Universal Monsters

Official logo for the Universal Monsters franchise.

Universal Monsters or Universal Horror is the name given to a series of distinctive horror, suspense and science fiction films made by Universal Studios from 1923 to 1960. The series began with The Hunchback of Notre Dame and The Phantom of the Opera, both silent films starring Lon Chaney. Universal continued with talkies including monster franchises Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Invisible Man, The Wolf Man, and Creature from the Black Lagoon. The studio's leading horror actors during this post-Chaney period were Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Lon Chaney, Jr..

1920s – Lon Chaney

Lon Chaney, Universal's most prominent horror star, as seen in The Phantom of the Opera (1925)

Universal's earliest success in the horror genre was the 1923 historical drama The Hunchback of Notre Dame, which starred Lon Chaney as Quasimodo. The lavish production sets 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, Hunchback of Notre Dame inspired Universal to produce their first true horror film, The Phantom of the Opera, based on the mystery novel by Gaston Leroux. The film was released in 1925. Chaney designed and endured torturous make-up that exceeded the demands of his previous role as the Hunchback. As with the film Hunchback, the sets played an important part in the film. The interior of the Opéra Garnier was recreated to scale. It was used for the 1943 remake with Claude Rains, as well as numerous other pictures.

With Chaney's death in 1930 Universal turned their attentions to other actors. These included German character actor Conrad Veidt, who had appeared in the 1920 German expressionist horror masterpiece, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari), and starred in 1928's Universal horror film The Man Who Laughs.

1930s – Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi

Bela Lugosi in Dracula
Boris Karloff in Bride of Frankenstein

In spite of the Great 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 launched the careers of Bela Lugosi (Dracula) and Boris Karloff (Frankenstein). With Universal at the forefront, filmmakers would continue to build on their success with an entire series of monster movies. These films also provided steady work for a number of 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.

The Mummy, starring Karloff, was produced in 1932. This was followed by a trilogy of films based on the tales of Edgar Allan Poe: Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) starring Lugosi, The Black Cat (1934), and The Raven (1935), the latter two of which teamed Lugosi with Karloff. The Invisible Man, released in 1933, was a phenomenal hit and would spawn several sequels. Of all the Universal monsters, the most successful and sequelized was undoubtedly the Frankenstein series, which continued with the critically acclaimed Bride of Frankenstein (1935). Dracula too had its share of sequels, beginning with Dracula's Daughter in 1936, although only Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, the 1948 comedy that was the beginning of the end for the Universal monster cycle, would feature Lugosi himself recreating his signature role; the studio replaced him with Lon Chaney, Jr. or John Carradine in the earlier 1940s sequels.

The end of Universal’s first run of horror films came in 1936 as the Laemmles were forced out of the studio after financial difficulties and a series of box office flops, partly due to a temporary ban on American horror films in Britain in the wake of MGM's Mad Love and The Raven (both 1935). The monster movies were dropped from the production schedule altogether and would not re-emerge for another three years. In the meantime, a theatre owner revived Dracula and Frankenstein as a double feature, resulting in an immediate smash hit and leading to the original movies being re-released by the studio to surprising success. This forced the new executives to give the go-ahead to Son of Frankenstein (1939) starring Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi. Thirteen of the seventeen 1930s Universal horror films listed below star either Lugosi or Karloff or both:

Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi in The Black Cat

1940s – Lon Chaney, Jr.

Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster with Boris Karloff in House of Frankenstein

During the 1940s, the most successful of the new series of Universal Horror movies was The Wolf Man (1941), which also established Lon Chaney, Jr. as the new leading horror actor for the studio, following in his father Lon Chaney's footsteps.

In 1943, the studio created 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 Wolf Man series, abruptly descending in quality to the realm of B movies, continued with The Ghost of Frankenstein (1942), in which Lon Chaney, Jr. played Frankenstein's monster, and Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man (1943) with Bela Lugosi as the Frankenstein monster and Chaney, Jr. as the Wolf Man. Son of Dracula (1943) featured Chaney, Jr. in Lugosi's original role as the Count. The Mummy series was also continued with The Mummy's Hand (1940) and The Mummy's Tomb (1942). Eventually, all of Universal's monsters, except the Mummy and Invisible Man, were be brought together in House of Frankenstein (1944) and House of Dracula (1945), in which Dracula was played by John Carradine. As the decade drew to a close, the comedy Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948) proved an instant hit for the studio, with Lugosi in his second movie as Dracula, starring alongside Chaney, Jr. as Larry Talbot (the Wolf Man), and Glenn Strange as Frankenstein's monster. Lon Chaney, Jr. played the lead in seventeen of the thirty-five 1940s Universal horror films listed below:

House of Frankenstein poster

1950s

By the 1950s, Universal had stopped filming most of its original line of horror characters, with Frankenstein's monster, Dracula and the Wolf Man having been retired with the Abbott & Costello film in 1948. It was left to Abbott & Costello to keep alive public interest in characters such as the Mummy and the Invisible Man, but in 1954 Universal's horror films returned to popularity.

With the success of Creature from the Black Lagoon (directed by Jack Arnold in 1954) the revived Universal Horror franchise gained a new generation of fans. The original movies such as Dracula and Frankenstein were re-released as double features in many theatres, before eventually premiering on syndicated American television in 1957 as part of the famous Shock Theater package of Universal Monster Movies.[1] The Hammer versions were also popular and, in turn, sparked renewed interest in the "originals". Soon dedicated magazines such as Famous Monsters of Filmland would help propel these movies into lasting infamy. Universal spent the last half of the decade issuing a number of one-shot monster films.

Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe

List indicator(s)'
  • This table only includes characters which have appeared in multiple films within the Universal Monsters Cinematic Universe.
  • A dark grey cell indicates the character was not in the film.
Character Films
Dracula Frankenstein Bride of Frankenstein Dracula's Daughter Son of Frankenstein The Wolf Man The Ghost of Frankenstein Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man Son of Dracula House of Frankenstein House of Dracula Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein
The Frankenstein Monster Boris Karloff Boris Karloff Lon Chaney, Jr. Bela Lugosi Glenn Strange
Count Dracula Bela Lugosi Lon Chaney, Jr. John Carradine Bela Lugosi
The Wolf Man
Larry Talbot		 Lon Chaney, Jr. Lon Chaney, Jr. Lon Chaney, Jr.
Van Helsing Edward Van Sloan Edward Van Sloan
Henry Frankenstein Colin Clive
Elizabeth Mae Clarke Valerie Hobson
Ygor Bela Lugosi Bela Lugosi
Maleva Maria Ouspenskaya   Maria Ouspenskaya
Elsa Frankenstein Evelyn Ankers Ilona Massey

Remakes

In 1973, Universal produced the two-part miniseries Frankenstein: The True Story for NBC. James Mason starred.

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 both box office successes directed by Stephen Sommers. In 2008 Universal released the third film in the series The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor. The Scorpion King, was a spin-off prequel to the second movie.

In 2004, Stephen Sommers directed Van Helsing starring Hugh Jackman and Kate Beckinsale. The film featured the characters of Dracula, his Brides, a Wolf Man, and the Frankenstein 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 despite mixed reviews.

In 2010, Universal released The Wolfman starring Benicio del Toro, Anthony Hopkins, Emily Blunt, and Hugo Weaving.

Rebooted Cinematic Universe

In 2012, Universal announced plans to reboot two of their franchises: The Mummy and Van Helsing. Jon Spaihts would write The Mummy reboot, and Sean Daniel, who produced the previous three Mummy films, would return as producer.[2] In December, it was stated that The Mummy would be a new take on the mythology, returning to its roots as a horror film, and set in the present day.[3]

On May 1, 2012, Universal signed on with Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman a two-year deal, producing Spaihts' reboot of The Mummy and a reboot of Van Helsing, which would star Tom Cruise, through their K/O Paper Products banner.[4] Len Wiseman was announced as The Mummy's director on September 24, 2012.[5]

On February 14, 2013, Universal set The Hunger Games' writer Billy Ray to write a competitive draft for The Mummy reboot against Spaiths's written script.[6]

Wiseman left the project in July 2013 due to schedule conflicts.[7] In September, it was reported that Mama's director Andres Muschietti was in talks to direct the film.[8] However, he dropped out in May 2014, due to creative differences.[9]

In October 2013, Orci spoke to IGN, hinting that both The Mummy and Van Helsing reboots will have a shared universe.[10]

On November 27, 2013, Universal set the film for an April 22, 2016 release.[11]

New developments were made in July 2014, when Universal announced that they had tapped Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan to develop all classic movie monsters which include Frankenstein, Dracula, The Wolf Man, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Invisible Man, Bride of Frankenstein, and The Mummy, with The Mummy as the first developed.[12] Kurtzman was set to direct the film by the end of the month.[13] The next day, the film's release date was pushed back to June 24, 2016, when Universal announced the April 22 for its new film The Huntsman.[14]

In October 2014, the film Dracula Untold, which had begun development in 2007 as Dracula: Year Zero, was released; producer Alissa Phillips confirmed at the film's UK premiere that the film was a part of the new monsters cinematic universe. She hoped that Luke Evans' character might have a cameo in a future The Mummy film and also spoke of a potential sequel.[15] In an interview with IGN, director Gary Shore stated "It's optional for them if they want to use it as that launching pad."[16] On October 15, THR reported that the ending scenes of the film hinted that the film Dracula Untold could be included into the monsters universe.[17]

That same month, The Mummy reboot's plot was announced, with the film following a Navy SEAL and his team hunting terrorists in the Iraqi desert, and inadvertently setting events in motion that would tie him to the mummy of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal.[18]

In November 2014, Universal hired Aaron Guzikowski to write the shared universe's reboot of The Wolf Man.[19] In December 2014, Universal hired Jay Basu to write an undisclosed film for the shared universe.[20]

Universal's chairman, in a November interview, stated that the new films would be more action-adventure based rather than horror, and would be set in a present-day setting in order to “reimagine and reintroduce them to a contemporary audience.”[21]

List of films

Film U.S. release date Director(s) Screenwriter(s) Producer(s) Status
Dracula Untold October 10, 2014 Gary Shore Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless Michael De Luca Released
Untitled The Mummy film April 22, 2016 Alex Kurtzman Jon Spaihts Sean Daniel, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci In development
Untitled Van Helsing film TBA Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci Alex Kurtzman, Roberto Orci and Tom Cruise Pre-production
Untitled The Wolf Man film Aaron Guzikowski Chris Morgan

Later influences and homages

In 1957, Hammer Film Productions began producing their own series of monster movies in Eastmancolor, starting with The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and Dracula (1958). Universal was also the distributor for several of the films, enabling Hammer to replicate several features of the original Universal horrors in The Evil of Frankenstein (1963).

In 1962, the television series Route 66 had an episode, "Lizard's Leg and Owlet's Wing", written by Stirling Silliphant, which was a homage to the Universal monsters, starring Boris Karloff, Lon Chaney, Jr., and Peter Lorre playing themselves, and with Karloff and Chaney donning, for the last time, their original Frankenstein's monster, Mummy, and Wolf-Man make-ups (as well as Lon Chaney Jr. dressing as a famous role of his father's: The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

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

Mel Brooks' 1974 parody Young Frankenstein paid homage to the films' style. In 1995, Mel Brooks directed another parody Dracula: Dead and Loving It.

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 is a parody of B-movies; the title song "Science Fiction/Double Feature" references Universal's films The Invisible Man, It Came from Outer Space, and Tarantula.

The long running children's TV favorite Sesame Street became a platform for one of Universal's key figures: Bela Lugosi's Dracula became a Muppet in the guise of Count von Count.

Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives opening scene was a homage to the opening scene of Frankenstein meets the Wolf Man. Two men open up Lawrence Talbot's coffin and resurrect him by mistake. Jason Voorhees is resurrected in a similar fashion to Frankenstein's monster with lightning.

In 1986, the first entry in the Castlevania series was released in Japan. It featured several homages to the Universal and Hammer horror films, notably the inclusion of a Universal-style Frankenstein's monster as a boss. Later Castlevania games would continue to pay tribute to the classic horror films, while at the same time forging their own identity as a more dramatic and story-driven series.

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.

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

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)

The 2005 feature film Frankenstein vs. the Creature from Blood Cove directed by William Winckler is an homage to the classic Universal Monsters, shot in black and white, featuring a Frankenstein Monster, the monster's Bride, a werewolf, and a half-man, half-fish creature. Swan Lake, composed by Tchaikovsky, was used as the film's title theme, just as it was used in Universal's Dracula and Mummy films.

The 2009 film House of the Wolf Man is an homage to the 1940s monster films House of Frankenstein and House of Dracula. Unlike Dekker's Monster Squad or Sommers' Van Helsing, Eben McGarr's film is intended to look and feel like a Universal film of the 1940s. Ron Chaney, grandson of Lon Chaney, Jr., stars in the film.[22]

On July 2010 Mattel launched Monster High a popular toy line for young girls which features many Universal Monsters as Teachers or Students related to Famous Universal Monsters,the most familiar being Frankie stein daughter of Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein. Many of the main students are related to or of the same species as the Universal Monsters.

In 2012 films Hotel Transylvania and Frankenweenie contains many references to the Universal Monsters, such as Frankenstein's Monster, The Bride of Frankenstein, The Invisible Man, The Mummy, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Wolf Man and Dracula.

Merchandising

Werewolf of London wax figure

Merchandising of the Universal Monsters films has been collected by fans around the world for decades. However, when the films were originally released there was little in the way of merchandising other than lobby cards and posters.

Many years later, when the films regained popularity after being regularly shown on American TV, toys and model kits began to be sold. Universal particularly held to the copyrighting of their depiction of Frankenstein's monster.

Out of the first wave of collectables, the most notable was the 1961 plastic model kit of Frankenstein's monster by the now-defunct Aurora Plastics. 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.

After the popularity of the Aurora series, other companies eventually began using licensed caricatures of the Universal Monsters. Over the decades many 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 memorabilia include the products from Sideshow Collectibles with very accurate 12 inch (1/6 scale) "action figures" of many of the Universal Monsters, as well as museum quality 1/4 scale "Premium Format" figures usually cast from polystone with accurate cloth costumes and decoration.

NECA Toys released a series of bobble head caricatures of all the main Universal Monsters in 2006, including Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman, Bride of Frankenstein, The Phantom of the Opera and the Creature from the Black Lagoon.

Diamond Select Toys is the current license holder for action figures, including 7-inch figures, 8-inch retro-styled figures and 2-inch Minimates. Diamond Select also makes vinyl banks based on the films, and their products are often issued in both color and black-and-white. Diamond Select is also a licensee for The Munsters, and has made figures of all of the show's Universal-inspired family members.

In addition to toys, multiple books based on the monsters have been produced, including novelizations of the films and original novels based on the characters, including Return of the Wolfman, a 1998 novel by Jeff Rovin which continued the adventures of Larry Talbot and was followed in 2000 and 2001 by The Devil's Brood and The Devil's Night, both by David Jacobs. In 2001 and 2002, Scholastic published a six-part series of children's books by Larry Mike Garmon, in which six monsters from the films (Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, the Wolf Man, the Gill Man and the Bride of Frankenstein) escaped into the real world and had to be hunted down by a trio of 21st century teenagers. In 2006 and 2007, Dark Horse Comics, under its DH Press branch, published six books, each by a different author, based on the same six monsters as Garmon's series: Dracula: Asylum, Frankenstein: The Shadow of Frankenstein and Creature From The Black Lagoon: Time's Black Lagoon in 2006, and The Mummy: Dark Resurrection, The Wolf Man: Hunter's Moon and The Bride of Frankenstein: Pandora's Bride in 2007.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Okuda, Ted; Yurkiw, Mark (2007). Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie. Lake Claremont Press. p. 14. ISBN 978-1893121133. The 'Shock!' package was sold in 142 markets. As a result, stations across the country aired a late-night Shock Theatre series to showcase these pictures.
  2. ↑ Gallagher, Brian (4 April 2012). "'The Mummy' Gets Reboot from 'Prometheus' Writer Jon Spaihts". movieweb.com. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  3. ↑ "The Mummy Remake to Be an Epic Horror Movie Set in Present Day America". movieweb.com. 13 December 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  4. ↑ "Universal Signs Kurtzman And Orci; Pair Takes On ‘The Mummy’ And ‘Van Helsing’". deadline.com. 1 May 2012. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  5. ↑ Fleming Jr, Mike (24 September 2012). "Len Wiseman Wrapping Up Deal To Helm Universal Reboot Of ‘The Mummy’". deadline.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Brodesser-Akner, Claude (14 February 2013). "Starving for Mummy Reboot, Universal Hires Hunger Games Screenwriter to Pen Competing Script". vulture.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  7. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (31 July 2013). "Director Len Wiseman Exits ‘The Mummy’ Reboot at Universal". thewrap.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  8. ↑ Kit, Borys (13 September 2013). "'Mama' Director in Talks to Helm 'Mummy' Reboot for Universal". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Sneider, Jeff (6 May 2014). "‘Mummy’ Reboot Loses ‘Mama’ Director Andy Muschetti". thewrap.com. Retrieved 8 May 2014.
  10. ↑ Tilly, Chris (18 October 2013). "Bob Orci Discusses Van Helsing Reboot". ign.com. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  11. ↑ "Universal Dates ‘The Mummy’ Reboot For April 2016, Pushes ‘Warcraft’ Out Of ‘Star Wars’ Slot". deadline.com. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 9 March 2014.
  12. ↑ Fleming Jr, Mike (16 July 2014). "Universal Taps Alex Kurtzman, Chris Morgan To Relaunch Classic Movie Monster Franchises". deadline.com. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  13. ↑ Kit, Borys (30 July 2014). "Alex Kurtzman to Direct 'The Mummy' Reboot". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved 31 July 2014.
  14. ↑ Perlman, Jake (July 31, 2014). "Universal to release 'The Huntsman' in 2016, pushes back 'The Mummy'". ew.com. Retrieved August 1, 2014.
  15. ↑ "Producer Confirms that Dracula Untold is the First Part of the Universal Monsters Reboot". heyuguys.com. October 2, 2014. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  16. ↑ KRUPA, DANIEL (October 2, 2014). "Is Dracula Untold a Part of the Shared Monsters Universe?". ign.com. Retrieved October 2, 2014.
  17. ↑ Ford, Rebecca; Kit, Borys (October 15, 2014). "How 'Dracula Untold's' New Ending Could Tie Into Universal's Monster Universe". hollywoodreporter.com. Retrieved October 16, 2014.
  18. ↑ Williams, Celeb (October 22, 2014). "EXCLUSIVE: First Plot Details on Alex Kurtzman's 'The Mummy' Reboot". Superhero Movies News. Retrieved October 22, 2014.
  19. ↑ Fleming Jr., Mike (November 12, 2014). "Will Justin Lin Rev ‘Fast & Furious’ Finale?". Deadline.
  20. ↑ Jaafar, Ali (December 1, 2014). "Jay Basu Tapped By Universal To Aid Relaunch Of Classic Monster Movies". Deadliner.
  21. ↑ McClintock, Pamela (November 13, 2014). "Executive Roundtable: 6 Studio Heads on China Plans, Superhero Overload, WB Layoffs, 'Fast & Furious' Future". Hollywood Reporter.
  22. ↑ Black and White 'House of the Wolf Man' Acquired by Taurus

External links