Notre Dame de Paris cathedral.

A runaway success at the box-office, The Hunchback of Notre Dame inspired Universal to film their first true horror film, The Phantom of the Opera, based on the mystery novel by Gaston Leroux. Released in 1925, Chaney designed and endured a torturous make-up that exceed even the gruesomeness of the Hunchback character. As with Hunchback, the sets played an important part of the film. The interior of the Opéra Garnier was recreated on an epic scale for the film, and remains the longest-standing film set to this day. It was used for the 1943 remake with Claude Rains, as well as numerous non-horror pictures. The set is contained on Stage 28 at Universal, which was constructed specifically for the film and dubbed "The Phantom Stage."

Chaney, who was a free-lance player at the time of Phantom of the Opera's production, signed a contract at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and could no longer produce character roles for Universal. His death in 1930 ended any possibility of his leaving MGM for another studio, and Universal turned their attentions to other actors such as German character actor Conrad Veidt, who was a success in 1928's The Man Who Laughs.

  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1925)
  • The Cat and the Canary (1927)
  • The Man Who Laughs (1928)
  • The Last Warning (1929)
  • The Last Performance (1929)

1930s (Golden Age)

In spite of the depression, executive Carl Laemmle Jr produced massive successes for the studio with Dracula (directed by Tod Browning) and Frankenstein (directed by James Whale), both in 1931. The success of these two movies not only launched the careers of Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, but also ushered in a whole new genre of American cinema. With Universal at the forefront, they would continue to build on their box office returns with an entire series of monster movies. These films would also provide steady work for a number of other genre actors including Lionel Atwill, Dwight Frye, Edward Van Sloan, and John Carradine. Other regular talents involved were make-up artists Jack Pierce and Bud Westmore, and composers Hans J. Salter and Frank Skinner. Many of the horror genre's most well-known conventions -- the creaking staircase, the cobwebs, the swirling mist and the mobs of peasants pursuing monsters with torches -- originated from these films and those that followed.

Next up was The Mummy, followed by a trilogy of films based on the tales of Edgar Allan Poe: Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Black Cat and The Raven, the latter two of which teamed up Lugosi with Karloff. Also released was The Invisible Man which proved to be another phenomenal hit and would spawn several sequels. However, of all the Universal monsters, the most successful and sequelized was undoubtedly the Frankenstein series, which continued with Bride of Frankenstein. Dracula too had its share of sequels, beginning with Dracula's Daughter in 1936, although none would feature its original leading man, Bela Lugosi.

The year 1936 also marked the end of Universal’s first run of horror films as the Laemmle’s were forced out of the studio after financial difficulties and a series of box office flops. The monsters were dropped from the production schedule altogether and wouldn’t re-emerge for another three years. In the meantime the original movies were re-released to surprising success, forcing the new executives to green light Son of Frankenstein starring Basil Rathbone as heir to the Frankenstein legacy.

  • The Cat Creeps (1930)
  • Dracula (1931)
  • Dracula (Spanish Version) (1931)
  • Frankenstein (1931)
  • The Mummy (1932)
  • Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932)
  • The Old Dark House (1932)
  • The Invisible Man (1933)
  • The Black Cat (1934)
  • The Raven (1935)
  • Werewolf of London (1935)
  • Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
  • Dracula's Daughter (1936)
  • The Invisible Ray (1936)
  • Son of Frankenstein (1939)
  • Tower of London (1939)

1940s

During the forties, the most successful of the new series of Universal Horror movies was The Wolf Man, which also established Lon Chaney, Jr., as the new leading horror actor for the studio.

In 1943, the "Phantom stage" was employed again for a remake of Phantom of the Opera, this time starring Nelson Eddy and Susanna Foster in a film that was as much musical as horror. Claude Rains played the Phantom.

The Frankenstein and Dracula series continued with The Ghost of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man while Son of Dracula featured Lon Chaney, Jr. as the Count. The Mummy too continued to rise from the grave in The Mummy's Hand and The Mummy's Tomb. Eventually all of Universal's monsters, except the Mummy and Invisible Man, would be brought together in: House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula, where Dracula was played by John Carradine. As the decade drew to a close the knockabout comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein proved an instant hit for the studio, with the original Dracula himself, Bela Lugosi, starring alongside Lon Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot (AKA The Wolf Man), and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's Monster.

  • Black Friday (1940)
  • The Invisible Man Returns (1940)
  • The Invisible Woman (1940)
  • The Mummy's Hand (1940)
  • The Wolf Man (1941)
  • The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942)
  • Invisible Agent (1942)
  • The Mummy's Tomb (1942)
  • Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (1943)
  • Son of Dracula (1943)
  • The Mad Ghoul (1943)
  • The Climax (1944)
  • House of Frankenstein (1944)
  • The Invisible Man's Revenge (1944)
  • The Mummy's Ghost (1944)
  • The Mummy's Curse (1944)
  • House of Dracula (1945)
  • She-Wolf of London (1946)
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)

1950s (Monster Revival)

For many, the series had lost much of its impetus towards the end of the 1940s, but with the success of Creature from the Black Lagoon (directed by Jack Arnold in 1954) the revived "Universal Horror" franchise would gain a whole new generation of fans. The original movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein were again re-released as double features in many theatres, before eventually premiering on syndicated American television in 1957 (as part of the famous "Shock" run of Universal Monster Movies). Soon dedicated magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland would help propel these movies into lasting infamy. By the early 60s the monsters were merchandised in the form of toys and model kits, the most famous of which were from the now-defunct Aurora company.

  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
  • Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
  • Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
  • Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)
  • Revenge of the Creature (1955)
  • The Creature Walks Among Us (1956)

Later influences & homages

In 1957, the legendary Hammer Studios began producing their own series of monster movies in glorious Eastmancolor; starting with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and followed by Horror of Dracula (1958). Later, Universal became the American distributor for several of these films, enabling Hammer to replicate many features of the original Universal horrors for the first time. Most notable was The Evil of Frankenstein (1963), in which sets, effects, plot and make-up all borrowed heavily from the Universal Frankenstein series.

From 1964 to 1966, the CBS sitcom The Munsters featured a ghoulish family based on several of the Universal characters, including Karloff's Frankenstein's Monster and Lugosi's Dracula.

In 1969, the animated stop-motion movie Mad Monster Party? was released. It proved popular amongst children and featured the voice talents of Boris Karloff.

Mel Brooks's 1974 parody Young Frankenstein paid brilliant homage to the films' style. Gerald Hirschfield's black-and-white photography particularly evoked the expressionistic style of the Universal horrors.

Richard O'Brien's The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) featured the character Magenta (played by Patricia Quinn whose shock hair was modelled on that of the Bride of Frankenstein. The film (and stage play) is a parody of B-movies and the title song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" itself references Universal's own The Invisible Man.

The long running Children's TV favourite Sesame Street became an unlikely platform for one of Universal's key figures; Bela Lugosi's Dracula (unofficially) became a Muppet in the guise of Count von Count.

The Monster Squad, a 1987 film released by Tri-Star Pictures and directed by Fred Dekker, featured Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Ironically, while the character designs were changed slightly so as not to infringe on Universal's copyright, the movie itself was filmed on the Universal backlot.

In 1998, filmmaker Kevin Brownlow made the documentary Universal Horror. It was narrated by Kenneth Branagh, and featured interviews with many of the original stars.

In 2004, Stephen Sommers directed Van Helsing featuring the characters of Dracula, The Wolfman and Frankenstein's Monster. The film was a homage to the classic Universal monster mash up movies of the 1940s, such as the "Frankenstein Meets..." and "The House of..." series, and proved popular at the box office.

Land of the Dead, a George Romero zombie film, used the original black and white Universal logo as a tip of the hat to the classic Universal Monsters, as did the movie Dead Silence.

In Mahou Sentai Magiranger, the main villains in the series each parodied and paid homage to many of the Universal Monsters.

Some of the characters in the video game Darkstalkers are inspired in the Universal Monsters (Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, The Wolf Man, The Mummy and the Creature from the Black Lagoon)

Japanese tokusatsu has also referenced the Universal Monsters, Mahou Sentai Magiranger (which would later become Power Rangers Mystic Force) and Kamen Rider Kiva.

Castlevania based on the video game franchise of the same name, is slated for a 2009 release date and will utilize motifs of the Universal Monsters.

Notable Universal Monsters

  • The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Quasimodo)
  • The Phantom of the Opera (Erik)
  • Count Dracula
  • Frankenstein's Monster
  • The Mummy (Imhotep/Kharis)
  • The Invisible Man (Dr. Jack Griffin)
  • The Bride of Frankenstein
  • Werewolf of London (Dr. Wilfred Glendon)
  • Ygor / Igor
  • The Wolf Man (Lawrence Talbot)
  • Gill-man
  • The Metaluna Mutant
  • The Mole People
  • Mr. Hyde (Dr. Jekyll)

Merchandising

Such is the popularity of the series that merchandising has been collected by fans around the world for decades. The complete list of merchandising for these characters is exhausting, with too many to mention. However, when the films were originally released there was little in the way of merchandising other than lobby cards and posters. The 1931 Frankenstein 6-sheet movie poster is considered to be the most valuable poster in the world. There is only one copy of this poster known to exist.

It would be many years later, when the films had become popular once again after being regularly shown on American TV, when toys and model kits began to appear for sale with the features of these characters on them. Universal particularly held to the copyrighting of their depiction of Frankenstein's monster.

Out of the first wave of collectables, the most notable and significant was the 1961 plastic model kit of Frankenstein's monster by the now-defunct Aurora company. In the next few years there followed models of Dracula, the Wolf Man, the Mummy, the Phantom of the Opera, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon before the series switched to generic or characters from other firms, though there was a Bride of Frankenstein model in 1965. These hollow statues were quite popular among American boys, it being well before there were any "action figures" at all.

After the popular Aurora series, other companies eventually began using licenced caricatures of the Universal Monsters. Over the decades a seemingly endless variety of collectables have appeared in one form or another; from Halloween masks and action figures, to coffee mugs, miniature die-cast cars, jigsaw puzzles, pez dispensers, lunch boxes, postal stamps, and so on.

Other notable popular memorabilia include the extensive range from Sideshow Collectibles with very accurate 12 inch (1/6th scale) "action figures" of many of the Universal Monsters, as well as museum quality 1/4th scale "Premium Format" figures usually cast from polystone with screen accurate cloth costumes and decoration.

In video and computer games, the Universal Monsters have also made appearances, in titles such as Monsterville and Darkstalkers.

The films themselves have seldom been out of print and have been widely collected in numerous formats, originally in Super 8mm, then VHS and laserdisc. In 1999, the movies first became available on DVD, since then they have been re-mastered, re-released and re-packaged twice more; in 2004, as part of the Legacy Series and also under the 75th Anniversary banner in 2006.

In 2006 Necca Toys began releasing a series of bobble head caricatures of all the main universal monsters, including: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, Bride of Frankenstein, The Phantom and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

More Recent Remakes

In 1979, Universal released Dracula, starring Frank Langella and Laurence Olivier. In 1999 and 2001 respectively, the films The Mummy and The Mummy Returns were released to theaters, followed by a prequel of sorts, The Scorpion King, in 2002. Another sequel, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was released in August 2008. These films were a re-imagining of the original franchise that ran in cinemas in the 1930s and 40s. The Wolfman is due for release on November 6, 2009, and stars Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving. The film will basically follow the plot line of the original The Wolf Man. Breck Eisner is attached to remake Creature from the Black Lagoon.

See also

External links

Part of this article consists of modified text from Wikipedia, and the article is therefore licensed under GFDL.